re: Private Sector vs state employment

Like others have said, it's ultimately what you want.

Private sector more pay, likely more hours. Benefits will depend on where you work, but there are private companies with excellent benefits. Raises will be both merit and promotion. Private is dependent on winning work, so there can be some job security concerns at times. Your retirement is self directed; you control your 401(k) and/or IRA.

Public sector: set schedule, less stress but less pay. Lots of holidays even some extra declared holidays. Weather days where you are told to stay home and those are covered. Auto-advancement eventually stops, so you'll stagnate pay wise until you can get an applied for position; it's tough to jump applicants who've been there longer and there's a limit to the number of these positions. Without promotion, there's set raise criteria. Medical and retirement are good but vision and dental you'll have to get on your own; the state doesn't negotiate with a sole source for these. There is an option for a 401k still plan, but it's post tax with no match (the state of LA already contributes 2.3% of all payroll to the retirement fund).

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I think state employment was created for those who can’t hack it in the real world. So, depends which you fit into.

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Too much of blanket statement; there's some that fit that mold, but there's some very intelligent and capable people who work for the state agencies.

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I think state employment was created for those who can’t hack it in the real world. So, depends which you fit into.

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He posted in the middle of the work day totally unironically.

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Actually I’d argue that folks who work for the government are often in a better position than the general public to observe how the government spends its money and offer insight on such.

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I agree. I’ve been with the state for 7 years and I fully support cutting the state government workforce in half. I’ve been with 2 different agencies (a smaller one & now a bigger one) and both could easily lose half their staff and continue to operate just fine.

Check our govsalary.com to get an idea of how much some state workers are making. Engineers at places like DOTD do very well and still enjoy the benefits of government work. Plus, you usually get off for weather events & holidays.

If i worked at cpra i would bust my arse everyday as a young engineer. im just passionate about the coast and doing what needs to be done to control it and save it.

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What pisses me off the most is that its difficult to move up because some people hold on to their jobs for forever.

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Yes. The boomers are not retiring. Work is their identity.

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I went into my states DMV office last month and it looked closed

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You can't really compare the staffer at the DMV with a civil/environmental engineer at CPRA/DEQ/DOTD.

Sure both are classified state positions (like apples and oranges are both fruit), but the actual workers in these positions and the workload are night and day.

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I'm guessing Alabama state employees have both SS and AL pension taxes taking out of their pay?

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Yes, they take out SS and pension in Alabama. I believe they take out 7.5% for those who still have the Tier 1 pension. Not sure the numbers for the newer Tier 2 plans.

State employees that leave for “private sector” are leaving to make different large amounts of figurehead c suite money, not usually state analyst lever II leaving for “private sector” billing specialists job at doctor office.

Some good people start out in state and don’t know the difference. Only people I’ve known to go from private to state were completely worthless and was a last resort.