I’m looking for thoughts from people with public agency or engineering experience.
I’m currently in a larger public agency role with strong compensation, benefits, retirement, and internal mobility.
However, the program area I’m in may be vulnerable to future budget or political changes, which has made me think more seriously about long-term stability.
I also have the option of moving to a smaller agency in a more senior engineering role. It would pay less (about 10% less) but the work seems broader and more tied to core engineering functions, which may make it more stable long term.
How would you think about the tradeoff between staying at a larger agency with better compensation and better benefits (but potentially unstable) versus taking a smaller-agency senior role with broader duties and potentially more stability but less benefits?