[astrange]

> The highest GS pay scale is lower than what a new grad makes at Stripe/PayPal.

It's better if you compare benefits and cost of living. Or if Stripe fires you because your manager didn't like that you tweeted a joke about Elon Musk once (apparently this happens).

[ceeplusplus]

The only better benefit is a guaranteed pension after you work 20+ years in government. But since pensions nowadays are chronically underfunded and you make literally 3x (!) more at the equivalent level at Stripe/Paypal/etc. a 401k is a more than good enough substitute for the pension.

Health insurance is definitely better at the tech company. Cost of living varies - Washington DC/Northern VA is not cheap, and Washington state (where Stripe is based) has no state income tax.

I think very few people would take the government job, particularly the type of people okay with taking big risks that you need to build out a greenfield fraud detection and payment system.