This is a problem I have seen trying to staff up technical projects on NIH grants -- even barely-competitive compensation for entry-level developers exceeds that of the senior staff evaluating the grants. Makes everyone feel weird.

Do you think your dad's sysadmin had access to (relatively) more damaging stuff than this person will?

There are lower and higher grade levels for Sys Admins. This particular role is for a GS-13, which should be reflected by the required experienced.

Sorry if I was misunderstood. glup's reply to my comment nailed it.

He started in DOI as a seasonal post-doc for USFW at a GS-5. My point is merely that the work he was doing then, much less at the end of his career, was both much more specialized and much more intrinsically valuable than a sysad working on this project. And I say that as a recovering sysadmin who's overqualified for this role.

As glup pointed out, y'all have to be competitive though, so this was much more of a comment about the priorities of labor markets than this particular posting.

Regardless, appreciate y'all posting roles like this here.