by Guest » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:33 am
Guest wrote:
It's not that hard...
If you have a BS (and you're a SMART student), you get GS-7. This is because BS typically gets GS-5 unless they have good academic credentials (GPA) which gets them a GS-7. To be eligible for SMART, you have to have the minimum academic credentials to get a GS-7.
If you have an MS, you get GS-9. If you have a PhD, you get GS-11.
For research positions (AFRL, ARL, NRL), you get GS-11 with MS and GS-12 with PhD.
Simple. But both are still ridiculously below some of the worst private industry pay rates. I wonder how good SMART's Phase II retention ends up being...
However, this only accounts for the GS scale and assumes that these are hard and fast rules. The DEMO scale is quite a bit wonkier as SFs have room to place you in a "band" anywhere they really want to. For instance, DEMO-II could include GS 5-8, DEMO-III GS 9-11, etc. They will normally drop you in a band based on your degree yes (DEMO-II = BS, DEMO-III = MS), but where they actually pay you in that band varies. At any rate, I was picked up as a DEMO-II top of band with $48,917 not including locality bonus. It’s about half what I would be getting in an equivalent civilian position, but at least I’m debt free with a degree. The work blows, and they’re about to cut 20% of my pay (furloughs). Hindsight being what it is, I probably wouldn’t have accepted this funding unless I had no alternative. Also, I definitely won’t be staying here beyond my commitment. SMART really doesn’t seem to give a crap either. These SFs don’t have a clue what to do with most of the cohorts. They just shove them in as seat heaters and hope something useful accidently gets done.
[quote="Guest"]
It's not that hard...
If you have a BS (and you're a SMART student), you get GS-7. This is because BS typically gets GS-5 unless they have good academic credentials (GPA) which gets them a GS-7. To be eligible for SMART, you have to have the minimum academic credentials to get a GS-7.
If you have an MS, you get GS-9. If you have a PhD, you get GS-11.
For research positions (AFRL, ARL, NRL), you get GS-11 with MS and GS-12 with PhD.
Simple. But both are still ridiculously below some of the worst private industry pay rates. I wonder how good SMART's Phase II retention ends up being...[/quote]
However, this only accounts for the GS scale and assumes that these are hard and fast rules. The DEMO scale is quite a bit wonkier as SFs have room to place you in a "band" anywhere they really want to. For instance, DEMO-II could include GS 5-8, DEMO-III GS 9-11, etc. They will normally drop you in a band based on your degree yes (DEMO-II = BS, DEMO-III = MS), but where they actually pay you in that band varies. At any rate, I was picked up as a DEMO-II top of band with $48,917 not including locality bonus. It’s about half what I would be getting in an equivalent civilian position, but at least I’m debt free with a degree. The work blows, and they’re about to cut 20% of my pay (furloughs). Hindsight being what it is, I probably wouldn’t have accepted this funding unless I had no alternative. Also, I definitely won’t be staying here beyond my commitment. SMART really doesn’t seem to give a crap either. These SFs don’t have a clue what to do with most of the cohorts. They just shove them in as seat heaters and hope something useful accidently gets done.