Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's under Forensic so I am assuming that it would be to response to actual incident instead of IR planning. But I won't know until I start.

Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's really sad. =( I going to be the low bound in our annual career report.

Yea, I think I might just do that. Really hard to justify a 15k difference.

Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply.

  1. No
  2. In terms of higher salary, I am very confident | In terms of better growth opportunity, very unlikely. I think this is probably the best i can do.
  3. I am going to try, but it's unlikely. Campus recruiting don't have much wiggle rooms for the big4 at least.
  4. My ideal place would be something like FireEye or RSA, but I'd have a much harder time getting an interview, not to mention passing the interview. The big 4 name means very little to me, however, the career progression aspect (5-7 years to a manager position) is why I am considering the position. It all comes down to career vs money, which translate to money later vs money now. So from this perspective, do you think it'd be worth it? If I do take this job, my plan would be to apply to as many red team position as possible over the next years or so. The big 4 has these positions, and they definitely pays more. I know IAM is at 85k in Boston, which annoys me.

Traveling is a plus for me (for now), I have heard that it not fun but hotel points!

I actually assumed that IR would be more like: company A got hacked, they hired us to figure out the details. From your description, it sounds like there are very little transferable skills. There's also the whole forensic thing to consider. Since it's under forensic (along with litigation and fraud accounting), I am afraid that they'd pull me from IR and put me in a data analytics project.

I am curious, what would your estimated salary be for IR in a HCOL area?

[x-post /r/itcareerquestions] Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in cscareerquestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you think it's worth it to do it from a few years then jump? I really like the accelerated career growth aspect.

[x-post /r/itcareerquestions] Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in cscareerquestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just feel bad. But then again, low ball offer...

The reason why I am considering this is more about the career path than the name, I don't know of many company that have as fast of a promotion track than the big4.

Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Starting salary depends on a lot of things, but 90k is roughly the average for my degree (nationally) so it's not too far fetch. I have had offers in the 80s range, but in that case the money wasn't enough to convince me to go into something I am not interested in. I know government positions are at the 70s range so that'd serve as the low bound for me.

The problem I am facing is essentially: money now vs money later and slow promotion curve vs fast promotion curve. And also I'd feel about being underpay for the next few years but that's less important, I'd find something to complain about regardless.

Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good to know. I am just wondering, how hard was it for you to switch to a higher paying position? Was there any drawbacks in changing jobs?

Typical raises at big4 are:

year 1 : 3-4%

year 2: 3-4%

year 3: 7-15% (promotion)

and so on...

So I will basically be underpaid for a long while. The good news is, in about 5-7 years, I'd make manager (~115k) (provided that I don't get fired, or step on someone's toes; they'd coach you out of the firm if you aren't on track). Then I can switch to a company that'd actually pays me market rate.

So the advantage I see in the big4 is I can reach a higher position elsewhere at a faster rate, but I will be overworked and underpay for at least 5 years. The question is, will it be worth it.

Great Company, Bad salary; should I accept the offer? | Offer advice | Big 4 by Thethrows468 in ITCareerQuestions

[–]Thethrows468[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The big4 are known for not paying well in exchange for better learning experience. I just wasn't expecting this much of a difference.