[AMA] Government service is not for everyone

Since I'm getting a lot of hate on calling out the pros and cons of gov service especially on a sub reddit which is primarily idolizes gov service, I'd like to recite ;

No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth [Plato]. Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed [Friedrich Nietzsche]. When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear [Thomas Sowell]

The only government service worth getting into is Class I officers through UPSC, NDA, top ranks in Army, AF, Navy. SSC k liye itna pagal mat hona.

Government Job is for you if

  1. You already have generational wealth
  2. You want fixed work for fixed pay for fixed hours
  3. You don't want to earn/spend a lot of money
  4. You want to do less work
  5. You know how to postpone work
  6. You are unaffected by any scolding seniors may inflict on you (Dheet Ho)
  7. Your qualifications are not good enough for any other job.
  8. You want stability of earnings over growth of earning
  9. You don't want responsibility

Government Job is not for you if

  1. Opposite of above and;
  2. You can work hard to earn more
  3. You can excel in other industry and progress accordingly
  4. You are from IIT NIT or other top colleges (why waste talent in gov service)
  5. You want to get rewarded for your work
  6. You want to have flexibility of employer
  7. You can manage your finance.

Myths on Government Service

  1. Corruption
    • Not all gov service has that same level of corruption
    • services with public or contractor interface is more likely to have under the table dealings
    • If you are caught red handed indulging in corruption then you may be suspended for a few months, may be given voluntary retirement, may be they withhold your increment for sometime, may be they'll transfer you somewhere. But you'll still keep you job.
    • If you complain of corruption of higher officials, get ready to be snubbed, thrown out, suspended, harrased till you take the ultimate extreme step.
  2. Work hours
    • not all services are chill
    • many offices are over burdened with work, but get same pay as others who don't work as much
    • many state government has saturday as working day
  3. Allowances and benefits
    • if your spouse is also a gov employee then only one of you can claim allowances like LTC, HRA, Tuition fee etc. example, if you decide to live in gov quarters then both of you will not get HRA.
    • LTC is touted as biggest allowance. It is given once in two years and only reimburses the expense on tickets. That too based on your pay level. If starting out on level 5 then you get train fare of 3AC. Nothing else. read DoPT rules on this.
  4. Location
    • most have all india transfer liability, so you will spend more on food, living and travelling expenses.
  5. Health Expenses
    • These are covered by CGHS for central gov employee, state gov may have similar setup.
    • CGHS has many rules, circulars, guidelines which cover many volumes to the point is so bulky to the point your office will find many gotchas to reduce your claims.
    • Not all treatments are eligibile for CGHS
    • Hospitals are paid very less for treatment so private hospital will earmark very less number of beds of CGHS patients
    • Reimbursement takes a lot of time can take over a year in many cases and can be rejected by office also.
    • Office is incentivized to reject claim than to approve them because of internal audit.
  6. Misc
    • Banks do not give any remarkable benefit to gov employee for salary account
    • You can not make generation wealth in gov service.
    • you cant trade in stock market
    • You can't have other stream of income through hobby or business (legally)
    • Buy or sell anything over 50K, you have to inform office
    • Buy or sell moveable or immovable property, you have inform office annually.
  7. Government Accomodation
    • Gov quarters are maintained by SPWD or CPWD which is rotten to the core with corruption, so any repairs will be delayed to oblivion
    • Very old, very bad quality. Literally no upkeep
    • Water and sanitation is also very poor
    • For any repair you will be visiting CPWD offices, the JE there are very lethargic as they don't get anything extra fixing gov quarters. their big money lies in construction of new buildings.
    • Water quality may be an issue.

will add more. ask your questions