Hehe, I work for the government too, and believe me, I only wish I could make $30 an hour. I'm currently around $22.5. That being said, I'm also the highest paid non-director level position at my location, so that's 15 people being paid more than me, and ~600 being paid less, and some significantly less. On the other hand, I have a 35 hour work week, 13 days vacation (until next year, then it jumps to 19), When I go home, I'm home. If I work more than 40 in a week, I get overtime. I've gotten a raise every year I've been there, we have a phenomenal retirement system, full medical, dental, vision, etc. There are LOTS of more important things than just plain salary. My wife can retire in 3 years if she wants to. She won't, but she could. My department has 3 people in it. Me, my wife, and the new guy. The nice thing about that last bit is that they'd be in a world of hurt if they got rid of me, and they all know it. I have exclusive knowledge of too many site-specific systems that nobody else ever touches. Not that they couldn't train somebody, but it would be a painful transition for them. Actually, the new guy/girl would just have to figure it out as he/she went along since there would be nobody left to train them. Our newest employee has been in the field for 5 months now, all at the city, and he knows just enough to be dangerous. The good thing is that everyone knows this. He currently can't handle much more than installing printers and new computers, and sometimes he can't even do that, so I'm pretty secure there. He gets to chase all the "my mouse quit working" calls while I am busy maintaining our servers and handling the more important/difficult (i.e. fun) calls.

In short, I like my job. I've been offered almost double by private firms, but I've been there, done that, and don't plan on doing it again. Oh, the other nice thing is, if I feel like calling in and telling them I won't be in till 1, it's no problem, as long as I have the comp time built up, and believe me, I do.