Yeah, I was a wildlife biologist for TPWD for almost 12 years. I absolutely loved my job. I was based outside of the DFW area, but my supervisor was always either in Tyler or in Austin. So I was always 2+ hours for direct contact with my supervisor, this common for field staff. This is very different from Austin HQ. from my understanding. Much more of the regimented cubical life, but generally very family friendly.

The benifits are decent, but I can tell you that most folks do NOT like state insurance if they have to stick their dependents on it. Better than nothing, but not by much. TPWD employees tend to be VERY passionate about their job, almost to a negative. Several years ago TPWD got slapped when an outside state agency surveyed employees and audited reported time worked. Boiled down, pretty much across the board, there was a "voluntary culture of uncompensated work". In hindsight, I rarely worked less than 60 a week, but only got paid for 40, but the procedure for getting approved for comp time was a pain....so you simply did what needed to be done. Prime example, that was awesome at the time, but in hindsight has 3 of us going "what the hell". In 2011, there was a large RIF forced on TPWD by the LBB (odd since much of TPWD funding has very little impact on the state budget, but the LBB like to use money they can't actually touch to balance the checkbook....that is another story, TPWD can be the stepchild of the state), my program was tasked with planning a large international wildlife management conference being host that year in Austin. I was on the "program committee" that determined which submitted presentation submissions were accepted. I was always known as a night owl, my coworkers knew that emails from me after midnight were not uncommon (which I have subsequently tried to kill as a practice). Anyway, I reviewing my packet of submissions, and fired off and email at 1:33 AM....by 1:35 AM I had responses from the other 2 biologists that were on the same committee. They were up doing the same thing. At the time we thought it was pretty funny, and bad a-- dedication. In hindsight, we realized it was actually somewhat f-ed up. It may get you exceptional on evals, but with TPWD/state that doesn't mean much financially. I got exactly one merit bonus in 11.5 years, and NEVER had anything less than "exceed expectations" across the board through multiple supervisors.....occasionally there might be a little money for merit bonuses, but it might come out that there was one $1000 (so $659) bonus that could go to a person in the District or Program (so 1 for 10-20 people).

The pay factor is ultimately why I left. Working for TPWD/Texas state government in general, you certainly aren't getting rich by any stretch of the imagination. As a single guy, making less than teachers (mind you in a science division good luck getting hired without a Masters) wasn't so bad. When I started, '04, it wasn't uncommon for Technicians with families to be on food stamps (not kidding). By the time I left, a biologist with 6 years experience had pretty well caught up to the pay of a teacher in a larger district.....but you were also likely topped out in pay. That was the crossroad I hit, I was 38 years old and effectively topped out...unless I wanted to move to Austin and a more administrative job duties (not happening). Every 2 years, you might get a 3% raise, typically 2% in year 1 and 1% in year 2. I am known to be a borderline workaholic (and due to the general passion for their positions, extremely common within TPWD), but you have to realize that beyond personal satisfaction, there is no financial gain for doing beyond the bare minimum....I just had an unusual opportunity for a wildlife biologist pop up, and my wife would have shot me had I not taken it.

I have heard that in the 2 years since I have left, things have changed. Some things have become more bueacratically painful (travel). But all my friends that are still there still love what they are doing.

One odd thing if you ever meet Carter Smith, the Executive Director, he is one of those guys with a photographic memory of names and faces. He met my wife once at Expo in 2007 for maybe a 15 second exchange, last week 11 years later and with me 2 years removed from the agency, he asked how she and my son were by name. I made a joke about the 4 rattlesnakes found in my office (actually happened-08 or 09). I made the comment half-hearted in a large group (my office was literally a converted state park restroom building, so literally a cr-p house), apparently Mr. Smith heard it. The next morning, I had message from my supervisor that Mr. Smith was very concerned about the rattlesnakes being able to access our office, and I had direct orders to spend the money needed to keep that from happening (I am extremely frugal by nature, and even more so with hunting license paid money).

With all that said, if something happened to my current position, I would go back to it in a heartbeat......just maybe not in Austin.

As you write this at 12:54 in the morning.