I'm a software engineer working in the UK Civil Service for the last 5 years after a 15 year career in the private sector (including a few short stints in Menlo

I'm a software engineer working in the UK Civil Service for the last 5 years after a 15 year career in the private sector (including a few short stints in Menlo Park). You are right, the money is far, far from the best I could earn but then on top of the 8 days of public holidays I get 30 days leave (plus an extra day for the Queen's birthday, gawd bless 'er), flexible working hours, a pension that's worth way more than I accrued privately and a cultural abhorrence workhouse practices I've experienced in the private sector. Best of all, I get to work on systems which touch entire populations. I guess Type-X personalities need not apply.