Anyone work for the Public Sector here? Pros and Cons

Thorkell wrote: ↑ Provincial/Federal? Pros and cons of what its like?

Long story short: I have been approached by a former colleague about a potential opening in a provincial entity. No french. Some serious revamp in their tech infrastructure so Im assuming there will be lots of work.

BUT, considering how everyone says public sector work is cushy, comfortable, you really stunt your own professional growth by getting into the government, specially if you're young. And it might not be for everyone. Does this still hold true?

How do public sector pensions work? Is that what locks people down to stay forever?

The pension surely has at least a bit of a lock people in effect. The Ont Public Service and the feds are both DB, I know OPS has tiered contributions (x% on the first $xx of salary, y% on anything over) so it's hard to say what $ any given role will contribute until you know the income. I think the ranges are online so you could run the numbers for your prospective role. I believe the feds are tiered contributions too but not sure.

Once done, they will pay you a salary until you die. Which is nice to know you will not outlive your money, a fear of many of my peers' parents. For some that peace of mind is golden, for others it's a trap as they'd rather invest their money each yr themselves. Friend who just made sunshine list told me they pay close to 10k a yr in contributions but I've no proof of that amount.

Years of service factor in the pension formula too, rule of thumb I've seen is 2% x years of service x salary, sorry again I can't say for sure if this applies to the two gov levels but at least it's a starting point for thinking about it.

OPS will have no limit if you don't have french, and if you're in the GTA obviously the roles are mostly local. Feds will have a cap without french for most roles (all?) and most jobs will be Ottawa.

I will say I've heard and read in several places the titles in the OPS lag the public sector by one level. So a senior manager at a bank can expect their experience to land them a manager role in gov. That helps to benchmark yourself. I'm not even sure the salaries adjust for this, since I know a couple OPS directors and snooping them on the sunshine list shows 135-150k income, which would also have no bonus. Certainly not a great pay grid.

But soft benefits are there, certainly less cutthroat. Generally understanding to WLB, mental health,etc.

I do think it can stunt growth... in that if you aren't getting what you want at a bank, you leave for another and can probably get the promo even if you were rightly being kept down at your old job. In gov, you stay and whine and say you're being blocked. Even if the blocking is deserved.

This is all anecdotal as I'm not in gov, so take it for what it is.

Have experience working municipal / provincial, here's my take and from reading obsessively for the past 2 years to make the same decision to go to provincial:

Pros:
Good balance, you can start a side business and keep steady income
Have time for family
Can be low stress if you stay in the bottom rungs

Cons:
Movement is not guaranteed in your geographical area
If you want to advance you need to be willing to move to where the jobs are
Upper levels are literally politics

Federal vs provincial
Fed pension is better, lower base salaries compared to municipal but more levels to advance through. More flexibility to work throughout Canada if you want to move. French is a must for management of any kind.

Provincial salaries start a bit higher but cap out sooner. Fewer positions to advance through so there are bottlenecks at times. We have a conservative govt and will likely have a liberal one in Ontario after the next election so salaries will change. Federal will probably have a conservative one so get permanent asap if you choose that.

Overall
In my technical discipline the training provided to me in the provincial government is unparalleled relative to the complexity of the work. Municipal's scope is too small, federal only trains you on the job despite being bigger money if you consult for that service in the private sector.

For me this is work that pays better than what I was getting and lets me drill down my technical skills with less stress / responsibility. Unless I find out the next contract is going to give me a 30% raise over 3 years I doubt I'll become a lifer. But I'll happily put in my time and leave something meaningful for the next generation before I make my next move.

TL;DR only you control your career growth, nothing is handed to you. Be very critical of what's on the table and what something looks like on your resume, and what you actually take away from a job when you leave. No growth or development? You're at the mercy of another year at a job doing the talking for you.

