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Message
re: Private Sector vs state employment
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:27 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:27 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I haven't worked for the state since 2018, but they did not pay for my CPA at the time. I can't remember if it was because they didn't allow it to be expensed or if I didn't want to potentially owe the state government anything.
I worked with some really talented people, and some absolute zeros. I was a young a-hole who also never really fit in 100% either.
I worked with some really talented people, and some absolute zeros. I was a young a-hole who also never really fit in 100% either.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:29 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
Do you want to wkrk, or just collect a paycheck?
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:32 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
quote:
CPRA
Does a ton of government work. You could take the job and go the government route later, plus come in in higher end of pay scale
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:33 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I worked for LSU once and it sucked because I often worked 15 hour days for absolutely no extra pay.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:36 am to jrobic4
both. but not go somewhere for the money. i did that for my current job (pays well but doing something i dont like) and i f**kin hate it
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:38 am to jrobic4
quote:
CPRA
quote:
Does a ton of government work. You could take the job and go the government route later, plus come in in higher end of pay scale
CPRA isn't a private entity.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:40 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
quote:
its an engineering job for CPRA. im young and just trying to figure out my life right now
Engineering jobs are a little different than your general environmental ones like Environmental Scientist or Biologist.
Engineer Intern 1 position is a great start with a state as you get the qualified experience needed to take the PE. I would take the Engineer Intern position over a non-engineer position in the private sector for sure.
Might be a terrible time to start at CPRA because there's a chance you'll get cut loose if they merge CPRA with DENR as you'll likely still be probational. But... A job is a job. Better to start your engineer career now rather than working in a different position.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:42 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
State work you never have to worry about getting fired for not being profitable.
Private sector it’s all about the bottom line profits
Private sector it’s all about the bottom line profits
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:43 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
federal is much better if you are a democrat then you can get retirerment and ss
This post was edited on 4/16/24 at 8:25 am
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:43 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
The biggest plus for state work when I worked there was the amount of leave. I had 5 weeks of vacation every year, and would accrue 2 days every month. Retirement is also pretty good, but I left before that affected me. Pay in private sector for what I was doing varies widely, but at the time that I left it was about equal in the market that I was working in.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:46 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I’ll weigh in since I’ve worked both. Agree with most of what’s been said but I would add that in some fields the discrepancy in pay is huge. As in 2-3x difference.
But, it doesn’t do much good to make a ton of money if you have no time to enjoy it. For me, state has been better since I still do okay and can go to all of my kids’ events and enjoy my weekends. In the private sector, I was working every weekend, missing out on important events and was just generally stressed out and tired all the time.
But, it doesn’t do much good to make a ton of money if you have no time to enjoy it. For me, state has been better since I still do okay and can go to all of my kids’ events and enjoy my weekends. In the private sector, I was working every weekend, missing out on important events and was just generally stressed out and tired all the time.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:48 am to Piebald Panther
It depends what career you’re in.. obviously the state pay is not great for lower level maintenance and labor jobs.
For engineering, yes you make less than consulting firms but after the new SER rates took place in 2019, the pay scale shifted by at least 15k for entry level positions, and at that point I was only making 10k more in private, at mid-small size civil engineering firm. Barely noticeable after taxes..
Came back to the state and have gotten a 3-4% raise each summer with JBE in office… Don’t know that it’ll continue with Landry.
But that put me right around what I was making in consulting, maybe a little less. Still six figures and +/- a couple grand.
Way more stability, less stress, and better benefits, plenty time off. I just depends what you value.
In civil, there’s plenty of jobs in transportation to go around at the state level. I could see why some civils would work for a large firm or oil company if you have a structural background, but working at a small transportation firm vs the state doesn’t make sense to me unless you just want to say you work for a consultant.
For engineering, yes you make less than consulting firms but after the new SER rates took place in 2019, the pay scale shifted by at least 15k for entry level positions, and at that point I was only making 10k more in private, at mid-small size civil engineering firm. Barely noticeable after taxes..
Came back to the state and have gotten a 3-4% raise each summer with JBE in office… Don’t know that it’ll continue with Landry.
But that put me right around what I was making in consulting, maybe a little less. Still six figures and +/- a couple grand.
Way more stability, less stress, and better benefits, plenty time off. I just depends what you value.
In civil, there’s plenty of jobs in transportation to go around at the state level. I could see why some civils would work for a large firm or oil company if you have a structural background, but working at a small transportation firm vs the state doesn’t make sense to me unless you just want to say you work for a consultant.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:49 am to KamaCausey_LSU
Also, if you get an interview. Never mention the "foot in the door" line about why you want to work for them.
I've seen otherwise decent candidates get immediately rejected because they consider themselves overqualified but just want a "foot in the door."
An engineer intern job with CPRA would also give you a chance to build some professional contacts as the bidding and work process will have you working very close with private industry.
I've seen otherwise decent candidates get immediately rejected because they consider themselves overqualified but just want a "foot in the door."
An engineer intern job with CPRA would also give you a chance to build some professional contacts as the bidding and work process will have you working very close with private industry.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:52 am to Suntiger
quote:
private business is often arbitrary and up to the whim of one or two people.
