Ask HN: Should I choose big name or big salary?

9 points by swcoders 9 years ago | 22 comments

I have two offers for Sr. Software Developer position. One is big brand Deloitte and I read on quora its work culture and learning opportunities are good. Other is Sears Holding. Sears offered 50% more than Deloitte. I really wanted to join Deloitte from beginning because I have never worked in Big Companies and it was my chance to see the culture and all. I am technically very good and it is huge amount of money Sears is offering.

Money is real problem here. I can not make that much money in Deloitte if I remain their for two or more years.

Which company should I join? Which company would be better in long term? I do not have any details about the project work and company internals.

Thank for all your help.

nicholas73 9 years ago |

Take the money. 50% is too big to ignore, unless you are talking about 50% of a low number. But then again, why would you choose a company offering you peanuts?

It doesn't matter what you think of the project - your salary history follows you to better opportunities later on.

Also, we want to think we are smarter than the companies making the offers, but chances are high that the salary offer is correct. That is, you will be doing more valuable work (for both you and them) at Sears than at Deloitte.

davismwfl 9 years ago |

Depends on what you want to be building. At a big 5 firm you will likely be traveling fairly regularly if not weekly and you will be worked hard. You will also learn a ton and see so many varied things you will be come away even more valuable.

Me personally, I'd pick Sears. Doesn't sound sexy but I know a little about them and they generally are pretty good to work for and at least you will be building out products not just working on other peoples projecs. So you will get to see the impact more first hand.

In the end though I doubt either company is a bad choice, so it is more about how you want to spend the next few years and what is important to you. Don't overlook small things though, they can sometimes be more important then the money.

One last point. If Deloitte is that low compared to Sears, something is up. I'd really want to understand that more, as you really shouldn't see that big of a difference.

swcoders 9 years ago | |

Thanks for advice. It might depend on their requirement and urgency of project and skills so they are offering me more. I do not want to loose that huge money and also wanted to join Deloitte (I am also not sure I am right fit as I am very technical and introvert person). I am really confused right now.

davismwfl 9 years ago | | |

I get being confused.

Deloitte like any consulting work can grind on you after awhile but honestly it can be a lot of fun, especially if you are younger and don't have pets, family you want to see etc. I did consulting for years, large and my own.

Sears believe it or not is not a dying company and has significant technical resources for differing product lines. People don't realize they power a lot of repair business tool chains, Design software etc. not that it is a panacea but don't let the fact it is an old company stop you, they are doing some neat stuff. I consulted for them a number of years back and I was totally dumbfounded at all the stuff they are into and creating. Of course it is a larger company so it comes with some headaches like all big companies, Deloitte too.

Also, don't let being an introvert stop you from Deloitte as that may be a good thing as they will help you communicate and you'll learn to be more extroverted. At the same time, don't buy into the hype that having Deloitte on your resume will help you, it won't make a huge difference. If you plan on making a career in enterprise software or consulting it will weigh more but even then I have seen quite a few enterprises basically ignore all resumes from anyone with big 5 experience. Not saying that is super common but just pointing out having that name on your resume doesn't always mean good.

rubyfan 9 years ago |

Think about which one will open more possibilities for you in the future when you are ready to move on. not sure where you are in your career but I'd suspect for most being a Deloitte alumn would have more potential upside.

Also, let Deloitte know you really want to work there but have an offer that is 50% more and give them the opportunity to improve their offer.

swcoders 9 years ago | |

Thanks for your advice. I have 5 years of experience and money is real problem here. I can not make that much money in Deloitte if I remain their for two or more years. It's huge sum of money for me and Deloitte offer is not even competent but learning opportunities will be more and also my profile will be good if I join their. What you suggest?

rubyfan 9 years ago | | |

If you're 5 years in, then you will benefit from the experience and reputation you will get at a big consultancy. The extra bit of pay Sears will give you is short lived.

