Pros
Flexible schedule, low stress, and a regular paycheck, that's about it. Some great people, but many realize you won't be around for long and keep their distance.
Cons
It could be a great experience for contractors, but read on to find out why it isn't. Cons You will be working for a contracting company and work on site with other contractors and federal workers. The contracting companies only interest is in collecting 30 to 50% of the total bill rate and to pay the contractor the minimum. They will resist in most cases paying for things not clearly defined in the contract. Therefore you must be careful in the upfront negotiations or you will suffer. Remember you are being hired only with the skills you currently have, you are no more and no less for your entire tenure at BPA. Most of the interesting work at BPA is contracted out to third parties, remember it is Bonneville Power ADMINISTRATION. You don't get to do the interesting work, you administer those who do that work. Management is poor with little backbone, BPA spends so much time trying to make everyone in the region is happy very little gets done in an acceptable time frame. You will learn to be patient. Contractors fall into two categories, under performers who will be fired eventually or good performers who, if they are worth their salt, will be looking for permanent work elsewhere. BPA needs a new strategy if they actually expect to retain good talent. The biggest issue here is that they have a FTE limit arbitrarily set so that they can only have so many Federal employees, the rest must be contractors. Expect poor benefits, low pay, constant road blocks (especially for contractors), and seeing federal employees skate-by doing minimal work (although some are really great). I recommend considering a contract position only if: 1. You negotiate a very good payrate, remember to included costs of wages, benefits, training, etc 2. You are desperate for work or a paycheck 3. You don't mind being reminded how little you can do (only Federal employees can 'make decisions', write contracts, etc) and / or are valued 4. You don't expect to grow in your career, no raises, no training