JFT Ben
Footballguy
For the TL;DR club, after 15 years in engineering consulting I'm thinking about a government position that uses my skillset. Pay and overall compensation would be less. Wondering if anyone has made this sort of move, or work for the gov't in a technical position and what you think of that.
Longer version - I've decided to move on from my current project manager/engineer position at a consulting firm the first quarter of 2015 for a variety of reasons. I've been in consulting my entire 15 year career and find it generally high stress, pretty good work life balance, pretty good pay and benefits (with regular pay bumps and bonuses), and longer hours at times. I'm fortunate to have some options: one open invitation in a consulting firm I worked for in the past, presumably being groomed by my boss for his job when he retires in a few years, the other are two state positions that fit my skillset well. One I was specifically asked to apply for by the division's Bureau Director. The bennies at the state are pretty good (twice as many paid days off), but even with the net present value of the pension, I am expecting both positions' compentsation to come in about 10% (maybe more) less than what I could make on the private sector. I have no desire to be CEO or lead a company or anything, I've always simply wanted to do a good job in my role, help my organization succeed, and go home at the end of the day to my other interests without taking work home with me. This is hard in the consulting world. My wife thinks I'm selling myself (and our family) short by not maximizing earnings, but we're doing fine financially (she makes more than me right now).
Not having worked in government before, what should I expect? I value low stress, but not to the point of boredom. Any thoughts appreciated.
Longer version - I've decided to move on from my current project manager/engineer position at a consulting firm the first quarter of 2015 for a variety of reasons. I've been in consulting my entire 15 year career and find it generally high stress, pretty good work life balance, pretty good pay and benefits (with regular pay bumps and bonuses), and longer hours at times. I'm fortunate to have some options: one open invitation in a consulting firm I worked for in the past, presumably being groomed by my boss for his job when he retires in a few years, the other are two state positions that fit my skillset well. One I was specifically asked to apply for by the division's Bureau Director. The bennies at the state are pretty good (twice as many paid days off), but even with the net present value of the pension, I am expecting both positions' compentsation to come in about 10% (maybe more) less than what I could make on the private sector. I have no desire to be CEO or lead a company or anything, I've always simply wanted to do a good job in my role, help my organization succeed, and go home at the end of the day to my other interests without taking work home with me. This is hard in the consulting world. My wife thinks I'm selling myself (and our family) short by not maximizing earnings, but we're doing fine financially (she makes more than me right now).
Not having worked in government before, what should I expect? I value low stress, but not to the point of boredom. Any thoughts appreciated.
