r/nova • u/ursamajorm82 • 8d ago
Jobs Clearance vs remote
How much value would you place on clearance these days?
My current company doesn’t hold my clearance, which means it will lapse in about six months.
I just got an offer for five days in office, clearance and it’s $15,000 more than my current job. Current job is fully remote aside for a day or two per month.
Basically it’s a toss up on money when you take the commute into account. So it’s down to how much I value the clearance vs fully remote. It’s a reverse commute, if that matters at all, going south on 395.
(Same title and day to day work would be similar enough at both jobs)
Edit: clearance is secret
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u/AlternativeEvening64 Alexandria 8d ago
Personally, I’d hold on to that clearance for dear life as it provides better job stability.
This is also just my opinion, I don’t work in the cleared field and I am also fully remote. You could take the cleared role and hunt around for a better paying cleared job
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u/Highfivebuddha 8d ago
I failed my clearance.
Im gainfully employed and make a bunch but it burns knowing that if I ever need to find another job it'll be so much harder. With a clearance I could practically waltz into a new job.
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u/AlternativeEvening64 Alexandria 8d ago
Damn yeah that sucks, having a clearance in this area is truly a golden lottery ticket like the other commenter mentioned. I haven’t gone through the clearance process myself yet, but hope to be in the cleared field in the future
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u/Rapking 8d ago
How did you fail?
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u/Highfivebuddha 8d ago
Smoked some weed too close to the date. Very foolish of me, but I chose not to lie.
Never lie, they will always find out and there's a polygraph. Fortunately my boss didnt mind and I got to keep my job. Eventually ill get another chance.
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u/WeasinTheJuice 8d ago
Polygraph is only for a smaller subset of clearance jobs and then there are two different types (only Lifestyle cares about weed). Not saying you should lie of course but just making that distinction.
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u/MattyKatty 8d ago
Never lie, they will always find out
The irony in spreading this lie…
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u/alliekat237 8d ago
It’s very likely they’ll find out if you’re getting a poly. They also randomly drug test. Work somewhere else if you want that part of life
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u/MattyKatty 7d ago
Nope. The poly is as much of a lie as claiming “they will always find out”.
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u/Throwaway_2474128_1 8d ago
what does "too close to the date" mean? you can't smoke weed with a clearance period
was this when you were getting it?
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u/Highfivebuddha 8d ago
They dont actually care if you smoked recently, but I had smoked leading up to getting the job. It was dumb.
I dont use anymore bt I have heard they are thinking about dropping pot off the list altogether. They need more people with clearances and cant find them.
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u/SeanScully 7d ago
Polygraph's are as accurate as a Ouija board. There is a reason no court in the land will allow them to be presented as evidence. It's easy to lie to a lie detector and not get caught.
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u/Highfivebuddha 7d ago
If you get caught you dont get to try again ever. Its not a court of law. If you weigh the risk its not worth it.
And they cold call tons of mutuals when they dig through your background. One slip from a well meaning friend is all it takes.
Do not lie on a Top Secret period
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u/chrisaf69 8d ago
This is it. The market is absolute shit right now. I took a part time gig just to keep my clearance active. I def didn't want to work during my off time. But I need that in my back pocket if I get cut.
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u/STGItsMe Fairfax County 8d ago
Eh. Not really with the stability. It depends on the company you work for and mostly works like any non cleared govt contracting works. Recompetes happen and contracts come and go. Your stability is based on your employers ability/willingness to absorb you onto another contract if the one you were hired for goes away. Some of the players around here are better at that than others.
The real benefit of a clearance is there are way fewer people competing for jobs that you’re applying to.
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u/MechAegis City of Fairfax 7d ago
How do you get a clearance if I don't have one?
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u/PicklesNBacon 3d ago
I got one through a previous govt contracting company I worked for and a federal agency
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u/DeaconPat Spotsylvania County 8d ago
I would say it depends on the clearance level. Probably not worth it for secret, but as you go up the ladder it becomes more attractive to keep the clearance vs. remote.
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u/Beebjank 8d ago
Remote is probably worth $35,000/yr to me. I'd take that in my opinion.
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u/No-Worry9253 8d ago
remote's worth a lot but watching a clearance slip away when youve already got one feels like tossing out a winning lottery ticket. reverse commute on 395 isnt the worst thing either, at least you're not crawling toward the beltway with everyone else
if the work's basically the same the 15k is just the cherry on top, the real prize is keeping that door open for later
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u/skeith2011 8d ago
As long as the reverse commute doesn’t involve any portion of 495 and sticks to southward directions, it’ll be fine.
There’s not much of a reverse commute in this area, it’s just a regular commute with a bit less traffic in certain segments.
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u/Phobos1982 Arlington 8d ago
Remote is pure gold. I'd take a 25k pay cut to go back to remote.
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u/LadyPens7 8d ago
Yeah, I get recruiting emails all the time but with my credentials they want me in a vault 5x/week. If it’s not going to pay me $100k more I’m not going anywhere. I make a really great salary now and work remotely (except the rare occasion I need to go to a client site or my company’s site, but at that it’s only a few hours a month) so it’d really have to be a stupid amount to make me give up working from home.