Having worked in both private and public sector, I feel I can offer some insight into both. The TLDR version is that I advise young people, such as fresh graduates, to go into the private sector to learn their trade. Once they master their trade with 10+ years of experience, then consider go into the public sector. It all comes down to personal preference and comfort level, but I feel this is the most optimal course of action for the majority of the population. This means for most people who graduate with a bachelor at around age 23, get 10 year of exp in private will be age 33, between age 33 to 40 they should consider move over to public. That is when one learned as much as they are going to learn from private and time to get some stability in public. The public sector staff is generally older and more experienced while the private sector staff is younger and needs the more, shall we say, hardcore working conditions to learn and improve.

If you are interested in more details, I can elaborate further, with some of my own experiences as well.
Private sector general description:
1. Learning the ropes. Company will not let their staff go idle and try to optimize by working everyone to 100% capacity all the time. This means the staff will always be doing things, sometimes multiple types of tasks and gets to experience all aspects of the business. Learn the ability to work under pressure, meeting deadlines, and all the stuff that helps one to master the craft. This is perfect for young people such as fresh grads to get exposed to the maximum level of professional development. Private also have more entry level positions so it is easier to get in. They do this to help lower the salary because they don't want too many senior level positions having draw higher salary. The senior level staff tends to be decision makers and show the juniors how it is done. Keep in mind that a lot of junior staff have to work overtime to meet the deadline, I've seen and done plenty of that myself, there are so much new things and it takes a long time to learn while doing the job so work hard and work long, it is all part of the learning experience.
2. Role description is broad, staff will mostly be focused on their job description but if there is any slack in work, company will try to offload as much work that is outside of your job description just to fill up the capacity. And that is a good thing, if they can't find anything to fill up the capacity, then they will cut head counts.
3. Good upward mobility. If one is ambitious and work smart, jump around many private sector firms, you can move up to manager, director, VP and make the big bucks. I feel this is good for young people, at least my ambition were a lot higher when I was younger.

Public sector general description:
1. There are entry level positions but there aren't many, if one go into public at the entry level, it is harder to master their craft. There isn't much different variety and staff tends to focus on their niche. A lot of "learning" is government processes and general bureaucracy. Even if you learn "government", you aren't a master of your craft. Most people in gov are senior level people who came from the private sector, we already know our trade and mostly just learning gov in our role. We don't need to be taught on how to do our job as far as technical competence goes. I remember I had internship at gov, learned some office stuff. So if you want to learn basic office paper pushing, then go for it. In private they will generally give you lower end of real work so you learn the business. Now that I'm in gov, I see when department needs to get mass paper filed or scanned, they hire students to do it. So things haven't change a bit. It is not like I can come up with any better solutions, it literally takes year just to learn "government". If they going to bring in students or a junior, now we need to teach them "government" as well as technical, that will take years which just isn't feasible, there are only few positions in gov. Keep in mind that gov pay more than private at lower level so the application for lower level are flooded with people with actual work experience so there is no way HR is going to accept someone with no exp, which is why there aren't really "junior" level positions for permanent staff. The juniors here are student interns and temps.
2. Role description is pretty fixed, if you can perform it and still have time left over, feel free to take on any of the training sessions offered. You aren't obligated to take on any additional work. Most people in gov are older and have over 10+ years of exp, we can do our tasks pretty quick and we control the schedule, so we can just move the schedule as needed to avoid overtime.
3. There aren't many positions at the higher level so you going to need to wait till a position opens up before you can move up, even if you are qualified the gov is not going to create a position for you since the department structure and budget is reviewed by the treasury board. Also since people work in gov until they retire, the position is not gonna open up anytime soon. In terms of jumping over to another gov for higher position, I don't see that in gov. Most people will stay in their role, and maybe move to another department if there is vacancy.

