(no subject)

[botias]

There are definitely some frustrating differences between the public and private sectors. I really wish I had not come here from a database company. One difference is capital investment. In the public sector this is clearly done when it absolutely must and not one second before as there is no real incentive for increased productivity. It’s not like it’s going to make any difference in your market share. We have the most archaic and clunky computer system, and that’s the new one. If there are any built-in checks I don’t know about them yet. There are no proofing reports, no screens specifically designed to facilitate certain procedures. In the old system totals, were not calculated by the system, but were calculated by hand and input for each month. I found that most of the accounts had small adding errors in the particular area that I was working on. Lesson: calculate this stuff yourself for this government stuff, you never know how crappy the system is that the ‘pros’ are using. Next time I get a Social Security statement I’m going to compare their totals to my tax return. Working in a database company had given me a false sense of security, (which it ought not have as I knew all the fudging that we got up to) ‘cause we had proofing reports and cross-checks galore. They do try here, but there is not nearly that kind of efficiency and the situations tend to be much more complex and the state changes the rules on them about every six months.