I just graduated from VA Tech during the summer semester and I have two job offers on the table right now: Ernst & Young and Booz Allen Hamilton. Both of them will be paying me a pretty comparable salary although it will be for slightly different positions...

Anyone have any idea on which company is better to work for?

Anyone have any idea on which company is better to work for?

Answer: The one with the most office hotties.

Booze Allen and Hamilton is a much better firm.

Dear Lurker,

What's the deal with everyone saying that Booz Allen is such a good place to work. I always hear great things about Booz Allen--but I mean, is it all hype?

Please advise.

Booz Allen wouldn't hire me, so they got something going for them

dude, Any Company with the word BOOZE in the title is go to employer! BLAM

Drink up Drunky McPaycheck!

Long response...

With both firms, but especially with BAH, the group that you join and the type of assignments can make a big difference. I have worked at Booz on both the commercial (WCB) and government/technology (WTB) sides of the house and learned that a lot of your success and happiness is driven by the management team you are attached to.

Have you met the III/IV/V (Associate/Senior Associate/Principal) you will be working with? What do you know about their career paths? Are they rising stars or plateaued? BAH has a lot of "terminal" IVs who are great people, but will never take you anywhere and that can be a big deal if you think that you want to make it a career. If the work is with WTB, what agencies/contracts does your team have? Are they just starting or coming to an end?

I know that it is hard to think about retirement at 21 or 22, but BAH has one of the best programs around. There were years when the firm contributed 8-12% of my salary which adds up pretty fast.

Personally, I never fit in with the governemnt consulting culture at BAH after spending 10 years in commercial with BearingPoint and CSC. Way too bureuacratic for me. Do you consider yourself more rules/process-driven or outcome-driven. If the former, government consulting may make you feel right at home. Otherwise, look at commercial consulting if that is an option. Can you fit a square peg into a round hole? Probably, especially is this is your first job.

My buddy worked for Booz Allen and never had a good word to say about them. His description was if you wanted to find a bigger bunch of pricks in one place you would be hard pressed.
He stayed a couple of years until he said he could no longer take the back stabbing.

I've heard a lot of good things about Booz Allen, until I saw this thread, anyway.

I had a friend who started off at E&Y. She liked it there and everyone I have met who has worked there seems to like it. The best thing about E&Y is that it is a known entity in the business world, so if you want to jump to a FORTUNE 500 Corporation somewhere else in the country, you will be a known entity. For instance, my friend was able to get into the oil services industry and has worked for a variety of companies all around the world based on her E&Y experience.

Most people I have talked to not involved in defense or government contracting have no idea what Booz Allen is, despite its size and reputation. Regardless of how good a place Booz Allen may be to work (or not) I think having Booz Allen on your resume could be more limiting than E&Y if you choose to leave the DC area at some point.

BAH is great if you're a "yes" person. I worked there for a bit and didn't like the bureaucratic environment. I went through too much red tape to get stuff done, and my voice to be heard. Be prepared to play hardball politics.

Though, great pay and benefits. It's also nice to have "Booz Allen Hamilton" on your resume. In regards to morale, it ultimately depends on your manager and principal of the group.

Some people are pricks when it comes to their level they are. Those people make a big deal of the perks that come with the title (office space--window, shared, etc.) A co-worker is a Level I and drives an M3. Hey, he's happy. The seniors of the group joke around that "a Level I is driving a Level IV car." The caste system is much a significant part in their corporate culture.

Good luck with the long-hours. They brag about work-life balance. Uh huh. Now, I'm working for an IT consulting firm with a lax corproate culture. Pay and benefits are just as awesome! =) Good morale too!

Try the comics... good money http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bQ7ageNOTE&search=jay%20and%20silent%20bob

You should've had a better major, then you wouldn't have to pick between two bitch-ass companies.

Silly kids and their VA tech degrees, what are you? another dipshit?

eyos Wrote:
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> Though, great pay and benefits. It's also nice to
> have "Booz Allen Hamilton" on your resume.

Unless you stay in the metro DC area, this may not be a real benefit since (as someone noted above) Booz and the rest of the government consulting firms have almost NO name recognition outside the beltway.

>
> Some people are pricks when it comes to their
> level they are. Those people make a big deal of
> the perks that come with the title (office
> space--window, shared, etc.) The caste system is
> much a significant part in their corporate
> culture.

Very true, especially with Level IIIs trying to make IV and IVs trying to make V. It is easy to become somebody's bitch which can pay off in the future if they take you for the ride, but humbling if they drop you. I think that is also difficult to change groups if you find that there are better opportunities, so your fortunes often rise and fall based on the capabilities of your management team.

>
> Good luck with the long-hours. They brag about
> work-life balance.

While I don't advocate this as a long-term strategy for a successful career, gutting through 18-24 months at Booz is far from the worst way to spend your first job and you just might enjoy it enough to stay, plenty do.

A plus for E&Y would be the ability to change offices as part of your career development plan. While at BearingPoint I started my career in Boston, moved to Pittsburgh and had an overseas assignment in Sydney for 12 months.

At either company you will be worked to death. If you can take it for a couple of years, you will have received excellent training/experience to bring to a small business - where you will have the opportunity to really make a difference and become an owner.

Any company that makes its money through billable hours will work you to death. The whole point is to work at one of these firms for two or three years when you are young and have no personal life and then to jump over to the corporate client side where things aren't quite as insane. If you stick with a firm that does billable hours for a decade or so, expect to be divorced and miserable.

If you stick with a firm that does billable hours for a decade or so,

I've been working in billable "T&M" positions for more than 10 years, in fact, in that time I have never once been unbillable. I haven't been worked to death like you describe, in fact, it is rare for me to work more than 40-45 hours a week. It's not in any way a bad situation. Quite frankly, I'd rather always have projects to bill to (i.e. the revenue side of the house), because there's no way I'll ever be 'downsized'.

Most of my friends are in the same types of positions (consulting). None of them are over-worked either. Sure there might be a few companies out there that will expect you to regularly work 50+ hours a week, but they are the exception, not the rule.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2006 10:43AM by TheMeeper.

Do as you are told and live to work another day.