Again if you're 5 years into a career think about a longer term investment in your future. Unless you have mouths to feed now or are dealing with loan sharks take the one that will benefit the most from over the long term. I'd guess that's Deloitte but not sure what your role is and where you want to take your career.

borplk 9 years ago |

I don't know about the companies you mentioned but if I were you I'd choose Sears because of the 50% higher pay.

50% is a lot.

Once you "unlock" the Sears salary you will most likely never go down from there. So in a couple of years you can go somewhere even better with an even higher salary, that's valuable.

Where as if you settle with the Deloitte salary in a couple of years you might land up somewhere else with a close-to-Sears salary, it seems like it would set you back.

One thing you could do is to tell Deloitte that you have this other offer in your hands, you are keen on Deloitte but you can't accept their offer with that salary.

If they at least match it you might get the best of both worlds.

vargalas 9 years ago |

If you love one of them, go for the love. Otherwise, the money you make is yours... If one pays 50% more, it gives you so much freedom. You _never_ can exactly know if you'll love a company or not before actually working there.

harperlee 9 years ago |

One thing to consider is that at Deloitte, as at any big 4 you are in for a well structured career track that - assuming your performance is good - will mean yearly wage increases. Whereas in most companies (I can't talk specifically about Sears), you might find a more stagnant career, with bigger but more spaced jumps (typically when your boss is promoted, or the business requires more people).

I have worked at big fours in two separate occasions and it is not rare to see long careers that average a yearly 15% increase.

petervandijck 9 years ago |

Take the money.

Calculate like this: job1 pays 100, and imagine you get a 10% raise yearly for the rest of your career. Calculate your total income over your career. Job2 pays 15, calculate same. How much difference is it?

In other words: a significant salary increase early in your career tends to pay dividends beyond just the current year.

probinso 9 years ago |

I think that this mostly depends on whether you're supporting a family. If you have no dependents then you can adjust your life expenses very easily.

I have taken jobs at 40% of another offer, Because the work was way more interesting and the benefits were significantly better

PaulHoule 9 years ago |

Sears will end in tears for you. It has been a failing company for at least 30 years, it is the definition of "lights on and nobody home"

To take an example of how they think, when I was a student they had a booth at my college where they were soliciting people to get Sears charge cards. I applied for one, and then they replied saying they would not give me a card because I lived in student housing.

Years later I went to Sears auto center to replace the tires on my car, the guy who was ringing me up insisted that I only pay for one tire instead of four tires, he argued with me for 15 minutes. It was dark, I had worked all day, walked two miles each way to work, wanted to get home, am I going to call the manager saying I want to pay another $300?

I also used a TV-B-Gone to turn off the TV sets at Sears, six months later the TV sets were still off.

Listen to me, do not take that job at Sears. If you do you are going to be tearing out your hair in six months and you'll be remembering that paul_houle told you not to do it. So don't.

swcoders 9 years ago | |

Thanks, I think IT branch is not responsible for that kind of issues. They are moving more to ecommerce areas so I think retail does not affect much.

davismwfl 9 years ago | | |

Sears is not dying or dead. They have around 40 some brands they own and they are doing quite well. Yes they aggressively close non performing stores and they aren't in every mall like they used to be. But they are very much into ecommerce, supply chain management, repair business etc. and the technology groups they have do some neat shit, again not a panacea but pretty cool.

Also remember they are in the top 20 of all retailers in the US so if you can say you worked on ecommerce for a top 20 retailer and made real impacts, sorry that to me will be better then Deloitte. I'd hire a person with that experience over the consulting person, especially for a online business.

herbst 9 years ago |

Personally i dont care about both. As dev i earn enough whatever i do and big names are just that, big names. I would go for the one you felt the most comfortable with in terms of environment and coworkers.

swcoders 9 years ago | |

Thanks for advice. I do not know more about their culture. What would you suggest for me?

herbst 9 years ago | | |

Honestly i would not consider ether before knowing this. I always ask other coders why i should _not_ start there, this usually leads to interesting (and often honest) insights.

rexrex 9 years ago |

Sears isn't really even a big name anymore.

samfisher83 9 years ago |

Both sears and Deloitte are quite big.