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Understanding the Federal Workplace

Insights from 29 years as a federal employee

Len Morse
7 min readJun 23, 2020
Photo by kate.sade on Unsplash

The life-long security of a federal government job draws many curious souls, as does the paycheck, depending on your background. Yet you’ll also need to deal with ideas like conformism, cubicles, and chain-of-command, which also often occur in the private sector.

Whatever the reason, if you wish to work a desk job for Uncle Sam and don’t mind the initial paperwork, here’s a basic overview of life with the feds. Your results may differ.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Prepping for projects

Once you’ve been officially accepted and had a chance to decorate your very own cubicle, you may need to revisit the humility part of your brain as you move into training mode. After all, no matter how much knowledge and experience you bring from school, the private sector, or home, you’re likely entering a new office with its own procedures, terms, and personnel hierarchy. Just grab that rope and start climbing (learning).

If you your trainer is difficult to understand or their personality rubs you the wrong way, you might ask for a replacement. This is paramount, because…

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Len Morse
Len Morse

Written by Len Morse

The Halloween Channel owner | Happily childfree musician, proofreader, swing dancer, animal rights supporter, movie buff, and grammar policeman.

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