Is working in Government a dead end?

I'm a land development/water guy who has 6 years under my belt. Got my PE in '10 and didn't get a raise at my 4-employee firm. My pay will universally be considered low, no need to say exactly what my pay is.

My wife keeps egging me to apply to other jobs. The only problem is she keeps picking out public work for me to apply to. Sure, these positions all pay 30%+ more than I make now.

But I've always viewed government work as more or less a dead end. Is this true? Once I go to the government, will I ever be able to go back to consulting work?

Yes.

Local or State?

Local you can usually have more of a direct impact, be involved, more responsibility, (more ass chewings)

State your more of a number until you get promoted a few times (in my humble experience)

Ive been State - 3 years, Consultant- 10 years, Local- 5 years, ready to move on to something else..

But for example if your a water person, and you go work for a local government that issues permits to developers your going to be involved in reviewing a good many more times the number of hydro studies, etc that come in than you would actually create while working for a land development firm in the same time period.. In that time you can be exposed in either a really good way or a bad way to many future employers...

Be sure to check out APWA (American Public Works Assoc) for job announcements. I got a couple interviews from there and one job offer before I went back to USACE. I went from Fed. to County to private industry and back to Fed so you can go from one to the other. One good thing about Fed, if you're willing to move you can move up the ranks pretty quickly. On the downside, good luck getting a job in Fed as someone trying to get in from the outside.

There are worst things than working for the government. Take my word for that one.

Oh, there is no doubt about it, I will never sign a set of drawings as long as I am with the Gov't (unless it's something I'm doing on the side outside work).

I have a feeling that the whole "Gov't is a dead end" thing came about when construction was booming like crazy and you could expect to get paid a buttload of money in private industry while Gov't pay was fairly modest in comparison.

I've done private sector (oilfield and a&e), state government, and now federal government. You can get yourself into a dead end in any field, and frankly, I was in much worse positions as far as "dead ends" go in the private section. With the fed, I don't feel at all that I'm in a dead end. Like Road Guy said, you get a lot of exposure to future employers, if you wish to look at it that way.

jeb6294 said:

Oh, there is no doubt about it, I will never sign a set of drawings as long as I am with the Gov't (unless it's something I'm doing on the side outside work).

I have a feeling that the whole "Gov't is a dead end" thing came about when construction was booming like crazy and you could expect to get paid a buttload of money in private industry while Gov't pay was fairly modest in comparison.

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Totally agree. The OP already says he's working for a 4 man firm and makes 30% less than the govt pay. I'm going to bet his benefits are likely awful too. I would run and run fast.

jase said:

I'm a land development/water guy who has 6 years under my belt. Got my PE in '10 and didn't get a raise at my 4-employee firm.

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No raise, low pay, 4 person firm - yep sounds like land development today. BTW, you're in a dead end job! That field simply IS not going to come back as strong as it was 10 +- yrs ago, and thats actually a good thing. You're gaining nothing staying where you are just to be private sector; public sector work can be very lucrative & rewarding. If you're licensed, nothing prevents you from going back to private / consulting work. Govt workers typ retire earlier too, and can pick up gravy consultation roles or even "double-dip" w/ another municipal role for a second pension.

A lot of people I know retired and work for consultants making $60 hour. Consultants love them because they can help get them govt contracts and they don't have to pay benefits.

Aside from dealing with politicians, the worst thing about government jobs is the public, unless there is snow,ice,flood,etc they just don't give a **** about anything you do. I've been called out on Sunday's to go oversee a gas main break or something similar at 11:00 PM, only to get crap from citizens when you stop by a gas station to take a piss in a Government vehicle. G comments like, I sure wish I got a free ride on the weekends on the taxpayer dime. Of course I don't take it home, but park it at the office after the chaos is over and then go back home... But of course you can't tell the dumbfuck that your not on free time, not on overtime, just part of the job.....

Road Guy said:

Aside from dealing with politicians, the worst thing about government jobs is the public, ...

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My job got a thousand times better when I got to quit dealing with the general public, just other industry professionals. Sure, there is still the occasional crapstorm, but they are much less frequent and a lot less likely to go the "I'm gonna call [insert legislator here] and he'll straighten this out!" path.

EM_PS said:

jase said:

I'm a land development/water guy who has 6 years under my belt. Got my PE in '10 and didn't get a raise at my 4-employee firm.

Click to expand...

No raise, low pay, 4 person firm - yep sounds like land development today. BTW, you're in a dead end job! That field simply IS not going to come back as strong as it was 10 +- yrs ago, and thats actually a good thing. You're gaining nothing staying where you are just to be private sector; public sector work can be very lucrative & rewarding. If you're licensed, nothing prevents you from going back to private / consulting work. Govt workers typ retire earlier too, and can pick up gravy consultation roles or even "double-dip" w/ another municipal role for a second pension.

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I think the "double-dip" thing may go away soon...

Our governor gets a pension and a salary...$7700/month for his pension and $11000/month for his salary...and our state has paid his $10000/month rent for the past four + years while the mansion was restored. Granted, he would have gotten to move back in two years ago if someone hadn't thrown a molotov cocktail on the porch, but still.

Anyway, people noticed.

Government is good. I occupy an architect position. Went in after the private sector went dead. It's been pretty good. Have been able to work on my license, and get a lot of training. I work around a lot of engineers, who get a lot of project management experience.

It's strange really. Engineers behave more like architects in the government, whereas they do way more project management than what you would normally see in the private sector.

Dleg said:

I've done private sector (oilfield and a&e), state government, and now federal government. You can get yourself into a dead end in any field, and frankly, I was in much worse positions as far as "dead ends" go in the private section. With the fed, I don't feel at all that I'm in a dead end. Like Road Guy said, you get a lot of exposure to future employers, if you wish to look at it that way.

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I've had similar experiences as you. It all really depends who you know and your willingness to keep digging forward to get somewhere whether you are in private or public sector. Generally speaking, private has more potential. Nowadays, economy is pretty bad, so working in public sector might be a lil bit more secure.