Salary and compensation:
1. Gov compensation is higher for "worker" positions, but it is not competitive for manager and above positions. The starting rate is high but also caps out right away. For those high achievers, just know that even if you move up to manager, expect only about 10% pay bump. Up another level to director, another 10%. Up another level to assistant department minister, maybe another 10%. Another level up another 10%. Even at the minister level you gonna cap out around 200k, that is lower than a doctor, and especially lower than VP in private. If you are chasing money in gov, you are doing it wrong. If you are a superstar, join FAANG and make your money there, the average salary in FANNG is 240k USD and some make 1M+ as a worker. VP in private makes millions.
2. As @GTA12345 mentioned above, DB pension is standard in gov, that is worth a lot to most of us. Some people feel they can do better investing the money themselves, but those ambitious types really should stay in private. The lockdown effect is more like a myth, sure it makes sense, but most people who join gov is already committed to stay till retirement anyways. There are some exceptions, but most people move from private to public, not the other way around.
3. Job security is non existent in private. During the oil downturn, over 100k+ jobs were lost in private, then comes the pandemic, more jobs lost, and now we going to have a recession, expect more jobs to be lost. If you are in private, don't expect you will be there till retirement. I used to think so until I learnt it the hard way. Don't be like me. This may not matter much to young people because they can move around easily, which is true, I've seen my classmates move to many private firms, also go to the States so it doesn't really matter if they have to jump yet another firm. I've done my own fair share of moving and worked in 4 provinces, but I'm not young anymore so I rather not keep doing this. Even if you are ambitious now, there will be a day where that gets worn down just like myself.

Acrylic000 wrote: ↑ Be very critical of what's on the table and what something looks like on your resume, and what you actually take away from a job when you leave. No growth or development? You're at the mercy of another year at a job doing the talking for you.

I think I know what you mean, but at the same time, can you clarify this? It seems very important.

divx wrote: ↑
Public sector general description:
1. There are entry level positions but there aren't many, if one go into public at the entry level, it is harder to master their craft. There isn't much different variety and staff tends to focus on their niche. A lot of "learning" is government processes and general bureaucracy. Even if you learn "government", you aren't a master of your craft. Most people in gov are senior level people who came from the private sector, we already know our trade and mostly just learning gov in our role. We don't need to be taught on how to do our job as far as technical competence goes. I remember I had internship at gov, learned some office stuff. So if you want to learn basic office paper pushing, then go for it. In private they will generally give you lower end of real work so you learn the business. Now that I'm in gov, I see when department needs to get mass paper filed or scanned, they hire students to do it. So things haven't change a bit. It is not like I can come up with any better solutions, it literally takes year just to learn "government". If they going to bring in students or a junior, now we need to teach them "government" as well as technical, that will take years which just isn't feasible, there are only few positions in gov. Keep in mind that gov pay more than private at lower level so the application for lower level are flooded with people with actual work experience so there is no way HR is going to accept someone with no exp, which is why there aren't really "junior" level positions for permanent staff. The juniors here are student interns and temps.
2. Role description is pretty fixed, if you can perform it and still have time left over, feel free to take on any of the training sessions offered. You aren't obligated to take on any additional work. Most people in gov are older and have over 10+ years of exp, we can do our tasks pretty quick and we control the schedule, so we can just move the schedule as needed to avoid overtime.
3. There aren't many positions at the higher level so you going to need to wait till a position opens up before you can move up, even if you are qualified the gov is not going to create a position for you since the department structure and budget is reviewed by the treasury board. Also since people work in gov until they retire, the position is not gonna open up anytime soon. In terms of jumping over to another gov for higher position, I don't see that in gov. Most people will stay in their role, and maybe move to another department if there is vacancy.