Tell me you’ve never worked for a large company with actually telling me.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:56 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
quote:
its an engineering job for CPRA. im young and just trying to figure out my life right now
You can make bank working for the state as an engineer. And CPRA pays their engineers well. It’s not as much money as you could make in private more than likely, but that’s where you have to weigh the benefits of both and make the choice that best suits you.
But being an engineer for the State is sort of like the best of both worlds. You’ll pretty quickly be making more than more state workers but you’ll also have the stability, retirement, etc. I’d say do it for a while and if you like it stick with it, and if you don’t you can most likely find a private job (and your government experience will likely benefit you). You can even take out the money you’ve put into retirement when you sever ties with the state as well (though I don’t recommend that unless you are 100% sure you’ll never go back).
This post was edited on 4/18/24 at 6:51 am
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:57 am to Suntiger
quote:
The “lazy state worker” is a bad meme.
My business often interacts with state & federal employees. I couldn't disagree with you more. The majority of them barely work.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 7:59 am to Epic Cajun
I worked for the state for a few years fresh out of college. This was 25 years ago, but at the time the pay wasn't competitive. I left for the private sector for like a 70% pay bump.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:02 am to fallguy_1978
I get that State Employees have a bad wrap and deservedly so. But don't paint with the brush that all agencies are the same.
There are different work environments/cultures in some of these and they do well.
quote:
• Agriculture & Forestry
• Attorney General
• Boards and Commissions
• Children & Family Services
• Civil Service
• Clerk of Court
• Coastal Protection & Restoration
• Culture, Recreation & Tourism
• Division of Administration
• Economic Development
• Education
• Environmental Quality
• Ethics Administration
• Governor
• Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
• Health
• Insurance
• Legislative Auditor
• Legislature
• LA Community & Technical College System
• LA National Guard
• LSU System
• Natural Resources
• Public Safety
• Public Service Commission
• Revenue
• Secretary of State
• Southern University System
• State Police
• Supreme Court
• Transportation & Development
• Treasury
• University of LA System
• Veterans Affairs
• Wildlife & Fisheries
• Workforce Commission
There are different work environments/cultures in some of these and they do well.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:13 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I've done both.
Private sector: pay is usually far better, profit motive pushes for less tolerance for bad employees... usually (things like DEI being an obvious exception).
Healthcare plans vary wildly, time off is limited.
Retirement can be good, but it's all on you.
Public sector: lower pay but lack of a profit motive can allow for shitty employees to remain far longer than they would in the private sector (even being bounced around).
Healthcare plans are generally better (except for couples), time off can be ridiculously good (depending on the state).
Retirement is solid, you just have to put the time in and be competent enough to not get fired (which can range from being an extremely low bar in some offices to a bar with constantly randomized height in others).
Management in both sectors can be influenced by office politics. Weak management is weak management. That said, I've seen a greater propensity of weak managers in the public sector. Those managers usually promote less-quality employees, then get them promoted to management as well. These managers often job-jump to other agencies before they can be held accountable. The lack of a profit motive and political hirings (unclassified agency heads) seem to allow that to flourish more (or at least be more noticeable) in the public sector than in the private.
I've seen flagrantly wasteful spending in both sectors (see: management), but I've seen less accountability for it in the public sector.
Oddly, I've encountered more who are actually interested in ways to do more while spending less in the public sector, it's just that those management types who aren't concerned with using taxpayer dollars wisely tend to have greater authority in spending (and greater amounts to spend).
A footnote to retirement: It doesn't matter if you worked your full 40 quarters in the Social Security system. Once you become vested in the state's pension plan you automatically lose around half of whatever SS benefits you would have gotten had you done anything else but go to work for a state system which does not pay into the federal government's Ponzi scheme.
Private sector: pay is usually far better, profit motive pushes for less tolerance for bad employees... usually (things like DEI being an obvious exception).
Healthcare plans vary wildly, time off is limited.
Retirement can be good, but it's all on you.
Public sector: lower pay but lack of a profit motive can allow for shitty employees to remain far longer than they would in the private sector (even being bounced around).
Healthcare plans are generally better (except for couples), time off can be ridiculously good (depending on the state).
Retirement is solid, you just have to put the time in and be competent enough to not get fired (which can range from being an extremely low bar in some offices to a bar with constantly randomized height in others).
Management in both sectors can be influenced by office politics. Weak management is weak management. That said, I've seen a greater propensity of weak managers in the public sector. Those managers usually promote less-quality employees, then get them promoted to management as well. These managers often job-jump to other agencies before they can be held accountable. The lack of a profit motive and political hirings (unclassified agency heads) seem to allow that to flourish more (or at least be more noticeable) in the public sector than in the private.
I've seen flagrantly wasteful spending in both sectors (see: management), but I've seen less accountability for it in the public sector.
Oddly, I've encountered more who are actually interested in ways to do more while spending less in the public sector, it's just that those management types who aren't concerned with using taxpayer dollars wisely tend to have greater authority in spending (and greater amounts to spend).
A footnote to retirement: It doesn't matter if you worked your full 40 quarters in the Social Security system. Once you become vested in the state's pension plan you automatically lose around half of whatever SS benefits you would have gotten had you done anything else but go to work for a state system which does not pay into the federal government's Ponzi scheme.
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