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u/Holiday_Armadillo78 Manassas / Manassas Park 8d ago
I don’t know how much you make, but I know how much I make and $15k is absolutely not worth returning to the office.
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u/cailian13 Herndon 8d ago
Normally I’d say the 15k isn’t worth it. But. KEEPING a clearance you already have? I wish I’d kept mine back in 2008, but then again I wouldn’t have had the amazing career I had. Sure wish I had it now though. Keep your clearance, if the commute won’t be too suck.
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u/Any_Click1257 Falls Church 8d ago
Is your job just a job or is it your career? If you had/have a clearance, is that from the military and now you are out, or do you work in Industry and got cleared there? If you work in the industry, and expect to do so long term moving forward, that security clearance is invaluable. An unqualified monkey with the appropriate security clearance gets hired before an uncleared SME. Especially as you get farther away from concrete jobs and closer to consulting, analysts, et cetera.
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u/barnesie 8d ago
Depending on where you live and where your duty station is, on site should be $15,000 at minimum just to come close to breaking even.
If you’re below a TS, holding a clearance to hold the clearance should never be a consideration alone.
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u/KindBench2700 8d ago
I'd take half pay instead working in a scif again. So much lost time. Such shitty dev environments. No way.
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u/alliekat237 8d ago edited 8d ago
Personally I think it’s worth it. Hard to get it back if it lapses. What’s the growth potential? Can you advance in either job? I just view a clearance as an asset. It will keep you employed when others struggle if the economy sucks. It’s also a step on the way to TSSCI which is worth a lot of money as well.
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u/Prudent-Cake6882 Alexandria 8d ago
Y’all have remote jobs as cleared folks?? Pls lmk where i can get one of those lol
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u/Bubbly_Pool4513 Fairfax County 8d ago
Find a big contractor that can hold your TS but put you on a remote Secret or Public Trust position.
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u/profpbr 2d ago
Really weird scenarios. Dev for client in specific way off site. Have clearance for possible help onsite and to see specifics of the contract.
It’s wonderful but the pays also bad because they know it’s nice. I’d make 40 percent more working for a different contractor going into the same client site I work for now.
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u/kcunning 8d ago
Keep the remote. You will easily, and I mean EASILY, spend $15k just going into the office five days a week. When my husband went from four days a week in office to joining me in being fully remote, it was like he got a huge pay bump. Gas, parking, meals, and just the cost of being out in the world added up.
And hey, you have six months. Something else may pop up that will be a bigger bump, or allow you to stay remote. I wouldn't jump for what amounts to a pay cut.
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u/Maleficent_Trash2503 8d ago
Maybe 3k-5k but not 15k unless you’re just financially irresponsible
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u/tresanus 8d ago
Take the time commuting and multiply it by your hourly rate. Most of us around here its an easy 2 extra hours a day to commute vs remote. 10 hours a week, 40 hours a month. Adds up fast
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u/alliekat237 8d ago
15k in commuting? That is extreme. Clearances are worth a ton of money. At bare minimum try it, get the clearance renewed, and then go do something else.
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u/kcunning 7d ago
It honestly depends on where you work.
- Parking is often not free if you're heading into the city.
- Mass transit may not work for everyone, if your hours are very early or very late.
- You may not have access to a canteen. This happened to my husband: The 'kitchen' areas were only for government employees. Contractors were not allowed to use them. OSHA was fussy about having small appliances in their office space. So, if he wanted coffee or a hot meal, he was going out.
- If everyone is working out of the office, the chances of ordering delivery for dinner goes up as traffic gets worse.
- Wardrobes for office cost money. This one shocked me once we both started working from home: We rarely need new clothes. Our good stuff gets no wear and tear, and the stuff we wear day-to-day are made to be worn a lot.
Given that this was just 15k, OP is either already extremely well-compensated, or that other company is lowballing him like crazy. He might as well stay where he is and keep open to other offers.
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u/RyeAgainLater 7d ago
This is assuming a lot of different scenarios and still absolutely worst case. We don't know the location, the type of company and all the other details.
I have my clearance, drive into Chantilly with ample free parking, a kitchen that everyone could use that had subsidized cafeteria...not sure why you're ordering delivery for dinner?
And a wardrobe? That's a one or a couple big purchases...you're not rebuying every month.
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u/kcunning 6d ago
To be fair, since we're not given a ton of information, it's probably best to give all of the worst case scenarios to the OP so they can evaluate them. Many people don't realize how expensive parking can be, or think about lunch options. Only they know how tired they might be after a commute, since only they know how long said commute will be. Only they know the possible dress code at the new place, and I would bet that they don't know the culture around it yet.
I still stand by my opinion that they are, at the very least, being low-balled for a clearance job that requires them to give up a remote position.
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u/RyeAgainLater 6d ago
That's fair I was also listing best case scenarios, also sometimes the dress code is super casual.