Salary and compensation:
1. Gov compensation is higher for "worker" positions, but it is not competitive for manager and above positions. The starting rate is high but also caps out right away. For those high achievers, just know that even if you move up to manager, expect only about 10% pay bump. Up another level to director, another 10%. Up another level to assistant department minister, maybe another 10%. Another level up another 10%. Even at the minister level you gonna cap out around 200k, that is lower than a doctor, and especially lower than VP in private. If you are chasing money in gov, you are doing it wrong. If you are a superstar, join FAANG and make your money there, the average salary in FANNG is 240k USD and some make 1M+ as a worker. VP in private makes millions.
2. As @GTA12345 mentioned above, DB pension is standard in gov, that is worth a lot to most of us. Some people feel they can do better investing the money themselves, but those ambitious types really should stay in private. The lockdown effect is more like a myth, sure it makes sense, but most people who join gov is already committed to stay till retirement anyways. There are some exceptions, but most people move from private to public, not the other way around.
3. Job security is non existent in private. During the oil downturn, over 100k+ jobs were lost in private, then comes the pandemic, more jobs lost, and now we going to have a recession, expect more jobs to be lost. If you are in private, don't expect you will be there till retirement. I used to think so until I learnt it the hard way. Don't be like me. This may not matter much to young people because they can move around easily, which is true, I've seen my classmates move to many private firms, also go to the States so it doesn't really matter if they have to jump yet another firm. I've done my own fair share of moving and worked in 4 provinces, but I'm not young anymore so I rather not keep doing this. Even if you are ambitious now, there will be a day where that gets worn down just like myself.

I wouldn't say I'm young, but I'm young in the tech profession, after making the transition during an early covid layoff. So you can say 3 years of experience in technology. In my career, If I've chased a position, I've never got it no matter how hard I tried. If I get something, the process always seemed simplified and streamlined. Apply, get screened by hr, 1 interview, receive offer. Most of the time, all happened within a week or 2.

I was particularly concerned plateauing in a role (which happened to me in private as well), specially if you can be stuck in the same position, as suggested in this thread, for a long time until something above you opens up. Can using training/education allowances compensate for that? Does this help you if you think about going back to private somewhere down the line?

I'm hoping you are not seen as someone who threw in the towel by accepting a public sector position. Is 40ish the "right time" to go for the public sector?

Acrylic000 wrote: ↑ Have experience working municipal / provincial, here's my take and from reading obsessively for the past 2 years to make the same decision to go to provincial:

Pros:
Good balance, you can start a side business and keep steady income
Have time for family
Can be low stress if you stay in the bottom rungs

Cons:
Movement is not guaranteed in your geographical area
If you want to advance you need to be willing to move to where the jobs are
Upper levels are literally politics

This is pretty much it. OP, you have to decide what's more important to you. Money and career or good work/life balance and spending time with family. Pension is nice, but I don't know if that necessarily needs to be a deciding factor. All the time off you get is nice when you have a family with young kids. I don't have kids, but I can still appreciate all the time off I get in my gov job and how little stress it gives me on a day-to-day basis.

Thorkell wrote: ↑ I think I know what you mean, but at the same time, can you clarify this? It seems very important.

Employers / bosses are going to promise you a lot of things on their timeline. This might not always line up with what you want in your life.

It's been promised to me that I'd get put on a certain project, that in X years they could see me leading a department, everything under the sun to give me something later rather than sooner. I learned the hard lesson at the start of the pandemic that those promises are only worth as much as the salary increase letter they're attached to.

If you're looking at a new opportunity and a hiring manager really wants you, they'll say whatever it takes to get you to come onboard. Scrutinize their offer and determine if they can actually make that happen or if it's likely that the offer will do that for you, or how it'll be perceived.

I once worked somewhere where everyone was uptitled, which meant they wanted me to do basic data entry when I applied for a working-level job much to my disappointment upon starting. Then I ended up rubber banding to the other end of the spectrum, still paid and titled as working-level but handling manager/director level work. Raises and performance conversations were shot down for months despite vague promises of growth and the opportunity to lead.

The first situation was a waste of time because I had already been doing work above that level for a few years and had no need to prove myself for it. The 2nd included things that no sane hiring manager would believe they'd let me do, so it wasn't marketable to say I accomplished xyz that early in my career. I wasn't going to spend years there being underpaid and overworked just so I could finally say I did the stuff I was doing in my first year, so I left for a job that pays me better and helps me build a network with less responsibility.

