US Geological Survey Reviews

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Very laid back. They give you the freedom to get you work done at your own pace; that is assuming you get it done. Summer times are especially great because you are outside, usually in pretty remote places making discharge measurements.
Any travel you get pretty nice per-diem. Per-diem was new to me so I enjoyed that.
Easy job, not a stressing environment.

Cons – If you are a driven person...you will stand out. However, for a civil engineer like me, I didnt find a lot of purpose in what I was doing. Sure I enjoyed my work, it was great being outside (except for the winter) but The USGS are Data Collectors and that was never a passion of mine. I feel all that accomplished at the end of the day

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey

Pros – Lots of time off, alternative work schedules, decent health benefits

Cons – Management doesn't appreciate the job you do. Taking on extra responsibilities doesn't get you rewarded, it just becomes your expected job.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the dead weight employees

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – They pay you to learn and gain a scientific understanding.

Cons – Transitioning from a part-time student employee to a full-time permanent employee is more difficult than at a private company because it is the government.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – -Relaxed work envrionment.
-Travel compensation is good.
- various project duties are available if you want to work for it.
-Travel to remote locations is nice.

Cons – - Lackluster or just non-exsitant career advancement.
- no recongition for the technicians who collect the data for the published papers
- play the game or get left behind.
- hard work is not rewarded
- management flat out lies to cover their butts.
- the same ole Gov't job notation, the crapy employees get promoted while the the workers are like mushrooms, untill OPM is contacted. Then you are treated like crap cause you are calling out management for their lies/misleadings.
- Do not accept a term posistion ever!
- The districts (state offices) act like they are small single business in competition with each other, and wont work with employees to advance their career, because they are affraid of loosing a good employee to another district.

Advice to Senior Management – Set up career advancement stratorgies and work with the employee to achieve their goals cause it will benfit the organization as a whole.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Genuinely want you to grow in your position.
Plenty of training opportunities.
Respect from colleuges.
Wonderful work/life balance.
Amazing senior staff.
Good management, upper management not so great.
Easy personalities to get along with.
Recognition for work was amazing! Still good but going a little downhill.
I feel valued as an employee.
Benefits are good pay is decent.
True belief in the mission, doing important, ground breaking work in science.
Raises and promotions happen when you do good work.
Hands down the best place I've ever worked.

Cons – Constant reorginizing makes things messy.
Change in upper management has hurt the orginization.
Very strict budget constraints that get tighter and tighter.
Outdated equiptment.
Being goverment, things are very black and white, by the book, not a whole lot of room for creativity.
Heavy workload at times.
Employee morale has dropped due to budgets and change in upper management.
Very difficult to obtain a position unless you are a veteran or student and even that is getting more restrictive.
Older federal employees are a little complacent and relaxed in thier work. Some complaining when change occurs.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Love working with high quality science and people. The caliber of individuals is high and management continues to get generally better.

Cons – Constant worries about budgets and not always having the resources to do what I need to do. Constant reorganizations don't always help.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at US Geological Survey full-time for less than a year

Pros – Very laid back environment
All employees friendly and willing to help
Work hours flexible
Casual dress work-place
Many resources freely available (books, desk utilities, etc)

Cons – Intern programming area can be a bit noisy as it's an open area and many people walk throughout or talk/meet in offices nearby. IT security restrictions are a bit over the top, but it's understandable, being a government agency. Interns don't get access to company parking lot, so it can be difficult finding parking unless a USF parking pass is purchased.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The work schedule is very flexible and all federal vacation days are granted. The people who are in science are generally there because they love what they do, which makes the co-workers decent to work with.

Cons – There is very little opportunity to advance and there is a step system in place that only allows for minor pay raises. Your job is at the mercy of politicians who can freeze cost of living adjustments etc. Due to these types of circumstances your pay can decrease each year relative to inflation. Your job is at risk of being "frozen" during times of congressional budget gridlock. Getting things approved or advanced through administrative support can be very frustrating due to slow moving or incompetent administrative employees. Overall, you're working with very small budgets to do science and the opportunity to apply for federal scientific grants is not available to federal employees. Therefore, it is not possible to obtain solid funding for scientific projects.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep all employees informed on what is happening within your institution - they want to know.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at US Geological Survey as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Relaxed Atmosphere
Flexible Hours
Great opportunities if you pursue them
Work outside (if you're into that)

Cons – Branches are very separated
Will not always feel connected to the rest of the agency
Zero pay increases

Advice to Senior Management – Keep doing what you're doing? It's a gov't agency, I wouldn't expect them to change anything based on my words anyway.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at US Geological Survey as an intern for more than 3 years

Pros – Safe
Comfortable
Relaxed but professional workplace.
Public hearings, seminars and lectures open to employees
Good solid science

I was there as student intern and it was great experience, each semester I grew professionally and took on more duties. Sometimes there would be some built in inefficiencies that were frustrating or those who had been there for decades and just waiting for retirement but overall it was a great student job. And I would highly recommend any student to try to get a job there.

Cons – Low pay
Some employees waiting for retirement and phoning it in till then
Some red tape and inefficiencies to overcome to get things down

Advice to Senior Management – Reward those that do well and try to correct people that dont.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend