Accenture vs. Detica

Hi all,

I have the nice problem of 2 offers, one being for Accenture and the other for Detica. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on my choice. As background:-

Accenture

28K + 10K bonus - higher salary

Big reputation although I've heard rumours that the work can be less interesting

Long hours culture?

Will probably look very good on CV and open up more doors?

Detica

27K plus annual bonus up to 15% salary

Less of a long hours culture

Smaller firm but growing rapidly

Potentially more hands on work with greater exposure and variety?

Please any comments, opinons or experiences of these 2 firms would be great. Is it the best route to ghet experience and training with ACN or the 'big firms' first??

Cheers for your help

Hi there Tom. Well done on getting the offers! ACN and Detica are different beasts. I know somebody who works for Detica and I believe the work is slightly more technical but they do some really interesting stuff with the Government agencies such as MI5, MI6 etc.. and the ministry of defence. ACN is bigger and there's more room to hide. There's also more room to get stuck or to go down a route you don't want to. Equally there are lots of opportunities but the work doesn't seem that interesting nowadays. Do plenty of research and try and talk to people from both camps before making your decision. Good luck

Hey, i was in the same position as you, and chose accenture over detica for two reasons. The first is that the accenture brand is awfully powerful in the UK, so moving on from there is a sinch(spelling??). Secondly the training at graduate level at accenture is probably the best out of all the grad programs available (e.g. 5 weeks in london, then 3 weeks in Chicago). Detica is a great little company- the kind i would want to join after 3-4 years at accenture. Hope that helps.

Hi,

Thanks for your comments Jon. How have you found the work at Accenture? Have you been there long? Which operating group did you go into and have the projects been interesting so far?

Apologies for the barrage of questions...

Cheers

I would probably go for Accenture - it's not a fabulous place to work, but it does have the brand recognition and comes with a relatively high quality benchmark, which will make moving on easier. My advice to you is don't stay too long - join as an Analyst, get promoted to Consultant as fast as possible, and then start looking around at the more specialist firms. You don't want to be a little fish in a big pond for long. It's easier to go from a big player to a small one, than vice versa. Well done on the offers...