Thorkell wrote: ↑ I wouldn't say I'm young, but I'm young in the tech profession, after making the transition during an early covid layoff. So you can say 3 years of experience in technology. In my career, If I've chased a position, I've never got it no matter how hard I tried. If I get something, the process always seemed simplified and streamlined. Apply, get screened by hr, 1 interview, receive offer. Most of the time, all happened within a week or 2.

I was particularly concerned plateauing in a role (which happened to me in private as well), specially if you can be stuck in the same position, as suggested in this thread, for a long time until something above you opens up. Can using training/education allowances compensate for that? Does this help you if you think about going back to private somewhere down the line?

I'm hoping you are not seen as someone who threw in the towel by accepting a public sector position. Is 40ish the "right time" to go for the public sector?

You're probably going to reach a plateau in public if/when you eventually look for supervisory or management roles and above. Given your current experience, if you joined public now, my best guess is that you'd probably plateau within 3-4 years. There are job classifications in the public sector. Generally speaking, you might start in the public sector as a "Tech Worker 1" (not a real job title, just an example), but then there's usually opportunities to eventually get into a "Tech Worker 2" position within a reasonable time frame. After that, depending on the organizational structure, the next step up could be supervisor positions, and those are relatively hard to get because it's uncommon to go from supervisor to manager in the public sector, so supervisors rarely leave their roles and therefore, you could get stuck at the "Tech Worker 2" level.

If you think that you might want to go back to private after joining public, you'd probably be better off staying in private at this point. As has been already mentioned in this thread, moving to public usually isn't the best decision for professional development. If you have a lot of ambition, you'd be better off staying in private.

Thorkell wrote: ↑ I wouldn't say I'm young, but I'm young in the tech profession, after making the transition during an early covid layoff. So you can say 3 years of experience in technology. In my career, If I've chased a position, I've never got it no matter how hard I tried. If I get something, the process always seemed simplified and streamlined. Apply, get screened by hr, 1 interview, receive offer. Most of the time, all happened within a week or 2.
I was particularly concerned plateauing in a role (which happened to me in private as well), specially if you can be stuck in the same position, as suggested in this thread, for a long time until something above you opens up. Can using training/education allowances compensate for that? Does this help you if you think about going back to private somewhere down the line?
I'm hoping you are not seen as someone who threw in the towel by accepting a public sector position. Is 40ish the "right time" to go for the public sector?

There is a lot more stuff for you to learn in private since you only have 3 years of exp. Don't be rushed to go into public, cause the direction is mostly one way, people who go into public rarely go the other way. You could say for most people who enters public, that will be the end of their private sector gig. That said, it is not like going into pub without private exp is unworkable. I know someone from school days where he went straight into a pub position after university, and worked out great.

I've done enough in private, worked at 10+ places across 4 provinces, I've seen all I'm interested in and learned my craft. I'm glad to trade in overtime in private for a pension in public. The right time for you to go into public is when you feel that will give you the most quality of life improvement based on all the available information.

Here is something for you to think about, what is your definition of success? This is going to change in different stages of your life. Some people I know from school went to join public straight after grad, and some who went to join FANNG making the big bucks, others started their own business. It seems to me that they are all successful since they all doing what they wanted to do.

It's very situation and team specific. Provide some more details about where you are in your career and where you want to go. Ask your former colleague pointed questions about the team you're being recommended for.

FYI - you can find easy teams in government and maybe it's easier than private sector on averge because of the union, but don't enter with the expectation that it will be easy. I happen to work on a team that is super busy and I put in overtime. I've known accountants working til midnight during the budget season. Again, it's team-specific.

I've always found IT people in government to be super incompetent and I've worked on 3 IT-related projects (as a non-tech SME). If you're good at what you do, it sucks to be surrounded by idiots and/or lazy people. It's particularly bad to be led by people who don't know what they are doing. Also be prepared to be told that you have to be agile but then actually work in a waterfall fashion.

