Entry Level IT Consulting: Avanade, Deloitte, Accenture, MCS
 

Myself along with some of my fellow student friends are considering potential employment opportunities within the organizations above (Avanade, Deloitte, Accenture, MCS aka MSFT Services) among others. We all love to travel and love FT! I'm looking for perhaps a bit of insight into how compensation may differ for fresh graduates coming from uni, going for a position in a major american city (LA, NY, Chicago, Miami) at the entry level for travelling consultants.

Our current understanding - based on loose rumors, former grads and other questionable sources; suggests the following ranking by starting salary (entry level consultant or 'mobile' developer), controlling for city:

Deloitte SI (65-70k + ~10 bonus?)
Avanade (?? + ??)
MCS Entry Consultant (~66k?? + reloc)
Accenture SI (60-65k? +~5 bonus?)

however we have little knowledge of Avanade and no real data point. Also the glassdoor reviews seem a little troubling, though we don't really read much into them at this point. Anyone have any Avanade data points for this info, or care to confirm/unconfirm any of the others? PM's are cool also, along with comments on work culture or anything else!

Salary shouldn't be the most important point after graduating university.

I agree - but it is a major consideration given the cost of renting even the smallest place and, for most of our group anyway, student loans. We each have our own preferences based on culture, 'perks', career development resources, etc.

The compensation from the 3 you know are close enough to not matter - there seems to be a max of 10k gap - what is far more important is how you will fit in the firms, what the progression is and how fast (because that is when the money becomes more relevant), and where and how often they expect you to travel. I've worked alongside 2/4 of those, and they were sending some of their guys to incredibly soul destroying locations (aka not big cities, nothing to do there other than work) for multiple weeks at a time, for a year or more to the same place, doing glorified data entry - yup, you may know how to write super duper programs, revoluntionize IT, but right now, you will produce simple Excel spreadsheets for the client. Until your eyes bleed! That isn't my idea of 'travelling', that is my idea of purgatory!

Of course, it might come down to which one(s) will hire you - you may have your decision made for you!

Like emma69 mentioned, as an analyst, you will be doing all the grunt work - documentation, excel spreadsheets, etc. Not saying you won't get a chance to do write that super duper piece of code, but it will be highly unlikely on most projects.

Don't forget to factor in the travel, the long work day, the long work week, the not-so-glamorous locations you might be travelling to, and how unhealthy your diet can become once you run out of time to eat.

Not trying to discourage you from joining IT consulting... the benefits can be very rewarding. But you will have to make a lot of personal "sacrifices" to earn those rewards.

Well thanks for the info. IT consulting is not the only choice, but most of us like to travel and one can hardly bank on getting a management consulting position. Entry level positions at an F500 or a smaller company are also good options I guess.

would this be better for omni?
 

don't know but there are a lot of work related threads in OMNI and a lot of folks with this kind of work

sorry if this is the wrong section, I saw this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-991439.html and thought it would be nice to post in the same section

I agree, although the OP is 171 posts short of OMNI.

+1
For now, just apply to everything that you think may potentially interest you and then some. Once you get offers, you can decide where to go based on salary, location, job profile, etc.

If business-related travel is your primary goal now, you might want to re-think an entry level position at a Fortune 500 firm.

When you say 'like to travel' is it the traveling (anywhere) or traveling to new / interesting / exciting places? At most of these firms, the majority of travel will be domestic, to places they don't have local staff. Which can mean small towns in fairly barren places. You may be better going for jobs which don't have a huge travel component, but give reasonable vacation policies, and travel places you want to go on your own time.

Salary is going to really depend on which city and perhaps even which practice? As Emma69 said you are within the range. A data point - one of my former interns is graduating this spring and has an offer from one of the big IT firms with a mid-70s base. Will be based here in LA and mostly working with media and entertainment clients. They also had multiple offers - amazingly bright individual with great college work experience. $65-70k is the norm I have seen in LA for top recruits.

I hire Avanade and MCS from time to time. Do not really think of them having many entry level people. And I would suggest you want one of the broader consulting brands (Deloitte, Accenture, IBM, E&Y, Cap) for your first position if you can get an offer. Will serve you better down the road.

Who your supervisor will be, what projects they will put you on, and what geography you will cover will be the factors to really consider? Find your ideal situation first -- and then if you happen to have another offer for more money, negotiate your preferred job to that number. It is important to start as high as you can - there are lots of studies that for every $1k you can increase your first salary it has a ripple effect through the rest of your career. But most important to find a place you will learn, grow, and work with as many clients as possible.

I spent the first 7 years of my career traveling. Sometimes big cities, sometimes small. Hard to control that. Even the most rural places can be interesting. Make sure to get familiar with Roadside America.

Moderator note.
 

We kept the thread open in TravelBuzz as opposed to OMNI, as the OP is not OMNI-qualified; but, even more so, to see if the discussion would develop more on the travel aspects or the career aspects. As the discussion seems largely on career development and analysis of the consultation field, rather than travel, and the OP has received some initial advice, the thread is now closed. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.