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

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.

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.

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.

Sears isn't really even a big name anymore.

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.