Are you asking me? If so, that would probably depend on which part of the government you’d be working for and the company itself. You could probably ask HR or the hiring manager for estimated workload.

Shutdowns and budget cuts are a concern but if you can accrue the maximum PTO rollover each year, that will mitigate a lot of risk there. Also, rumor has it that some project officers won’t send the official stop work order during a shutdown and will just leave until they turn the lights back on. There are different levels of shutdown and depending on the project, they will deem it “critical” and not shut you down. Lastly, budget cuts can impact a project but most companies have a lot of contracts and can just move you to another one. Lastly again, most contracts are annual and they’re contractually obligated to pay so you can plan to look for other jobs or discuss with management well ahead of budget cuts impacting your job.