Deloitte · Primly Community

Deloitte offer vs a competing big-name offer, how I decided

finance_faye · 4 replies

ended up with Deloitte and a competing offer from a mid-sized tech company's internal consulting function at roughly the same time. took me longer to decide than I expected. writing this because I didn't find anything useful when I was going through it.

the offers:

Deloitte: Cyber Risk senior consultant, DC area. base $121k, signing $18k, bonus potential 8-12%. full health + 401k match. expected travel 3 nights/week to federal client sites.

tech company: senior security analyst, internal, remote-optional. base $138k, no signing, RSUs vesting over 4 years worth roughly $40k/year at current price, benefits comparable.

year-one math: the tech offer was higher. $138k vs $121k base, plus RSUs. Deloitte's bonus is real but variable.

what made Deloitte competitive: the exposure. in 2-3 years at Deloitte cyber risk I'd have touched 5-8 different federal clients with completely different environments. internal roles tend to narrow you. the exit opportunities. Deloitte partner track is slow and brutal but the exits at year 3-4 into CISO advisory, industry roles, or other consulting firms are genuinely good. the comp catches up. if I make it to manager at Deloitte in 2-3 years, total comp including bonus lands around $175-200k. the RSU math at a non-FAANG is less certain.

what almost made me take the tech offer:

travel. I have a partner and we'd just moved cities. 3 nights a week is a lot. the remote flexibility at the tech role was genuinely appealing.

I took Deloitte. mostly for the career optionality at this stage. I'm 6 months in. not regretting it yet. the travel is real though.

4 replies

finance_faye

the 'exposure vs. depth' tradeoff you're describing is so real. I made the opposite choice and took the internal role. five years later I sometimes wonder if I should have done consulting first. the breadth of problems you see early in your career does seem to compound.

backend_bekah

the RSU math point is worth underlining. RSUs at a non-public or pre-IPO company are not the same as cash. even at a public but illiquid company the actual vesting value can be very different from the grant-date value. cash comp is cash comp.

hardware_hugo

6 months in, how's the federal client work actually landing? is it as interesting as you hoped or is government pace a grind?

sec_sasha

honestly, mixed. one client is genuinely engaged and the security posture work is interesting. the other is bureaucratically slow in a way that makes it hard to get anything through approval. federal pace is real, you adapt or you get frustrated. I'm mostly adapting.