Place in Public For most of us, is this still a lifelong dream, or is it just a delusion, a counterbalance to the challenging conditions of the private sector? Is there a plan C? Two employees who had retired from government service also told us of their decision the next day.

“Go, my child, learn all there is to learn, and keep your eyes open.” This unusual desire was expressed by Maria Alexiou’s father when she announced to him that she had passed the ASEP writing competition and was appointed to the civil service. “The state was not part of my plans,” Maria from a family of furriers tells K today. “However, when I started looking for work and interviewing companies, I felt like every time I had to put on a show to prove who I was and what I was capable of; I also realized that I would have to work long hours, even if it was a weekend.” However, then Maria wants to have free time for other activities. “The examination process was more familiar to me,” she notes, studying economics at AUTH and the UK. 2004, and in 2006 she was appointed to the Ministry of Labor.

The department that Maria joined in 2006 consists of graduates who have passed ASEP. “We felt the difference when we came into contact with other departments and departments,” describes herself, who worked in the human resources department and was involved at the time of the fund merger. However, he soon began to feel that he was not moving forward, that he was stagnant. “I had a lot of ideas and I couldn’t implement them,” he recalls. “I also began to understand how political decisions are made and how bills are drafted, and that made me sad.”

Over time, Maria acquires a lot of know-how about the available master’s degrees in Greece and abroad, “because I spent a lot of time looking for myself, as I received a second master’s degree as an employee of the then ASOEE.” So, friends and colleagues who were looking for information about their studies turned to Mary directly, since the area was completely unexplored. “Therefore, I started something of my own in postgraduate education programs, since there was no up-to-date information anywhere,” Maria, the owner of eduguide.gr, tells K. “I don’t think I would have gone through this if I didn’t have my husband’s support.” Thus, in 2012, Maria takes a “verbal” risk, i.e. on unpaid leave. At the same time, the family moved to Cyprus. “For the first four years I had no income,” she admits, “in the digital part, my husband helped me a lot, because I am self-taught.” However, gradually the site is gaining traffic and collecting a lot of important information by category – master’s degrees, scholarships, doctoral degrees, as well as news on education policy. “We are constantly upgrading the site,” says Maria, who left the public sector in 2017 and currently has five permanent employees in her company. “We used to have a physical office, but during the pandemic we realized we didn’t need one, so we are now working online from Cyprus, Athens, Kalamata and Kavala.” What does she miss from the public? “Every Friday afternoon, the carefree feeling that the weekend begins, during which I will have no professional worries, and also very good relations with colleagues,” he replies. “I don’t know if my new job would have gone so well if I didn’t have experience in the public sector, for example, as a civil servant I learned to read and easily understand laws, decisions and circulars that are directly related to my subject.”

“I felt stuck”

ASEP 2003 also brought Vassilis Giannakopoulos, an ASOEE graduate, to the Ministry of Labour. “We have gathered a lot of young people who are sincerely interested in this topic,” says Vassilis. It is involved in many important rules and in the first steps of the transition to digital technologies, for example, in establishing clarity. “I had time to work in the private sector, and the first day I left the office at 3:30 pm, it seemed like a lie,” says Vassilis, who then chose the public sector as the free time he provides for his employees. “I really took advantage of it, I got my master’s degree while working and having a good time with my family,” he says. “However, I felt stagnant and that my abilities were constantly decreasing, which was very psychologically draining.” Young colleagues discuss the system’s many obscene texts. “We made many proposals for changes to make our work more efficient, but few of them were accepted,” he says bitterly.

At that time, his brother Vassilis founded Science for You, a non-profit organization that uses technology to offer solutions to our daily lives. “At first I helped as a volunteer, and at one point my brother, with great hesitation, asked me if I would like to be more involved.” He doesn’t have time to finish his sentence, and Basil has already agreed. “I had a secure unpaid leave option that I took for five years as required by law.” At this time, Vasilis develops his creative abilities to the maximum. “However, there were difficulties, months when I had no financial reward,” he recalls, “but it was something that filled me, I was constantly developing, and SciFY was constantly getting better and receiving praise.” It should be noted that in 2019 this AMKE was included in the top 5% of 250 organizations by Thales II for its transparency, efficiency and organization.

Vasilis will return to the public sector for three years. “I worked part-time at AMKE after obtaining the relevant permit,” he explains, “but the combination was very difficult, it was two completely different worlds.” Finally, in 2022, he retires and devotes himself to SciFY. As an AMKE employee, he has many positives such as flexible hours and a hybrid work model. “The joy of visually impaired children when we gave them electronic toys specially designed for them is incomparable,” he concludes. “Now I put into practice what I tell my children: the only sure thing in life is change – we must wait for it and prepare for it.”