Is working for the VA rewarding or simply a typical government job full of bureaucracy and hierarchy?

The VA is just like any other job. You have bad workers anywhere including the Military

CPT Jason Mitchell, MBA, I've worked for the VA for nearly a year. As with any job there is good and bad, inspirational and depressing. Despite the bad press, the team I work with (both Veterans and "civilians" is passionate about serving our customers.
For anyone to work in either in the public sector or for a non-profit, association is critical. As a Veteran, you have an affinity toward our clientele and it would therefore serve as an excellent motivating impetus for your work ethic. I'm very happy in my role at the VA and would recommend pursuing that career opportunity.
Please contact me if you have any questions I might be able to answer.

I enjoy working with the veterans, and find most of my coworkers decent. The 20 % that don't give a rat's ass and have the stereotypical federal employee attitude do a lot more than their share of damage. They need a good overhaul.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.. even if it is to those Veterans that you take care of..

I served within the VA for close to three years as an IT Specialist. For the most part itwas very enjoyable helping Veterans. I will say that I was surprised by the entitlement that some Veterans displayed towards other Veterans.
While my Supervisor was not a Veteran himself, he was passionate about providing uncompromising customer service. I found the VA to be a very rewarding place to work and enjoyed my time there. The VA does have leadership programs and focused on patient centered care.

It all depends on the location of the VA dept and who your work with. I am a previous employer of the VA. I worked mental heath and I found the VA to be full of red tape and employees only looking to get bonuses. There are many good employees working for the VA but there is no accountability what so ever

As long as you can handle dysfunction, politics and nepotism ...go for it!!

I only have this second hand from people who work in Federal civilian jobs in the Boston area. They tell me that VA is by far the worst government agency to work for. That doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue a position there. Changing a bad agency takes courage and good people who don't succumb to a rotten culture. It has to start somewhere.

While I don't work at the Federal VA in my current position with the WDVA VetCorps I do send a lot of veterans to the Spokane VA Medical Center as workstudies also known as student employees. Just this year I out of the 15 I have sent down there to work 4 have been hired full time and they love it there.

I am a retired CSM I worked for the VA in several capacities such as mental health counseling but had to leave for medical problems. My wife, a clinical nurse practitioner retired from the VA two years ago. She had difficulties with poor management people screwing up the works. This has largely been corrected with force retirement of poor management and some good new management. I have been volunteering at the VA on and off for many years. It is rewarding to me as at times I am able to help a veteran with some supportive veteran service organizations. You pursuit of healthcare administration addresses what I have seen as the VA healthcare system's biggest weakness. Many administrators to include SES simply move up the ladder, job to job without the background to really excel. There are 139 VAMC's and they are ranked from the top like Menlo Park VAMC to the bottom, El Paso, TX. (can be found online) Much of this has to do with the VAMC being located and partnered with a Class A medical school. General Shinsheki was on the right tract to fixing major VA problems but was back sided by lying staff to include the VA IG. The congress and veterans groups pressured him to resign. The current VA secretary has made some progress but there are still bad apples in directors and chiefs of staff that are protected by civil service laws. What I see as another major problem is the political decision made some years back to provide VA care for literally all veterans. This allowed many who are veterans in name only - eliminated from the service, no service connected problems, and generally taking up a lot of appointments that could be better used for those more deserving.