Do you prefer working in the public or private sector?

[sonofsanta]

Just seen this article on BBC News, that helpfully is comparing two IT jobs between private and public sector:
BBC News - Where is it better to work - the public or private sector?

Which has got me thinking - where would you rather be, given the option? Either doing what you do now or a different role, but given two equivalent job opportunities, which would you plump for?

For myself - I miss the massive amount of money-wasting that corporations love to engage in. Business class flights, random speakers followed by beer paid for by the company, free and fancy meals out... job security here is nice, but by Gods private sector was more fun.

[sparkeh]

Public sector.
Done the private sector thing and realised that I was working my guts out just to make my already wealthy employer more wealthy.
In the public sector my hard work benefits the community and society in general. I like that.

[sonofsanta]

Public sector.
Done the private sector thing and realised that I was working my guts out just to make my already wealthy employer more wealthy.
In the public sector my hard work benefits the community and society in general. I like that.

That was what the public guy listed as his best bit, but I found it interesting that the private guy flat out refused to consider a public job, but the public guy was tempted... although that may be based on their perceptions rather than experience, as the pay seemed more or less equal but that was the reasoning behind not wanting a public job.

[elsiegee40]

For myself - I miss the massive amount of money-wasting that corporations love to engage in. Business class flights, random speakers followed by beer paid for by the company, free and fancy meals out... job security here is nice, but by Gods private sector was more fun.

You obviously haven't been working in the private sector recently.

In a private school our fee income is what we can spend and while our numbers are steady, we cannot guarantee that will continue. There's no splashing the cash here and never has been. Most private schools are similar.

As for business... My other half works for a big company in the financial sector (not a bank) and has to fly economy virtually everywhere. He put his foot down for the India flights which are lengthy, overnight and he ends up working within 2 hours of landing.... those flights are still business class at the moment. Christmas parties don't happen any more and the expenses are very closely scrutinised.

I think there's far more wastage in the public sector and my opinion is divided on which is better, so I haven't answered your poll.

[sonofsanta]

You obviously haven't been working in the private sector recently.

Admittedly it's been about 5 years... I left just as the oil prices started to rise dramatically and the cutbacks were starting to set in.

I think there's far more wastage in the public sector and my opinion is divided on which is better, so I haven't answered your poll.

The wastage in the public sector always seems to be top heavy to me - too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Not only a waste of money, but a waste of everyone's time trying to please so many higher-ups.

Meanwhile my bin collection slowly dwindles and dies... /sigh

[richard_s]

Private sector for me after now having worked in the public sector in the past and being treated like a pile of faeces, (I would have said something else but had a mod who had nothing else better to do have a go at me for saying that word earlier), I would never go back to working in the public sector again.

[Iain.Faulkner]

After leaving my first school (where i'd been for 4 years) I went into the private sector for just under 12 months and hated it. Yes there were some perks (free nights out once a month, company breakfast every week) but I missed working in a school, so I got myself back in as quickly as I could :-) Do I miss the private sector....not a chance.

[gavins38]

Having been in both private and public sector I think I'd go for public. There's definitely a lot more cash to splash in the private sector but having tighter budgets is more challenging because we need to get the best value for money and there's lot of interest/development in free and opensource solutions. It all adds up to quite a varied role for me, whereas I found in the private sector I ended up being pigeonholed into one 'speciality', which got tiresome quickly. Maybe it was just a bad experience but I'm much happier where I am now.

[sonofsanta]

Discussion already started Public or Private?

That's what I get for faffing about with polls and bothering to preview!

[mossj]

Private sector.
Better pay + More Respect....

As for the private sector splashing cash everywhere??? Don't think that happens at all, at the end of the day businesses don't spend money were they don't need to, in order to maximize profit.

[laserblazer]

Private sector.
Better pay + More Respect....

As for the private sector splashing cash everywhere??? Don't think that happens at all, at the end of the day businesses don't spend money were they don't need to, in order to maximize profit.

I'm not sure about the respect bit. I sometimes help out the IT Manager at my wife's work. He's treated like dog muck. Here, I'm asked and thanked nicely most of the time. Considering I'm a grumpy old g!t, it's amazing!

[torledo]

Just seen this article on BBC News, that helpfully is comparing two IT jobs between private and public sector:
BBC News - Where is it better to work - the public or private sector?

Which has got me thinking - where would you rather be, given the option? Either doing what you do now or a different role, but given two equivalent job opportunities, which would you plump for?

For myself - I miss the massive amount of money-wasting that corporations love to engage in. Business class flights, random speakers followed by beer paid for by the company, free and fancy meals out... job security here is nice, but by Gods private sector was more fun.

the job security in the public sector is a big bonus........when i was in the private sector i remember our dept facing the redudancy round, and they didn't mess about. Numbers were whittled down with minimum of fuss. Looking back i don't think it was a coincidence that the cuts happened at a time when we were coming out of a dip in the world economy, and i know of companies [small ones mainly]which were increasing their IT staffing numbers shortly after that period.....but i doubt the public sector had to make such layoff decisions at that time. Has it really had to overall since then ? The public sector has been a net creator of jobs.

[witch]

Discussion already started Public or Private?.

Have deleted the thread in the interests of clarity. The eldergeek was first though

[srochford]

There's definitely a lot more cash to splash in the private sector but having tighter budgets is more challenging because we need to get the best value for money and there's lot of interest/development in free and opensource solutions. It all adds up to quite a varied role for me, whereas I found in the private sector I ended up being pigeonholed into one 'speciality', which got tiresome quickly.

I think the "pigeon holing" thing is nothing to do with public/private - it's to do with the scale of the organisation. If you work in a school there's probably only 1-3 people in IT so you have to do everything. Work in a large public sector organisation and you get much greater specialisation because it's much more efficient.

The way money is spent is interesting; I think it also depends on the scale of the organisation but also the quality of management. As an example, I know some small companies keep PCs until they fall to pieces; bigger companies tend to have a pretty rigid replacement cycle and nothing is older than (say) 4 years. Is this wasting money? Possibly but typically, you keep the old machines going by tinkering with them - upgrading RAM, replacing hard discs etc. If you've only got a dozen machines this is no big deal - it's just one of the incidental jobs you do. If you've got thousands of machines then this kind of tinkering probably means you have to employ people to do it - completely wiping out the hundred pounds you might save by keeping a PC for 5-6 years.

I think similar spending patterns will be present in other areas - if you depend on the IT to make your business work then you buy stuff which you know is rock solid, even if it might cost more.

Depending on where you are, you also might get better long term planning in the private sector (but I'm not sure that's always true) and that helps because you can engage in big projects knowing that the money's going to be there each year.

[tmcd35]

My lasting memories of working in the private sector is stress, my boss breathing down my neck all the time and targets. Maybe thats all just a sales thing, but would I go back to it? No way.

It's amazing how much more relaxed everyone is in the public sector. I mean - dude - I get paid to drink coffee and surf the internet all day!