The pension is only worth it if you put in the full pension period. If you decide you hate the government and leave early, you basically get your money back and that's it. Private sector stock options or stock purchase plans are better IMO, esp given the insane tech stock gains of the last 10 years.

Currently a systems analyst, techno functional stuff. I don't have the "senior" title yet, but I think this one will. Being new to this career path, I have seen the incompetence in the private sector too. Not only just IT. Accountants are always working from what I've seen everywhere I've been

I'm not sure what really happens in the career path of a systems analyst. Taking it one step at a time. Systems architect? Solutions Architect? Product Manager?

I know I'll have to do a lot of reading/growing and certifying for this stuff.

If you are a crazy hard working person, the public sector will drive you nuts.

But if you value work/life balance and potential chances of learning and opportunity to engage and further, it is possible depending on your area of expertise.

Also starting young is better as you can build your pension early if retiring early is of interest.

GTA12345 wrote: ↑ Friend who just made sunshine list told me they pay close to 10k a yr in contributions but I've no proof of that amount.

I'm in public sector and make more than the maximum pensionable earnings and this is pretty much on point.. I have paid about that much (if not more) in pension contributions.

Public sector is less and less "worth it" imo as cost of living increases. Your salary increases are capped (some employers got around this by reclassifying job classes for managers and bumping everyone up one step).
The pensions can be a golden handcuffs of sort for sure, but you see tech job salaries ballooning and new grads making $80-100k even in Toronto, and you're stuck why you made the stupid decision to work in public and work for (comparable) peanuts instead, all under the guise of job security..

MarinersFanatik wrote: ↑ You're probably going to reach a plateau in public if/when you eventually look for supervisory or management roles and above. Given your current experience, if you joined public now, my best guess is that you'd probably plateau within 3-4 years. There are job classifications in the public sector. Generally speaking, you might start in the public sector as a "Tech Worker 1" (not a real job title, just an example), but then there's usually opportunities to eventually get into a "Tech Worker 2" position within a reasonable time frame. After that, depending on the organizational structure, the next step up could be supervisor positions, and those are relatively hard to get because it's uncommon to go from supervisor to manager in the public sector, so supervisors rarely leave their roles and therefore, you could get stuck at the "Tech Worker 2" level.

If you think that you might want to go back to private after joining public, you'd probably be better off staying in private at this point. As has been already mentioned in this thread, moving to public usually isn't the best decision for professional development. If you have a lot of ambition, you'd be better off staying in private.

/echo

I'm in a senior technical role with the feds. I'm plateaued in my expertise, roles, and responsibilities. To move up 1 step, I need basic French proficiency. To move up 2 steps, I need even better French. You also need to have management experience to move into management (yay catch-22), which means accepting temporary management positions that give that experience.

I took the role for other reasons, though. My wife and I wanted to move, and it gave us that opportunity. I'm on a management track and receiving targeted training and opportunities to get me there. I was earmarked for management when I was hired 4 years ago, with the knowledge and expectation that it would take 5 years. I started with limited French and am now business proficient have my management spending a lot of money on me. I'm now part of a succession plan.

The pay bands are union negotiated and there's no movement once you're inside them. There's no room for additional compensatory growth based on ability or achievement. The claims that the public service making more than private industry are true for working level positions, but not at all true for professionals. I negotiated my salary to be at the top step of my classification and level when I started, but it was still a cut to the base salary I was making previously and I don't get the bonus on top of it that I got in the private sector.

The number of vacation days (3 weeks for the first 8 years) suck and, contrary, to popular belief, the health and dental benefits are terrible. They haven't changed in 20 years. Thankfully they were recently re-negotiated and will improve July 1, but it only really brings them in-line with standard private service benefits packages.

That said - the DB pension is great, the work-life balance is fantastic (I haven't worked a minute of overtime in 4 years), and (at least in my area) the work is collaborative and rewarding.

