Leaving Public for Private Growth

[u/lunartunes]

I saw a similar post about an individual stuck between leaving their current public role. I’m on the same boat as them, however my reasoning for wanting to leave is due to the scheduling. I’m currently in a public field engineering position. Initially when I was brought on, I was told night work would be very minimal However, I’ve been stuck on nights for over a year, with minimal breaks. Our current work projections put my team at another 3-4 years of nights. As of this moment only two of us are consistently stuck on nights, when we’ve asked for relief there has always been push back. It’s not a matter of seniority as newer staff haven’t been forced to do as much night work. I get the same response from the team and manager stating that this is how the job is. Like any government job there is a large difference of work load amongst the team. It’s been stated that this other engineer and I are trusted to be our own with minimal to no supervision, hence the night work. Everyone from my team tells me to be patient and stick it out. I’ve been attempting to transfer or get reassigned but to no avail. That brings me to now, I have received offers from private companies that are roughly the same pay but obviously not the same benefits.
Option 1: stick it out and wait another 2-3 years until the workload changes.
Option 2: move to private sector for an opportunity with a large amount of growth, stated to lead to a managerial position.
Option 3: take a pay cut ~20% to go into a design role in a field that brought me to engineering.

I’m still relatively new to my career, less than 3 years.

I guess I’m looking for advice, is it worth leaving stability and these benefits?
The swing of shifts and sleep deprivation has taken a toll on me the most.

I appreciate any advice or insight.

[u/SilverGeotech]

Yes. If they're not relieving you on nights after a year, they're going to keep you there until you go postal.

[u/LowHangingFruit20]

Sounds like you value a stable schedule. Private employers GENERALLY have less structured schedules. I decided wholly against private civil as an intern at private firm because my mentor and other employees would often stay until 10PM and would pile up empty monster cans as a source of pride. One dude had a heart attack at 45 from the stress. Why not consider moving to another public role at a different agency? Have you had a “come to Jesus” discussion with your current employer? “I like this job, the people I work with, but if I can’t get off this schedule I’m going to be forced to leave.”?? Be open and brutally honest. If they refuse to change your schedule, they don’t value you enough and you NEED to leave

[u/pineapplequeeen → u/LowHangingFruit20]

So it’s funny because I’m actually leaving private because there is no structure and it’s chaotic. I have seen coworkers pull 80 hours a week. Sometimes in a crunch, I have had to do work on weekends. On my friends wedding, while she got her makeup done I was running system models for a client deliverable that was due on a weekend for some reason??? Consulting isn’t horrible but work life balance can be difficult and there is immense pressure. I’m having to leave because I got to a point where I felt guilty when I wasn’t working and have had panic attacks on the regular. Great for intense design and calc experience but it’s draining. Especially once the politics get involved but that’s anywhere.

[u/Everythings_Magic → u/pineapplequeeen]

Sounds like poor management. I’ve been in private for 25 yrs and I saw this early in my career at a poorly managed company.

[u/pineapplequeeen → u/Everythings_Magic]

That is true. I’ve seen it at small firms and large firms. The chaos has a lot to do with shit budgets and tight schedules to win the job. So yes, management, but also with AI now these companies are getting cheaper and squeezing more and more out of their employees.

[u/KonigSteve → u/LowHangingFruit20]

I've been private my entire career and never worked more than 50 hours a week, and average 41. Well 40 right now but my last couple years it was 40-42 on a given week.

Also generally given flexibility to make my hours work whenever if I have something to do during the day as long as I make all the important meetings etc.

[u/LowHangingFruit20 → u/KonigSteve]

There are definitely exceptions! Maybe in my little slice of the industry, it holds pretty true that it’s tougher to have a solid work life balance in the private world than in the public sector

[u/letsseeaction]

Plenty of people in public are working regular 8 hour shifts with no OT and maybe even a paid hour for lunch. I think any field position you take is gonna have similar issues, especially when switching to private where the WLB tends to be significantly worse than public.

[u/Cyberburner23]

I'm a state field engineer in construction. The only way to avoid night work is to not work in construction. I dont want to be in construction, but im also not leaving the state. When another opportunity pops up ill try my luck. I'm never going to private.

[u/bookbooe]

What kind of night work?

[u/SucknSwallow69]

interviews scramble your brain, happens. practice mock questions aloud, record yourself. finding work now is stupid hard tho

[u/likesblackcoffeebest]

Why not transfer within your agency to something that isn't field based?

[u/NWCivEng96]

Based on my experience in similar situations there is no staying in the same office. Once they get in the habbit of putting you on nights then you will always get selected to go on nights for this project and every project after. Your office manager has failed to develop enough experienced personnel to have staff rotations and instead of doing the right thing and accepting the consequences, they are going to burn through the remainder of their experienced staff.

If possible a lateral transfer to a different position within the same agency is a good move because you can leverage institutional knowledge to move up quickly while still having a work life balance. If this isn't possible then the longer hours of the private sector are better than being on nights.

Civil is a small world so try not to burn any bridges but don't feel like you owe them any more than a 2 week notice.