Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm leaving the civil service and for last yr i received annual income of $74k. I just completed my second yr of service after graduating. You may envy my income at my age but I can tell you I am not happy.

why I wanna leave:

1) No passion to serve the public. I suspect many ppl r like that in there. They r in there for the money. I am really quite worried how Singaporeans have become as a whole become materialistic. Not say I hate Singaporeans, though in my line of duty I have encountered outrageous requests from some Singaporeans who are spolit brats but I simply don't see myself as the holy type that tries to make every Singaporeans' lives better.

2) Its a scholar's playground. You think you are smart with second upper or first class honors in local uni? Think again, scholars in the same batch as me have education from Ivy League Universities. They get better opportunities and exposure and get promoted. After 2 years here, they have became one rank above me.

3) Your skills r useless outside at least if you join my area of expertise. In the corporate world, depending on what skills you have, if lets say you have been unfairly treated or you feel you deserve the promotion but did not get it, you can move on to another company in the same industry. That's esp true for banking. Lets take for example the army, you felt that you are misfairly treated, at lets say at the age of 32 at the rank of major. How do you move around? Which industry can you go to for the same pay? And expect mistakes to happen at work. Nobody is 100% perfect. Esp in this political climate, where social media spreads news of government inefficiency quickly, you cant hide anything bad that happened.

I believe you should join only if you really like serving the people and don't relate well to promotion and money. If you relate well to promotion and money, I advise you to think twice about joining this because you will get disappointed. As a fresh grad I was v happy with the starting pay they offered to me. Now I understand why that type of pay is there. I do admit it is a female friendly environment which you will not be scared to be pregnant.

Civil service can be an iron bowl provided you don't cock up. You can also work there for life but promotion and pay rise are not certainties. If you really don't mind not being promoted or pay rise, and just want an iron rice bowl, then this may be for you. Esp for wives, who don't want to rise the corporate ladder because the husband is doing so and she just wants a job that is stable and pays okay.

I am hoping to switch to another industry soon expecting a pay cut. Its ok because I think I will be more happier there doing the things I like and learning skills that employers really value.