I worked for a provincial agency in Toronto, no french, in Toronto.

I did not last one year. I quit and went back to private sector.

It was literally like I was in high school and everybody else in elementary school. Not because they are stupid, but because they had no mission, and they only cared about doing the minimum, and as slowly as possible. One of the worst managed organization I have seen, in every sense.

There was nothing for me to learn there. And no one had interest in my knowledge or experience. So I quit.

I see how old people may want to get there, to spend the last 10 years of their life doing nothing. Or it could be young people with an old personality.

Conclusion: be careful what you wish for.

The best time to join is 25 latest. I had a year to do stuff after graduation before they cuffed me. Each year that goes by makes the deal colder. The point is to receive full pension at the earliest age 55 and dip. Also to accumulate years of service asap. Let’s say you are 42, if you worked from 25 you’ll have 5 weeks by now but if you just joined you’ll only have 3 for like 8-9 years and you’ll likely not get your preferences. It’s much easier when you are young. Seniority is king and you’ll be last in many other situations. That’s not the loafstyle in my opinion that’s a nightmare.

I'm in the healthcare sector, non clinical

Pros:
- Tons of time to study for certificates
- Good benefits
- Defined benefit pension
- Job stability
- Constantly understaffed so you can make a lot of OT. Not joking, minimum 80 hours bi-weekly

Cons:
- Meh salary >.>, it's really bad. I have to pull lots of OT to be close to my private sector friends due to the deductions, parking fee etc.
- If you're a "doer" with big ideas your soul will likely be sucked out.

Thorkell wrote: ↑ Provincial/Federal? Pros and cons of what its like?

Long story short: I have been approached by a former colleague about a potential opening in a provincial entity. No french. Some serious revamp in their tech infrastructure so Im assuming there will be lots of work.

BUT, considering how everyone says public sector work is cushy, comfortable, you really stunt your own professional growth by getting into the government, specially if you're young. And it might not be for everyone. Does this still hold true?

How do public sector pensions work? Is that what locks people down to stay forever?

You've gotten lots of anecdotes. I think there are some basics but it varies a lot. Living in Ottawa a lot of my circle is public sector. Some elite parts are at the top of their game and everyone is motivated enthusiastic often well but still underpaid. Meanwhile there is the more stereotypical and maybe majority part where people are punching a clock. Doing IT I guess it matters are you helping people approving Covid vaccines or researching urchin levels in the Caribbean. The provincial entity would therefore matter a lot to me. I get in IT it might not seem like it matters as much. You can work at a startup doing dental records or the coolest topic every and it's the same but in Government the culture is very very different.

As for pensions they are mostly 50-50 at this point. Calculating the 2% of whatever is a vast over-estimation as your not discounting properly. 10% of salary from you and employer is standard. This funds itself so on average the benefit to you is this 10% they pitch in except you have lost all flexibility. If you are male your return is even less than that.

fogetmylogin wrote: ↑ You've gotten lots of anecdotes. I think there are some basics but it varies a lot. Living in Ottawa a lot of my circle is public sector. Some elite parts are at the top of their game and everyone is motivated enthusiastic often well but still underpaid. Meanwhile there is the more stereotypical and maybe majority part where people are punching a clock. Doing IT I guess it matters are you helping people approving Covid vaccines or researching urchin levels in the Caribbean. The provincial entity would therefore matter a lot to me. I get in IT it might not seem like it matters as much. You can work at a startup doing dental records or the coolest topic every and it's the same but in Government the culture is very very different.

As for pensions they are mostly 50-50 at this point. Calculating the 2% of whatever is a vast over-estimation as your not discounting properly. 10% of salary from you and employer is standard. This funds itself so on average the benefit to you is this 10% they pitch in except you have lost all flexibility. If you are male your return is even less than that.

Is this really true that DB pension is 50/50 in terms of value for men?

Does it matter if we take into account earlier retirement (even though working years is same) etc?