If it was you: Would you choose a corporate job or government job?

I've worked in various corporate positions as a software developer for 13 or so years. One position I had during that time was with one of the county governments here in Central Florida. When starting the job I was excited about the same thing you mentioned - good job security. That job security is a double-edged sword, though - the people I worked with in other departments were awful because they knew their jobs were secure. There was all sorts of political infighting over resources and space in our building. Bleh. This was back in the boom-boom days of the early 2000's when housing prices were high and there was a ton of tax money coming in. When home prices crashed - and they _really_ crashed here in Central Florida - all the local governments found themselves broke and had to lay off lots of people. I'm sure many of them got the axe. The real irony of this story is that after being on-the-job for about eight weeks, I discovered that my boss had hired me from the wrong pot of money and I wouldn't receive a paycheck until the County Commissioners authorized a permanent salary for me. They wanted me to take a six-week, unpaid, furlough. Obviously, I couldn't afford to go six-weeks with no pay, so that's where my government work experience ended. I went back to the same (corporate) place that had laid me off eight-weeks before and was there for another three years. So no job is forever, I guess, regardless of where you work. Develop skills that are valuable to employers so that if something does happen it won't take long to find a new position.

I had to make that decision and chose government. I didn't regret the choice. That said I suggest there are several factors to consider ... not just possible job security. For example, many civil servants are attracted by the type of work the do in government, which in many areas the private sector doesn't do (in your area there will be few library jobs as challenging as some government ones). Motivation in government is less profit and more helping citizens. Government is a big organization and there can be excellent opportunities for training, advancement and even career change .. basically you can start in one area and evolve if that attracts you without leaving the organization. Even without changing area the chances for geographic movement are often better in government. On the other hand salaries may be higher in the private sector (although pensions are often not as attractive) and government bureaucracy can be frustrating (although larger corporations can be as bad). As to job security, I'm not sure government is much safer than corporate. But in either sector if you are good at your job layoff shouldn't be a major concern.

Corporate. I'd rather not live off someone elses tax dollars.

I went with a government job. I worked for Social Security for 32 years and it was NOT a slow-paced job. It was very demanding; we were understaffed (and have been since the early 80s) and it was impossible to keep up with the workload. I chose to work for Social Security because I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life and I felt that by working there I would be in a position where I could help people. And I was - and I did. One of the advantages of working for an agency like Social Security is that you could move around a lot and still do the same job. I worked in two different states and three different offices as a claims representative. There is room for advancement if a person is interested. You can work for a field office where you deal with the public or you can choose to work in one of the many headquarters which are situated in the major cities; e.g. NYC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, etc. I'm sure that there are many places in government that are slower paced than Social Security but I can tell you that a lazy person would be very unhappy and wouldn't last long I suspect that IRS is another agency that can't keep up with it's workload. Of course, the one thing the two agencies have in common is that they work directly with the growing public with totally inadequate staffs.

I would go with corporate. If your good, you wont have to worry about termination along with better pay but if you go with government, it will be slower paced while at the same time, less pay.