back to article Laid-off public sector techies better get flexible to survive

Ex-government developers and other tech staff will need to accept the different culture of working in the private sector if they want to find jobs. With this morning's news that the Cabinet Office is set to cull hundreds of government websites and associated staff, the warning comes from one of the UK's leading IT jobs sites …

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      1. Matt Newton

        Last pay rise?

        LOL.

        I've not had one in 3 years. Private Sector by the way, and the way it's going, we wont be getting one this year either.

        Fuck off with your "oh im only getting 0.5%". That's still more than a lot of people.

        I've worked in the public sector as well, in the past; housing department. Complete waste of time, they could have removed the staff and replaced them with the deaf receptionist (yes, the receptionist was deaf, because of some quota or something no doubt... yes, the woman who answered the phone was DEAF) and no one would notice.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re :- Last pay rise?

          And a lot less than others that are taking a swipe at the public sector. You must be getting other perks to stay in the job is all I can say....

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Different culture in private sector

    Certainly is - Enron, BP, Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock, Phorm, BT, Virgin Media, Goldman Sacks, Blackwater etc, etc

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Public Sector

    It seems that I've been working in the only area of the public sector that fits entirely into the usual stereotypes then - lucky me, or then maybe some people are a little jumpy and sensitive at the moment.

    Meetings for meetings for meetings sake?? Check

    People still in the same job (literally, no promotion, etc) that they started in 30 years ago?? Check

    COMPLETE resistance and refusal to accept change?? Check

    Final salary pension (including 20% contributions JUST from the employer) for all?? Check

    As for the AC who complained about banks being bailed out to protect our (my??) savings - I take it that means neither you or anyone you know or care about had savings in the banks?? Lucky you.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I wish to thank big companies

    They seem to have as much bureaucracy, lousy management and slackers as the government departments I worked for - makes me feel right at home, unfortunately

  4. Gavin McMenemy

    When did El Ref basically become a right-wing mouthpiece?

    Yet more tory bashing of the public sector. We get it - you don't like civil servants but even public sector geeks are just geeks... you know human and needing to feed themselves.

    1. Gavin McMenemy

      also...

      Let's make this clear. I don't work in the public sector.

    2. RichardB

      @McMe

      Don't like it eh? Had best part of 15 years of the politics of envy and the destruction of everything British. A decade of abuse from the public sector, fines, beaurocratic crap, parking restrictions, cameras, snotfaced pcsos that can't even button a uniform on straight, 23 different bins and jumped up little hitlers at every turn.

      Well, now the Tories have the reins - so it's time you got used to it... sooner you accept it the easier it will be for you ;)

      1. Gavin McMenemy

        Aimed at me?

        And all of these ARE being rolled back?

        1. RichardB

          Yeah Kinda

          Sadly I suspect not, but I can dream :D

    3. Richard Jukes

      Well!

      The reg is not a right wing mouthpiece. They are the mouthpiece of commonsense - the public sector is far too huge. The public sector accounts for over half the % GDP. It is just unsustainable. The private sector earns the economy (puts value in) and the public sector takes it out of the economy (and rightly so, we do need to help one another). And these need to balance or the public sector be greater.

      Right now they are not balancing. The public sector is quite small indeed.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Private or Public

    And with this government following in the footsteps of the last and going down the route of outsourcing various government or local authority departments, how long before the only people in public service will be Politicians, councillors and senior officers

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    New jobs for public sector techs

    We could do with an extra bin collection day.

  7. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Stop

    CW Jobs

    CW Jobs aren't actually in the business of finding people jobs as far as I am aware.

    What they actually are is an online space, similar to Jobserve and Monster - where recruitment agencies (mostly) and companies (few and far between) directly post the job vacancies that they are currently recruiting for.

    It is also a space where potential candidates can post their resumes online for recruitment agencies to browse, and for those seeking work to set up specific filters and email/mobile alerts when roles suitable for their skills are posted.

  8. Peter 1
    WTF?

    What Public Sector Techhies???

    In case you hadn't noticed, the Public Sector has outsourced most of its IT and probably the Tea Lady as well!

    Sniping at the so-called "gold-plated" "feather-bedded" Public Sector might go down well in Daily Mail Land, but in the real world is just silly.

    This sort of ill-informed twaddle gets nonsense a bad name.

  9. The Other Steve
    Badgers

    "a flood of highly-skilled candidates onto the market" ?

    ORLY ? I doubt that somehow. And one of the (many) reasons for that doubt is that having been in the unenviable position of having my boss come and ask me to start making a list of people I could live without if I really really had to, I know from experience that "highly skilled" candidates are not the ones you add to the list.

    Then of course there's how you define "highly skilled" ...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    There are two kinds of UK "Public sector"

    Central government (or the Home Civil Service) and local government or coucils.

    Central government staff can be subject to disciplinary if they have more than 6 sick days off a year. There pension is quite good. They may well work long hours. The IT staff may well be dealing with very big systems covering the whole UK population, although how many of them are still direct HMG employees and not TUPE'd to the likes of Crapita, Crap Gemini or HP is open to doubt.

    Local government seems to be where more of the slackers live. The departments I've dealt with have cleared out by 4pm Friday. The IT side is likely to be lots of little, in breed teams who have not changed much in years

    Anon for reasons which are not obvious.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I did leave work at 16:00 today

    But then I did arrive at 07:00 and, with a half hour lunch, I don't think 8 and a half hours is slacking off.

    I've worked in both the private and now the public sector.

    Both Tories and NuLab had the notion that only the Private sector was any good, and most of the big name IT disasters I have heard of or been involved in the periphery of have been screwed up by Private Sector organisations.

    These firms are like Cowboy Builders, they rack up the prices, provide shoddy work unfit for purpose and then f*** off and then some poor bloody public sector guy on a quarter on fthe salary has to come in and patch it up

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The argument isn't if public sector workers are skivers and therefore should be fired

    The argument is they bring no-money into the economy and the private sector which pays for them can't cover the cost.

    Therefore like any company they have to be downsized.

    If that means making people redundant or reducing pay/benifits/pensions etc then so be it.

    Believe me like any company that goes through downsizing they will used it to trim the fat. The long term sick, the bs projects, the people sitting around doing nothing etc. If you are hard working and effiecient and worth the money, you've got a good chance of staying.

    If the pay-freeze across the board is harsh on you because you believe you deserve it then leave and get a job in the private sector.

    I was at a struggling company that layed people of and then tried to freeze our salaries, so I handed in my notice. The next morning they give me a pay increase of 5K a year. Obviously some people where pissed but my mate just said "Then do the same", that shut them up. lol

    Ultimately you're not a slave, if you don't like it and honestly feel you can get more elseware then just leave.

  13. Winkypop Silver badge
    Stop

    Now now ladies!

    Never listen to PR twonks, not ever.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Stop moaning

    if you dont like whats happening why dont you just get off your backsides and go get a better job. its booming again in the City and there are plenty of jobs if youre good (which based on experience discounts most public sector IT workers ive worked with). BTW, we work about 60 hours minimum,have roughly 24 hours worth of job security - still fancy it?

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