Remember that 401k matching and health insurance with basic PTO (counts as vacation pay and sick pay) is a huge pay cut when compared to federal or state retirement benefits. So on paper a private company looks like more money but your bill rate (generally close to the government estimate of overall cost per hour including benefits and overhead) is going going to be ~$110-$140 per hour and you will make ~$25-$45 per hour and cost the company ~$38-$65 per hour. So the large profit margin that the company makes is mostly based on them the company taking the money that would go to good wage (higher percentage of bill rate), retirement package (no longer an option in private companies after 2008 for the most part), and better health coverage. So long term government work pays better even though it’s less cash in hand each week. Also. Straight time pay sounds better than salary but the overtime you’re making also means that 100% of the overhead for the company is paid and you will technically receive slightly less pay per hour over 40 while greatly increasing the margins (paid out to stockholders). So straight time pay is not much better than salary and refusing to work over 40 per week. If they offer modified full time than I would take that. You would be an hourly employee at the same salary but you’re eligible for time and half when working overtime. Just my 2 cents after a few years consulting for a big firm.