Heh, where do I start?
Right, so I've been private sector all my live. Very fast moving, very hard work, high pressure, quite well paid, great. Then the pressure got to '**** hell!' and then escalated to '3 miles down in the sea'. I worked hundred hours weeks, more than once. A normal week would be 60-70 hours. Good pay, good overtime, but scary. I see people exploding around me all the time.
Eventually I have a few emotional episodes and decide it's time to leave.
Get a job with the DWP.
Now everyone is very nice and there are lots of very bright people around the place. It's also astonishingly difficult to make anything happend. All the processes are crap, all the systems are crap, all the suppliers are crap, everything is crap and everyone accepts it because that's the way it's always been. There are so many grey, dull people who just exist it's horrible. I've given up asking people what they're up to at the weeknd because the answer is always either 'not much' or., 'I might take the dog down to the newsagent on Sunday to get a paper', and that would be their highlight.
I could complain for hours actually, it doesn't suit everyone. Especially not me. I'm getting out.
To summize then. Public sector, in my experience is very frustrating, not very well paid, very political and very boring. I have reasonably security clearance and that still only gives me access to fairly dull information.