Well it dpds on your outlook from short to long term. While Public and Civil services are no longer iron bowl, they are still much more stable than private work. In fact the annual bonus and performance bonus are on average btr than the pte sector. Pte sector is good but very unstable. Yes there are jobs that pay much more, I thk govt put the CS salary at 30 percentile of the top earners. But don't forget that the 30% include professionals and jobs that require special skills.

So if you looked at the package, CS or PS aren't that bad. Unless you are good but unappreciated, then going to pte is not a bad choice. But I do know that there are people who cmi in CS or PS due to lack of chances, went out to prove themselves and eventually went back to PX/CS to hold MX10 and above positions.