Accenture or Booz Allen Hamilton

I'll be graduating this May and currently interview with both companies. Cyber Security Engineer with Booz and Security Consultant Analyst with Accenture. Hypothetically speaking, If I were to land both positions, I'm not sure which position I would rather take. I listed some pros for both below:

Accenture:

-Large company, possibly more benefits and better training?

-The ability to travel

-More laid back environment

Booz Allen Hamilton:

-Security Clearance

-More defense-type contracts (something I'm interested in)

What do you guys recommend based on previous knowledge with these companies? What's the work/life balance like, which is a better company to start my career? I've always been more interesting in technical work, but lately, the consulting side of IT has started to interest me more and more so i'm not to sure which way I should lean.

Accenture - laid back environment? My friend, you cannot be any more incorrect on that assumption. Work - life balance barely exists. Having said that, it is widely regarded as a very good place to start a career and benefits are decent for graduates but this does really reflect the effort required from you.

Booz - wouldn't know. Hopefully someone can help you on this point.

In the US BAH are neck deep in Fed Defence work, have been forever. If you are referring to UK then not sure.

The roles will have a different weighting - expect a more forensic, detailed approach at BAH (in effect more engineering than consulting) - which if you want to progress in defence work will be invaluable. Longer term, your fiercest competition in the defence sector, in cyber security, wont be colleagues from Accenture or BAH - it will be ex forces techies used to working on subs and warships. So the closer you start to the nuts and bolts the better. BAH would probably put you there sooner - and sec cleared.

That said, you couldn't go wrong with either - both have very strong brands, but my shilling is on BAH (just).

I'm assuming by your spelling of 'Defense' you are based in the US.

In which case I would go for Booz if you are looking to do more hush hush type work. There is really some fascinating stuff going on in this area. Cyber is becoming the 4th element in warfare, alongside land, sea and air.

So do you want to be a soldier, or to you want to advise banks and online retailers how to protect customer payments?...

They're both very good options but I personally would lean towards Booz Allen (I've heard that the work they do is slightly more interesting although obviously very dependent on your location and interests).

Good luck!

I used to work for McKinsey in London and have started a blog with advice on how to get into consulting. Find it here: www.theconsultingcoach.com