No_Analyst_9131 t1_j6iyqw1 wrote
Pretty sure it was never the college degree requirements keeping people from applying for state jobs, its the sub $40k a year pay that is keeping people away. If I didn't have bills to pay, then a $40k a year job that is essentially sit and collect a pension in 20 years would be pretty attractive.
the_real_xuth t1_j6j87fm wrote
It really bugs me that so many people characterize government workers as people who just sit and do nothing. Most of the people I know of who work for government agencies work their asses off (if nothing else because they are perpetually understaffed), often with little appreciation for the work they do. They do it because they see value in making the world a better place (though if you can put up with the lousy pay and the inflexible bureaucracy, the health and pension benefits generally aren't bad). Yes there are places like the DMV where role of the line workers has been bikeshedded into something that approaches my definition of hell and with that on top of all of the austerity measures that have been put into place, you're not attracting anything approaching top talent. But there's a lot of people who do a lot of very important but very thankless jobs in the government and comments like the above aren't helpful.
ho_merjpimpson t1_j6jyn1v wrote
>It really bugs me that so many people characterize government workers as people who just sit and do nothing.
an absolute fuckton of them do just that though. thats what happens when you cant find help because you dont pay well, and you cant fire anyone because of red tape and no one to replace them.
> Most of the people I know of who work for government agencies work their asses off
thats a nice anecdote, but i can easily come back with one of my own. ive been all over different city and state govt buildings and ive seen some of the most lazy do-nothing workers.
come work in the civil engineering field and tell me in 2 years that the people working with PennDOT's reviewing department are hard workers. these are people with degrees, not thoughtless jobs, and decent salary.
the_real_xuth t1_j6k24h4 wrote
By contrast, my girlfriend who has bounced back and forth between AASHTO and contracting work for FHWA and in her roles at those organizations works with lots of the individual state DOTs says she genuinely enjoys working with the engineers at PennDOT.
raven4747 t1_j6izhg3 wrote
yeah in most parts of PA, a 40k salary is pretty decent if you dont have kids or a lot of expenses. however a lot of these jobs aren't even paying 40k and that's just a joke. 40k is just about the bottom of the "somewhat comfortably livable" range imo.
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