Salary.sg Forums - DSTA (under Mindef)

I am a CS student in NUS, y4 now, and applied for a software engineering role in the enterprise IT deparment.

I passed the first round, then yesterday had 2nd round of interview. I passed the interview and just got a provisional offer, base pay 3.9k but 4-4.6k after I graduate. The pay will be scaled according to my degree classification.

When I was talking to the recruiter, he mentioned that DSTA works by 16 months meaning I will get 12 months pay + 4 extra months pay? I don't understand what this all means and I'm so confused.

I am not sure if I should accept this offer or not, they are giving me a 7 day window to accept/reject this offer and I'm not sure if this offer is good.

Anyone here working at DSTA as a software engineer can advise on the work culture and if this is a good offer? Please help :(

CS majors should always look for private sector jobs first, only join gov if you have no other choice

Unregistered

18-09-2021 07:41 PM

As a cs grad, i would recommend you consider the other departments like infomation pc, digital hub and pc8. You will learn alot more there and apply your skills and knowledge better. Culture depends alot on your bosses but people are generally friendly and nice. If you hate your boss, you can easily flag to change your team or dept 24/7.

12 months base + 13th month + civil/public service bonus + perf bonus. why dont you apply for the internship to learn more?

Unregistered

28-09-2021 04:36 PM

Same

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 183185)

I got the same offer sia.. NTU CS Yr 4, for C3D programme centre.. any advise??

Unregistered

29-09-2021 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 184509)

I got the same offer sia.. NTU CS Yr 4, for C3D programme centre.. any advise??

Hi went to PC11 instead.

_bluehavens

03-10-2021 12:56 AM

Anyone knows whether it's worthwhile to join DSTA?

I heard its a lot of paper work and get really office-work-like and boring. But at the same time I think should be able to travel to many nice countries (US, France) to look at their tech and do business trips?

So which one is it??

Unregistered

03-10-2021 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _bluehavens (Post 185060)

Such business trips are few and far between, should not be a consideration for you to join

Unregistered

13-10-2021 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 184509)

I got the same offer sia.. NTU CS Yr 4, for C3D programme centre.. any advise??

I just joined C3D this year, starting pay 4.3k and bumped to 5k upon getting degree. So far the work is okay la, minimal office politics but also depends on your team. If you want to chiong and have the aptitude I would suggest looking at private companies like shopee / lazada.

Another thing that I've heard (not verified) is that govtech pays slightly better than DSTA due to the way they structure their salary grades. If you come to DSTA as a software engineer, your title is still "Engineer" and you will be paid the same salary grade as all the other engineers. Whereas in govtech, since all their engineers are doing IT, their salary grade has a higher base pay. Again, this is not verified.

Unregistered

14-10-2021 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 186124)

from the way u ate saying, looks like ur gonna jump after 2 years

Unregistered

15-10-2021 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 184509)

I got the same offer sia.. NTU CS Yr 4, for C3D programme centre.. any advise??

that's wierd, did they lower the pay grade for the next FY?

Unregistered