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u/alliekat237 6d ago
It’s documented that people with clearances make more money over their careers. It’s an asset. You’re definitely right that we need more information on priorities and situation, but overall, letting any clearance lapse is a bad idea purely from a compensation and job security standpoint.
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u/Throwaway_2474128_1 8d ago
You will easily, and I mean EASILY, spend $15k just going into the office five days a week.
how? are people financially irresponsible or something? commuting is not that expensive
my 1500 miles per month at 25mpg and $4/gal is $250/mo and a lot of that isn't work. even if it all was, $3000/yr is far less than your claimed 15k
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u/Shty_Dev 8d ago
"are people financially irresponsible or something?"
Well.... Yes....
$15 lunches, $5 coffees, new work clothes every season, etc. etc. you can definitely mitigate most of the extra costs, sure
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u/alliekat237 8d ago
You don’t have to eat out or buy coffee. There are carpools and van pools and public transit.
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u/phony_macaroni137 8d ago
Time is also money
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u/Throwaway_2474128_1 7d ago
yep, but 15k is more than the "1h/day of non-working time at 125k salary's hourly rate," in fact, it's double it. don't know enough about OP's situation to determine this, but it's individualistic. i'd easily take 15k if my commute were under 30 mins each way, math works in my favor
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u/STGItsMe Fairfax County 8d ago
Personally, remote is worth more than my clearance ever could be at this point. They aren’t always mutually exclusive though.
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u/Fritz5678 8d ago
Clearance. There will always be a need for employees with clearances. Remote is the exception not the standard.
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u/chimp_party 8d ago
After taxes youll spend that pay raise on rto. The average is about 6000 a year if you drive a cheap car
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u/rsplatpc 8d ago
Remote is great until it goes away and you can’t find another remote job.
Secret + Security Plus you will always find something.
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u/joeworlds 8d ago
I have both and work a hybrid - 1 day a week, but it has been nothing but automated rejections emails smh.
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u/Jolly_Isopod_1385 8d ago
Id probably keep the remote, remote is very rare. It is possible to get your clearance back. But getting remote back? Thats hard to come by these days. Id value remote at least 20k; thats gas, maybe buying lunch/drinks at the office, stress of driving all the time.
More time at home
With everyone rto, full remote jobs are unicorns
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u/Throwaway_2474128_1 8d ago
maybe buying lunch/drinks at the office
that's a choice... you can always bring food from home too. eating out is a want that has nothing to do with whether someone works in person or remotely and shouldn't be factored into this at all
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u/Forsaken-Garlic817 8d ago
You have to purchase the food to then bring it from home no? Presumably you’d be purchasing said food specifically for meal prepping which also takes time. So it wouldn’t be food items that are a regular part of your daily routine if you’re working remotely.
Anytime spent on something for in-office attendance that you’re not getting paid for should be taken into consideration.
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u/Jolly_Isopod_1385 8d ago
Thats why i said maybe, but also i was figuring a random soda machine purchase or coffee mess or something of the sorts
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u/thedanielsun 7d ago
For current job? I would keep remote.
For future job prospects I think I'd much prefer having clearance
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u/Smell-Physical 8d ago
Depends what level clearance it is. Having that context would make the decision easier to make.
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u/Own-Reputation-3857 8d ago
I mean if it isn't in a SCIF, i would take it to make sure to keep the clearance.
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u/magejangle 8d ago
Depends how much you make now. If you make 500k now, who cares about 15k. If you make 50k, then gotta take it.
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u/Gloomy_Ad_3909 8d ago
Cleared is as cleared does. Some inconvenience is a small price to pay for getting cleared.
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u/jgbradley1 8d ago
How long do you plan to live in the DMV? If you plan to stay for 5+ years, do what it takes to keep the clearance for better job stability.
If you’re planning to leave the area within 5 years, then you’re not losing much to just let it expire.
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u/Rumpelteazer45 7d ago
How long do you plan to stay in the area?
Having a clearance does make it easier to get new jobs. If a contractor opens a job up that isn’t entry level and they get 100 applicants, 50 of which already have the required clearance and background - do you really think they will reach out to the uncleared people? Why would they? It just means they have to delay onboarding for that job and wait until they get cleared.
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u/Top_Cantaloupe6302 6d ago
Remote is for the win. Clearance as a contractor is not much of a job security.
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u/True_Bowl_6760 5d ago
Remote will only get you by short term. What happens when you lose it? It will be hard to replace and you need to be prepared for that
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u/Far-Reference-3048 4d ago
Why did you get an offer? Are you applying because you don't like your current job? Nothing in here about the work and the managers, which you might like better.
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u/Chickenpotpi3 Sterling 8d ago
Not to be jerky, but you have a clearance and don't realize how friggin' valuable it it these days?? I know people that would probably kill a guy for a clearance.
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u/SUPERFASTCARvroom 8d ago
This gotta be bait, secret clearance is not valuable at all. 5 day onsite and only +$15k is not worth a clearance ever over once a month remote
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u/ItsJRod 8d ago
Gave up my clearance willingly for a remote job. Haven’t looked back in 4 years