A little background to set the scene.

I graduated from the University of Plymouth 15 years ago and walked straight into a position with Nokia Networks on a great salary.
The company were going through a very good time and money was really no object. I was sent on training courses to Finland for weeks on end and enjoyed great training and work opportunities. Fast forward about 6 years and the networks side of Nokia had started to slow done. Soon I was told that I was at risk. With my first child due, I quickly applied for several positions within the upcoming arm of the Nokia business - Nokia mobile phones.

I was successful and again was treated very well with Nokia. Work was hard, but the rewards were fantastic. I was working from home regularly and I was trusted to get the job done. I had managed to work my way to quite a position of responsibility.
The only negative that I could say was that I was travelling 62 miles door to door daily without fuel card of car allowance.
Again Fast forward to April last year and as you probably know, Nokia lost massive market share to its competitors. Unfortunately for me, this meant that I was made redundant with my gardening leave ending in January this year.

I applied for several jobs during my gardening leave and was successful with a MoD position. Unfortunately , the overall compensation was about £5k less than I had been at Nokia, but also that I needed security clearance to the highest level. This took 5 months.

This week, i started my new position with the MoD. I cant really say much about the role itself (due to the nature of the work), but the place is not what i had expected at all.

Its stuck in the 1970s and what little modernisation has taken place, its not looked after at all. Today, I went to a building and saw two pictures (life size) of the Queen and Prince Phillip. I wasn't ready for that. Its so different to corporate life.

I am not sure what i have let myself in for, but i guess that beggars cant be choosers - But I don't envisage myself being there for 15 years. My questions to you are:

1) Have I made a mistake?
2) Are my worries due to not working for quite a few months and its just shock?
3) Will i become un-employable to the corporate/private sector after working in the public sector?
4) What are the chances of payrises and progression in the public sector currently...?

Thanks for listening/reading/.

I've worked in the commercial, military and space sectors of the electronics industry.

They all have different cultures, all their pros and cons and it's likely to take a year or two to get used to the new culture. I've no idea if you've made a mistake, I do know that it's too early for you to know the answer.

Rav stick with it mate - you've been at Nokia for a long time and it's bound to be a culture shock wherever you go - as you know I worked there for about 9 years and then went into the banking sector and to say it was a shock is an understatement - but now I've done it I'm glad I made the change. (took a while though). I do miss it sometimes, especially the good old days when money wasn't an option for travel / training etc, but in hindsight I can now see that we had it really easy for so long.

Give your new job a chance, at least you can still keep your eye on the job market while you're there and hopefully you're working closer to home....

I can't imagine a bigger culture shock.

My advice is to find peers from the private sector in the business and talk to them, a lot. They will have been through the whole WTF moment themselves, several times... draw from their experiences.

Agree with this, well worth keeping up any security clearance as I've seen roles in my field offering double the going rate if you've got valid security clearance.

Best not to advertise that you have SC.
Definitely not if you are DV, etc.

The number of people on linkedin that say it is shocking. They might as well write "I have access to sensitive information, please target me..."

The briefings you get when going through the process should advise you of what you should/shouldn't say.

DV contractor = Big Bucks

Start using the Porsche configurator to spec up your new 991 and i'm sure any culture shock worries will go away.

Congrats on getting a job BTW

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my 'call for help'. I appreciate your words and have taken them on board. I will stick it out for the short term as I agree that the culture shock is still very fresh and fifteen years at Nokia will take more than 5 days to erase.

I will still keep looking for other work, but will be very fussy about what I take. This is easier when you have a job and income. My expectations were/are very high after my career at Nokia. Everything was corporate and very swanky. My current site is stuck in the 1960s and really scared me on first impression.

I don't often say it, but you have made my day and I am thankful that you have made me see sense. I was about to hand in my notice yesterday as I hated it so much. The shortest career ever?

Thanks to all of you and thanks to the power of Pistonheads.

P.S. Some of the replies are from persons I think I know and some from people who know me. PM me if you want to chat.

Lots of ex Squaddies kicking around the site that I am based at. Ex army, RAF and Navy lads doing very well for themselves.

Pile of nonsense.

OP, as stated its a change in way of life. You've got a job, you've got DV clearance (I presume) which does open some doors, although not a great panacea as some here make out. The people who need this clearance to work tend not to pay the best.

What's your notice period?

Depending on your skills, keep looking for something more suitable work wise which challenges you.