To feel I am not doing as well in my career as I hoped for

[Whyty]

I was looking at my career path and was thinking that I am not doing as well in my career as I hoped for 5 years ago.
I have two degrees Bachelor's and Masters. Over 10 years of work experience in IT. Have been working in public sector for several years now. My first salary was £35k and 10 years later I have only managed to reach £65k and a good pension. I am in a senior role with responsibilities.
I haven't changed many jobs through my career and prefer working in public sector for good work life balance. I am early 30s and I honestly feel I was hoping for earning more by this time when I look back. AIBU to feel sad about this.

Youve done very well op. I’m 37 and on 49k. I work for a uni and the work life balance suits me very well now I have 2 kids. Private sector would pay more, yes. But longer hours and worse Mat pay etc. I wouldn’t be able to spend so much time with my kids. so you have to weigh it all up.

The thing that stands out to me is you saying I'm not doing well in my career and then calling it a job?

I think you are doing great but maybe it's the career choice not the job that's wrong? Have you thought about different t careers?

For you to feel like this Op - presumably you have seen your peers / colleagues with similar qualifications as you progress within this industry at a greater speed than you?

@cultureplanet My friends who are contracting are making more than double the money I am on.

Yes but I imagine they don't have paid holidays, sick leave, employee life insurance cover (a year or two's salary possibly) or (very important) good pension arrangements.

Do you have all these?

Also less security in their jobs can make it difficult to apply for mortgages/loans/credit too.

That and the convenience of location, potential maternity pay plus other stuff I can't think of is worth many, many thousands of pounds, or not if you don't want it and want to become a contractor?

Same industry and similar qualifications?

And I’m the midlands and not London?

@Whyty well yes they need to be, they haven't got an employer making pension contributions for them, they don't have sick pay, occupational maternity pay or annual leave, they don't have the same level of security so need a good cushion for the time between contracts.

op - you seem to have very little understanding of benefits and the “cost” of these benefits. Instead just focusing on money in your pocket. Rather unusual for a professional in their thirties

I’d stop beating yourself up, sounds like you’re doing ok. However, if you want the big bucks, staying in the public sector probably isn’t the best plan.

Or the midlands

Public sector will never pay loads and has also lagged behind massively i.e. there is a much starker difference between public and private pay in comparison to 10 years ago.

I'm a solicitor and would love to work for the government. But they have barely raised salaries since 10 years ago when I got qualified and had my eye on them. What was a decent wage (given the added benefits) then, is now less than what we pay our newly qualified associates! I also remember loads of experienced senior lawyers making the move to government roles in the past if they wanted better work life balance and very interesting roles. That just doesn't happen with my generation, you have to be independently wealthy to make that jump.