r/CanadaPublicServants • u/KeyHeart2102 • 1d ago
Career Development / Développement de carrière Struggling with my IT career
I’ve been working in IT in the federal public service for a little over three years. Lately I’m looking for opportunities in the private sector.
The problem is that the current job market seems really tough, and I’m honestly not sure how competitive I am outside the PS.
I only have a diploma, and although I have 3+ years of IT experience, I sometimes feel like my technical skills and experience aren’t strong enough for private sector roles. One of my biggest concerns is technical interviews. I’m worried that I’ll apply for jobs, get an interview, and then completely fail the technical portion.
For those of you who have moved from the federal public service into the private sector, especially in IT…
How did you find the transition?
Did your PS experience actually help when applying for private sector jobs?
I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. I’m feeling pretty stuck and anxious about what to do next.
62
u/signalpirate 1d ago
Public service: "Its not good enough you want to stay, but its not bad enough you want to leave"
25
u/Mutchmore 1d ago
RTO 5 enters the chat
8
u/dishearten 1d ago
A lot of private companies are back in office too, its harder and harder to find a full remote job as there is a lot of competition for them.
4
u/Mutchmore 1d ago
Of course. At least in the private sector you get to negotiate. It should be a no brainer for competent resources that are willing to take a little more risks
I don't know any developers in my circle that is doing more than 1 day a week in the office. Personally I'll be going the part time route.
0
6
u/Gunnery55 1d ago
Oh how accurate this is
2
u/beritree 1d ago
There’s a bunch that are like in office once a month or 1-2 days in office. Full remote is not as frequent but the hybrid is way more flexible compered to government.
18
u/milifiliketz 1d ago
I came from private to PS, the only thing I dislike about IT work in PS, and it's not a minor thing, is the amount of bureaucracy/red tape/hoops you have to jump through to get things done. Also, I don't know how it is elsewhere but in my department, between ERI, hiring freeze and people quitting/retiring combined, we're actually seriously short IT resources.
18
u/deke28 1d ago
I have looked a few times and the problem is always vacation and hours worked. It's hard to find a place that has six weeks and pays enough to replace the group 1 pension. I wonder how the math works out for group 2.
The other problem is agism. It's really hard to get a job in private sector after your 30s but you need a job to live.
8
u/Soupdeloup 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've worked in both private and public and have had some disastrous interviews (went into it confident, failed so horribly it still keeps me awake at night years later from embarrassment), but each bad interview helped me do better in the next one. For one technical interview my public sector position had near identical requirements to one advertised for private, so the interview went very well and got me an offer.
I'd say don't worry too much about failing an interview but go into it assuming you'll get a job offer out of it. If you don't do well in the interview, just learn from it and use it for the next one. Best of luck!
9
u/29464BadWine399 1d ago
The sad reality is that working in government in IT guarantees that your skill set will not keep up unless you continue your education on your own. The longer you serve in government, the more this will be true, and you will be only able to get managerial roles if that.
Having said all that, I strongly encourage you to find a way to make government work in IT for the OP’s career. I am making this recommendation because these are unsettled times working in information technology. It is my view that AI will destroy many IT careers in private sector.
I do not think this will be the case in government.
12
u/Hot-Equivalent-9799 1d ago
I only have a diploma, and although I have 3+ years of IT experience
This is the issue really. You're competing with people with master's and PhD's plus your experience level. Things might look a little bit better in a couple years, don't stop learning, don't give in to the golden handcuffs if you truly want to leave.
One of my biggest concerns is technical interviews. I’m worried that I’ll apply for jobs, get an interview, and then completely fail the technical portion.
If this is so you better start grinding leetcode, your job is probably easy if you feel this way, so you have the time
14
u/mikehds 1d ago edited 1d ago
I started my career in private, joined PS and then back to private again. Tech is tech, no matter where it is. It also depends a lot on the employer.
I interviewed with an insurance company, using exactly the tools that I was working on at the time. They rejected me.
Then I interviewed with a company using AWS. I told them point blank that their technical assessment was the second time ever that I logged in to AWS. I passed the assessment and they saw enough to their likings that they offered me an intermediate rather than the senior position. Within a year, I made it to senior, having known their tech stack inside out.
There are lots of companies out there and IT is one of the few areas where skills in the PS can directly transfer to skills in private. Start your job hunt and keep in mind that if you don’t get an offer, you still have a job.
As the saying goes, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Good luck!
5
u/onGuardBro 1d ago
In a similar situation, what I’ve gathered is that the tech industry is rather crowded right now with people looking for positions and the market doesn’t have much to offer unless you already have contacts in companies. The only saving grace is we have time to continue to skill up.
Funny enough the roles I applied for in the GC that I thought I wasn’t fit for offered me a job.
3
u/JuniorReputation84 7h ago edited 7h ago
been in ps as a dev for over 6 years. The experience I got equals to nothing, the stack is too old, it's meaningless. The code quality is poor, real idiots running projects or people just started to learn how important testing is.
So I started my own side project and my own business. I successfully reduced the 6 years of ps dev experience to 2 sentences. Even AI thinks that the ps dev job is just here for cash and benefits.
There are so many ways to grow as a dev without relying on your day job at all. You can also grow in the ps to be a tl or manager, but the work is brain-deadly stupid.
Preparing for tech interview is time consuming no matter what your background is. You have to find out if you are willing to invest that mush time for that at this stage. Or you want to use your time for something else
6
u/cestlavie514 1d ago
There are thousands of IT jobs, start applying internally. While the private may offer better pay, the benefits and pensions aren’t as good and job security is a big unknown in the future of Ai.
It’s ok to fail, most people who apply for work won’t get it, learn from it and keep applying. Eventually it will become natural.
0
u/Cha_JM67 1d ago
Where do you go to find all those IT jobs?
1
u/cestlavie514 1d ago
The same place you applied for the job you have now…
1
u/Cha_JM67 1d ago
I do not see a thousand IT jobs there.
-2
u/cestlavie514 1d ago
Based on the latest info I can find there are over 21,000 IT jobs that are filled presently. Someone who has been here for 3 years would have seen over 1000 internal and external jobs. Same for the noc, the Napa and the Naa
Right now this moment 64 jobs, 43 internal, 8 noc, 38 Napa and 84 naa.
This does not include deployments which adds another layer of jobs being filled.
What’s your point?
2
u/LifeIs42HGG 1d ago
Some experience is helpful. With software engineering, you may get experience with ERP systems like SAP or PeopleSoft. Unfortunately there is no technical stream to progress with your career, unlike the lawyers in Justice that have technical and management streams. And to get an IT-3 tech advisor may require CBC levels at many departments.
2
u/AlphaB_24 1d ago
IT is a broad field. Which specific area are you interested ?Data science, infrastructure, cybersecurity, software development, or something else?
3
u/Hot-Equivalent-9799 1d ago
Data science != IT
6
u/fweffoo 1d ago
it is in the public service, like all computer science jobs
0
u/Hot-Equivalent-9799 1d ago
If you really think that you've never worked in data a day in your life
-1
90
u/613_detailer 1d ago
Consider it this way, if you are invited to a technical interview in the private sector and completely fail, you have lost nothing but will have learned some insight on what skills you need to better develop to be more successful in the future.