Working at the CDC (Atlanta: home, employment, contractors)

[soccerphan]

I'm interested in hearing from any/all that work at the CDC. What do you love about it - and what's not so great? I have a graduate degree and my career so far (20 years) has been in health care operations/administration - with a particular passion/emphasis on Occupational Medicine/workers compensation/non-occ disability and employer health and wellness services. I'm looking at employment options for our upcoming relocation to Atlanta.

How was the hiring process? How is working for the Fed. Gov? The CDC has a great name in my world in Seattle - is it as great in reality?

[plessthanpointohfive]

Hey, soccerphan, I work at CDC as a contractor. I'm a statistician so I work on the research side not the programmatic side. Someone with your skillset could probably work on either side.

50% of CDC's workforce is made up of contractors. It's VERY hard to actually get a government job right at almost anytime but especially right now....not unusual in a Republican administration. I'm not being controversial...Republicans like less government and more privatization so they like contracting government work out. I think it ends up being more expensive but.... Also, with THIS Republican administration we're paying for an expensive war, which means less money is going towards science and public health.

Anyway, while I don't actually work FOR CDC, only AT CDC, I have to say my loyalty is with CDC, not my contracting company. And this is almost always true, despite the fact that there's a caste system at CDC where contractors are in the lower caste. Some of that is necessary because as a contractor you're not a federal employee and, therefore, cannot represent CDC in manners of budget, contracts, or business, etc.

What do I love:
1 - the whole "save the world" thing because you're working for the better health of all people. Not just Americans because CDC is really a world leader in public health. It's nice to know you're working for an organization where the priority is not on the bottom dollar. And people here CARE about people. I know CDC gets a lot of criticism from the media, especially regarding immunizations. And that's okay. That's good for the media and the public to keep CDC accountable. But, the people who work here really want better health for everone.

2 - easy atmosphere. Some people have lots of flexibility. It really depends on your contracting company and/or your CDC boss. My conctracting company does not allow flextime or telecommuting, despite the fact that CDC allows it. But other contracting companies also allow it. CDC is really starting to promote telecommuting because of Atlanta's traffic. There are a lot of people who come in 2-3 days a week and work at home the rest. I don't think there's anyone who telecommutes 5 days a week on a regular basis. Though, when CDC started promoting the telecommuting policy there was a joke going around that the only people on the CDC campuses would be contractors...

3 - a good place to advance your career. This is an organization where someone could come after college or a Masters degree and stay here 30 years and climb the ranks. CDC is real good about internal promotion and putting it's staff in positions to use their talents.

What's not so great:

1 - the fact that it's so hard to get an actual federal job. Means less job security. As a contractor your job is over when the money for your projects dry up. Some projects/programs have an indefinite lifespan. Others have a finite one. This being said, if your CDC boss likes you when the money for the project dries up they find a place for you on another project, or they try to convert you to federal.

2 - parking on the main CDC campus. I don't have to deal with this because I bike to work but I hear it from my friends at work. The main Campus, which is adjacent to Emory's campus, is undergoing massive renovation. I mean knocking down old pre/post war buildings and building new state-of-the art facitilites. There was some uproar in the media some time back about the amount of tax dollars being spent. However, CDC needs Biosafety Level 4 labs to contain and study the most dangerous biological agents. Not to mention some of the buildings, like the one I am in (the last original CDC Building, in fact the first CDC building), are labeled "sick" buildings.

Anyway, with this massive renovation there are new parking towers but they tend to be quite a hike from just about anyone's building. so, you park and then you walk for 10 minutes. Now, being a CDC staffer of some sort...not supposed to complain about the exercise. But, most people complain...

Also, if CDC is hosting a meeting or conference then parking gets soaked up by visitors and staffers are stuck in limbo.

Parking at the other campuses isn't supposed to be a problem....

3 - demonstrators! I guess this is good and bad. I've never been in a situation where I felt threatened by a demonstrator but they come out a few times a year and protest about something, usually vaccination.

4 - stereotypical government inefficiency. Now, I don't think this is a problem on the research or programmatic level. More in the day to day stuff. For instance...the vent in my closet-sized interior office broke so I have no ventilation...it gets hot and stuffy in my office. I called maintenance and they came and looked and said they'd order a part...that was 3 months ago. Also, when I got here I had to fill out all these forms, get fingerprinted, take computer safety training, etc, to get my badge. And you need a badge to be on campus except for the Visitor's Center. All that took over a month. So I had to sign in as a guest every day and my boss had to come escort me from the guest entrance to my office and back every day. What a pain!



If you have any questions please feel free to DM me.

[Jobquest]

Hello! I read your post...very informative! Are you still at the CDC? I ask because I have an interest in working within the television production division. Are you familiar with this side of the CDC?