
Ask HN: Should I choose big name or big salary? - swcoders
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.<p>Money is real problem here. I can not make that much money in Deloitte if I remain their for two or more years.<p>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.<p>Thank for all your help.
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nicholas73
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.

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davismwfl
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.

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swcoders
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
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.

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rubyfan
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
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
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.

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borplk
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.

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vargalas
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.

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harperlee
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.

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petervandijck
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.

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probinso
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

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PaulHoule
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
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
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.

~~~
swcoders
Great!! and really thanks for your advice. They selected me for working on
their e-commerce project and they are trying to move more on e-commerce (As I
have discussed with project managers). I was very confused. Once again Thanks
for your valuable advice.

~~~
PaulHoule
It's your funeral.

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

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herbst
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.

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rexrex
Sears isn't really even a big name anymore.

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samfisher83
Both sears and Deloitte are quite big.

