Having worked for a public utility, there is a fair share of mediocre people but worse yet there are people in management positions who are entirely incompetent and can't recognize/don't know what to do with good talent. Funny enough, some of those people ended up working for Amazon.
I once heard it said: government jobs are welfare for the middle class. IMO it's not 100% accurate but it's better than 50%.
They're useful if you're self-employed because you can marry one to get the benefits.