[Mekkanox]

Just a quick note for folks interesting in joining 18F: it may be a much more fun place to work as engineer in the government, but it's still the government.

You start off with 2 weeks of paid leave accrued per year, and it'll be at least 15 years (last time I checked) of employment before you're up to 4 weeks per year. This pales in comparison to contracting shops in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area, where the smallest I've seen is 4 weeks for brand-new employees. Over the years I've seen more and more switch to unlimited PTO.

More likely than not, you will inevitably have to deal with a "govvie" who prides one's self on doing nothing all day and getting paid more than you for it, simply because of seniority. This might sound like hyperbole, but after 6 years as a DoD contractor and getting fed up with all the bureacracy, I left for the fully private sector and I haven't looked back since in 2 years. YMMV.

[ubernostrum]

at least 15 years (last time I checked) of employment before you're up to 4 weeks per year.

Except you can't get there, because you can't work at 18F for more than four years. Or at least that was what I was told when I looked into it last year.

(I have nothing against 18F, by the way -- if it's something you're interested in you should definitely look into working there, and some awesome people I know are currently there)