Hey everyone, I'm at an odd place in my life. Background: Currently a rising junior at a top 20 university for computer science/top 5 university for information technology-- realistically, I got into the school because of a game that I made when I was 13 that hit 1MM+ users. It's because of that one experience that has led me to where I am now. Let's just say I'm well rounded in PM and SWE. My problem: I don't know whether to go in the public or private sector. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. When I bring the topic up to my family, they all suggest me to work in the government for 20 years, get the pension, then find a job in the private sector... I wasn't the smartest kid in high school (I swear, I truly just wanted to get by) so I was very fortunate to get into a top-ranked school. From then on, I have worked my ass off for everything that I've accomplished thus far. I'm currently doing an internship at GE and the starting salary for someone graduating from college is near 100k. I have an offer from a federal agency (think NSA/CIA type) to do a co-op with them this coming spring and their (lowest) starting salary for someone out of college is 40-60% of what GE could give me straight off the bat. Job security sounds nice, but I've busted my ass off, and now everyone wants me to take the lower salary after I graduate from college. I know it ultimately is up to me, but has anyone else been in this situation? Career aspirations: Definitely some type of PM (product/project manager) role. Summary/tl;dr Interning at GE as a PM, got an offer from a federal agency for a spring co-op doing application engineering. I'm thinking about my future and both the private and public sector salaries. I've busted my ass off-- yet everyone says to take the lower salary. I want to take the higher salary because of desired lifestyle goals (I want to eat out, I want to buy nice clothes, I want that experience that I've always desired as a kid, but one that my family could not afford at the time... :/). People are telling me that if you come from the public sector to the private sector, people will pay you more. I don't know what to do!! Why am I thinking about this now only as a rising junior?: Because the next internship that I take will decide what type of role/industry I'll pursue after college. Oh also, if I do the agency co-op, I will get the highest obtainable security clearance with poly-- I know that's desired Update: I've decided to keep the public offer on the side for the worse case scenario where I don't get another offer for the spring/summer. As someone mentioned, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get the security clearance then dip after the co-op/internship. Thanks for the support and information. :) #misc #public #private #nsa #pm #salary #confusion #life #aspiration #salaries #security Regardless of what I do, I'll keep this post updated too :)
Only go public sector if you have some intrinsic desire to serve your country or you are interested in the type of projects that only government can do (eg classified, outrageous budget, etc). Your family seems to be focusing on this transition from government to high-paying private job and glossing over the 20+ years of career prior to that. If you take a private job at a company like Google that’s paying you $250k+ average over all those 20 years and you are saving diligently, you will have millions already and can retire if you want to. Or you can take another high-paying private job similar to the one the guy just coming out of government gets. Now if you just want to live a simple life and have a pension and not work past your 40s then government isn’t the worst thing. I have a buddy retiring from the Navy soon and he’ll be getting paid a low six figure salary to do nothing the rest of his life.
Do the opposite of what they recommend. Join the private sector for 20 years and then transition to public.
Private
I will warn you, once you get into government the private sector tends to see you as a less desirable candidate. I have been in government for about 4 years and all my applications for private sector jobs are rejected. There are a lot of benefits to being in government, annual salary increases, stability, tons of time off and retirement but I just wanted you to consider that. It might be worth going into private first and transitioning to public. Public is also often less flexible, right now my job removed the option to work anything other than 8-5 and called everyone back in from remote working.. no transition period, no hybrid, no consideration for employee well being and happiness!
Best way out of govt is to get a high clearance then go to Amazon/Microsoft and transfer internally to non cleared job. That's how I got out.
Don't join GE though, garbage company that pays peanuts. The others on your list are pretty good, if you're a SWE.
I myself am an engineer dealing with heavy coding on a weekly basis. I’ve had the highest clearance since 2011. Follow the money. If you have the opportunity to go Gov agency work overseas then DROP EVERYTHING get as much money as possible and as much experience to go independent and create something yourself. Pretty much if there’s a lot of travel; go public If not; go private
That makes sense. I have a few family members that work for the government and they seem to travel abroad a lot-- seems very nice. But then again, they're at GS 13/14.
I would avoid the GS pay scale jobs.. lots of responsibility lots of work only for a pension I’d go for the money now and bet on your technical skills as opposed to just becoming a low 6 figure slave. 100k is NOT a good salary anymore it’s a slightly average salary. No disrespect to your family; my career has been as follows, 6 year Air Force career (intelligence analyst) 1 year at DIA in DC as an instructor, 3 years as an RF systems engineer. If I at any point would have went to the Gs jobs my life would be exponentionally more stressful, demeaning to an energetic person such as myself, and compromising to my personal goals. I have a “good” view on government especially when it comes to opportunity and work. But chase the money and experience and don’t let the lure or “safety” or “job security” scare you into a more work- less money (now) situation