I tried to work for the government. It was a 60% pay cut and a demotion - I did quite well in my career so I didn't have the years of experience required to com

I tried to work for the government. It was a 60% pay cut and a demotion - I did quite well in my career so I didn't have the years of experience required to come in at my current level because that's how the government evaluates employees. Plus stunted salary growth. And this was for a government job that has a special salary exemption 'to be competitive with the market'. No matter how much money the government has from taxes, there is no way in hell they are going to pay enough to be competitive with FAANG. It's anathema to government culture (unless it's for a football coach). You have to let people go back to FAANG to recoup those losses or the government will never be able to hire anyone.