is it difficult to transition back to municipal planning after time in the private sector?

[u/Serious-Ad8052]

i am barely beginning my career in municipal planning, but considering the switch. not even looking for advice, just curious!

[u/AboveAverageAdult]

Not answering your question, but I’m doing municipal planning for at least 6 more years for PSLF on my student loans. After that, private sector seems like a good choice.

Right now, I’m a director of an affluent community in Michigan. The 4 day workweek and holidays off might make me stay forever.

[u/ttkitty30 → u/AboveAverageAdult]

I get paid a lot more (25% more) in public sector than I did in private! Really depends. Private seems to only consider private experience towards what is “actual” experience, but public counts all of your experience which works out better for a lot of people.

[u/offbrandcheerio → u/ttkitty30]

Imo the pay differential is dependent on geography, and even so, the private sector pay only gets truly great if you make it up to the level of director/principal. That of course comes with a ton of pressure to find and win work for the company. The pay is not always worth it if you’re not business development minded. I personally did not get into planning to do business development and I hope to get out of consulting before that becomes too much of my responsibility.

[u/ttkitty30 → u/offbrandcheerio]

I relate! My life has been infinitely better since going to the public sector. Highly recommend it. It’s a little slower but I’d take that to verbal tirades and name-calling 😅

[u/offbrandcheerio → u/ttkitty30]

Oh yeah, my first job was public sector for 2.5 years. Then I got two job offers at the same time: one in the same metro area in the private sector, and another in the public sector halfway across the country. I chose the local private sector one to explore transportation planning rather than keep doing generalist municipal stuff, and I am kinda over private sector bullshit at this point. The random tirades and name calling in the public sector don’t bother me, I’ve worked customer service before and have personally seen the worst of the worst of what society has to offer lmao. Nothing fazes me anymore.

[u/Lord_Tachanka → u/AboveAverageAdult]

Tbh this is the tradeoff. If you want to make money private is good but stressful for things like finding clients, if you want a better qol then public is unequivocally the choice but it has its own peculiarities 

[u/skittlesmalone → u/AboveAverageAdult]

Hire me pls

[u/fade2blac]

I’ve noticed public planning job postings appearing much less frequently over the last two years. As the market slows, it seems many private sector planners are moving to the public side while they still can. Given the current climate, I wouldn't consider leaving a public role for a private one right now.

[u/kayleyishere → u/fade2blac]

Public jobs are hiring a lot around me, because every local agency is in some kind of leadership crisis and the staff is bailing.

I was expecting more of what you describe but that hasn't been the case here. DC area and we are suffering from trickle-down crazy.

[u/Cassandracork → u/kayleyishere]

I am seeing this, too. It’s like the rebound staff shuffle from the one back during the 2020/2021 lockdown.

[u/ElectionBig3711]

In my experience, private is much busier and less rewarding work. There’s a chance that you’ll make more, but that comes with longer hours, difficult clients, etc. Personally, I like municipal planning because your schedule doesn’t change much, there’s flexible hours if your city offers comp time, and you have the opportunity to work with lots of different professionals regularly (Codes, Engineering, FD, PD, etc.). More of a team environment, which I love.

[u/offbrandcheerio → u/ElectionBig3711]

I second this 100%. Private sector has not been nearly as rewarding to me as municipal. Pay can be lower in municipal in some cases but work life balance and fringe benefits are better. I need to go back to municipal planning at some point because private is burning me out in a way municipal never did.

[u/offbrandcheerio]

Having made the switch from municipal to private, and having worked private for nearly the last 3 years, I feel like going back to municipal will be a breath of fresh air when I do. I despise consulting with a passion lol. It has nearly made me want to quit planning altogether. Municipal was so much better for me. Private will burn you out in a way municipal can’t, just due to the nature of consulting work being super fast paced, competitive, and subject to the condition of the economy (layoffs this past year have been demoralizing as hell). Not saying municipal is perfect, but I do prefer it over private by a significant margin.

[u/ChanelNo50]

I genuinely have the same question of switching from municipal to private lol

[u/kayleyishere → u/ChanelNo50]

I did this and it was hard! On public side we didn't have the software licenses used on private side, so I had no experience with their basic tools like graphic design, rendering, CAD, story maps, Autoturn, traffic analysis or modeling packages. It was like starting over with no skills.

On the other hand, the private people with no public experience had no idea about zoning, getting resolutions passed, or how consultants are chosen.

I highly recommend hopping between public and private if you can, keeping skills sharp until you figure out where you want to settle.

[u/SeveralDelivery8555 → u/kayleyishere]

This is good advice. I’m early in my career in private and find it’s nearly impossible to find a public sector job who likes my experience. I feel kind of stuck, and desperately would love a public sector job

[u/autochangerevolution → u/SeveralDelivery8555]

Me too. Private has been draining me but maybe I am just hoping public will be better for my soul. Good luck!

[u/kayleyishere → u/autochangerevolution]

It depends on your managers, like everywhere. Every public sector job is different! I had one job that was chill, with amazing managers, and the rest were a firehose of work with deadlines and hearings looming and not enough people to get it done.

I find private sector wildly misunderstands public side. I can work 16 hour days on public side to hit the deadlines in state code, and private side interviewers still question whether I can hustle for client deadlines 🙃 

[u/TuggsBrohe → u/kayleyishere]

Or if you want to stay in the public sector, move between regional and local planning. Both involve very different skill sets but both have something to offer.

[u/bOhsohard]

Is it with your same municipal and did they like you lol? I left for 2.5yr and it was quite easy returning. In fact, they beat the offer I had from private sector, so was very easy. This was in 2024

[u/turnitwayup]

I did 5.5 years in the private sector as a planning tech & staff planner at a LA/Planning firm. Since I have a graphic design background, I did design all the plan documents from the bids, did a lot of research & put together rfps. Currently I’m the only planner at work that has private sector experience. We had one planner that did a short stint in the private sector but he’s been in the public sector for years & took a com dev director’s job in a different state. I think that was part of the reason I got hired. We’re suppose to update a couple of elements in the comp plan & have to do a housing action plan. Since it’s in-house I have the experience to put the document together. I do miss having the Adobe creative suite at work.

[u/Eye-Western]

When you say private sector is it as a consultant to municipalities or to private developers?

[u/Cassandracork]

In my experience where I am, no. Jurisdictions love not having to train someone from scratch on processes and management often sees private side experience as a plus. I see folks go back and forth all the time, and I will probably transition back myself when a good opportunity comes along.

[u/Onlysonof]

Yes, I was in private development and I’m having an incredibly hard time breaking into public.

[u/TuggsBrohe]

I don't think so, most towns I know are desperate for planners with any sort of experience.

[u/ElectionBig3711 → u/TuggsBrohe]

The city I work for, if you don’t meet the minimum requirements, civil service won’t even show you the application. So yes, some cities may be desperate to hire for a role, but it’s not as simple as hiring anyone who applies.

[u/glutton2000]

Generally, no - it’s quite common to hop back and forth. But job market right now is tough.