I think you’re correct in your observation that the CS generally pays less but offers good education/training opportunities. I’ve known people who joined for that precise reason and then left when a better opportunity came along.I have worked in ICT Technical Support roles predominantly in the Public Sector for the bulk of my career. Initially I worked for a number of years in the Education sector in an FE college and then in a HE University. I then in a Civil Service department for a short period and I'm currently working for a Local Authority in a grade 5 role. I also tend to keep my eye out regularly for jobs across the Public sector including the likes of HSE and ETB's.
From this I have observed the following:
I have noticed some training courses that offer grants but only for people employed by commercial semi-state employers. What is the difference between the different types of state bodies? I've read online reports about An Garda Siochana offering the best pay over all Public Sector but I would imagine that is limited to particular staff who are entitled to overtime so I wouldn't have thought their ICT staff would be paid as much.
- The salary (for comparable roles) seems to be worst in the Civil Service, and best in the Universities with the Local Authorities falling somewhere in-between. For example, I was recently interviewed for a Tech Support role at a University which had LSI's equivalent to that of someone on a grade 7 in a Local Authority.
- The annual leave also appears to be worse in Civil Service compared to the Universities and LA's.
- The training and education opportunities are very good in the Civil Service, less so in Universities in LA's.
- Promotion prospects are better in Civil Service, very few internal competitions in Universities and practically none in LA's.
I would like to remain in the Public Sector for the remainder of my career, but I am trying to get a consensus to figure out if there is a sweet-spot in terms of something closer to private-sector salary whilst still retaining the perks of the public sector. I am currently studying towards transitioning from a career in Tech Support into the more interesting and profitable field of Cybersecurity, so I am trying to determine if there is a particular sub-section of the Public Sector that is most rewarding and sought-after particularly for ICT staff.
I am not fully aware of all the details, for example do semi-state employees get the same DB pension benefits or are they only DC pensions?
Do semi-state come with extra employee perks like health insurance, income protection, etc. that are fairly common in private sector?
Do people generally view Semi-State as a better place to be compared to a central government department?
A couple of years ago, back in 2021.When did you join the LA?
Are you on the new pension scheme?A couple of years ago, back in 2021.
Unfortunately I am indeed on the newer "career averaged" variant of the scheme. But I was recently told by an advisor at Standard Life that although the public sector DB scheme is no longer what it once was, it is still vastly superior to most if not all DC schemes.Are you on the new pension scheme?
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