Vantaggi
I work for the Office of the General Counsel. It's great work for an attorney who wants to keep a personal life too. After your first complete year on the job, you're allowed to work from home one day a week. In five years, I've advanced from a GS-11 to a GS-14 and will break $100K this year. I've gotten regular performance bonus awards (not law-firm big, more like $1K) as well as wall-plaque awards. I was able to support my family on my one income while my spouse stayed home with our baby for the first few years. The benefits package is pretty good - comprehensive Blue Cross/Blue Shield, employer match retirement savings account, vision/dental subsidy programs. Leave builds up surprisingly quickly and I'm able to take it whenever I want without clearing it with anyone first. I have periods of lots of work interspersed with times when I've got very little to do. I get a $60/mo. transit subsidy towards my use of public transportation. We're allowed to work with a high degree of independence once you prove your mastery of the job. Management's doors are always open.
Svantaggi
Management is constantly in flux. The overall structure of the agency is constantly being tweaked and rearranged. New procedural approaches are introduced and abandoned with surprising speed. We attorneys are popped into our jobs with absolutely no training on how claims are processed - this last has come back to bite me in the @$$ several times.