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Apple is a one of those companies that once you have it on your resume, it’s nearly a golden ticket to other companies. Depending on skills gained, you could command a lot more in the future. At the same time, $120K in SF, is it enough for now? $90K in Chicago would go a long way even before the bonus. What’s the growth trajectory at Slalom and exit opps if you chose to move on? All of this you have to consider.
In my mind, as a tech geek, I think it would be awesome to work at Apple at this current point in time and would absolutely do it. BUT I’ve also lived just long enough to know from experience that all that glitters ain’t gold, so I would have to take my inner nerd and do a deeper evaluation.
Exit opp from Slalom TO Apple is actually quite likely/common/lucrative. That market is deeply integrated with them and you can easily opt to travel for them if you really want to work with them.
Comp: $120k in SF is on the low end, but with stock options your total comp might be higher relatively than slalom.
Brand + exit opps: The apple brand is significantly better, and will lead to better opportunities going forward
Role: you haven’t mentioned anything about the role or your interests; that should be an important consideration as well
WLB: someone mentioned you should pick slalom because it lets you clock off at 40 hours while you’ll have to work more at Apple. I think at 25-26, you should be in hyper learning/growth mode professionally. Instead of looking at doing the minimum possible work to get a paycheck, you should be looking for the opportunity where you could maximize your learning.
Whether you want to live in SF or Chicago might be important too...they’re not even close to being similar.
The work life balance is going to be less. It's just not worth it for me personally. I can put in a solid 40 at Slalom, go home happy, and come to work happy. I can't imagine it would be the same at a place like Apple. If you only care financially, Apple is the place for you. If you want to have a decent work life balance, pick Slalom. You'd be surprised how little money matters after an 80 hour week.
Buy the role, not the brand name. You don’t want to end up in customer success if your passion is data analytics. Just saying!
Thanks BCG. I have a strong desire to be in the procurement or Supply Chain space and that has been very limited at Slalom. It’d be nice to negotiation a little higher base but regardless I think I’ve made up my mind. Going for it!
I appreciate all of the advice fishbowl.
I'm making a similar move soon. Congrats and good luck!
Definitely an option. For me it’s more the Apple brand than the location
Go to Apple. Especially if procurement is your passion. You can always go back to consulting with your experience
To beat a dead horse: Take Apple. If seems like you’re looking at a chance to burnish your resume with a strong brand AND and work on a topic that is of personal interest—not a common combo.
Money will come with time and performance, so I wouldn’t focus TOO hard on it this early in your career.
RE: Burning bridges, Just be mature, professional, and considerate. Everything else will work itself out—-consulting firms are used to people leaving, and I’m sure Slalom want to have as many apple insiders as possible in their corner for sales purposes.
Do apple a few years to get it on your resume and if you hate it just move back to something with more balance.
Junior people in here tripping over themselves on the brand name and not even asking what the role is. OP could have the best Genius Bar offer in the world and y’all would get in a lather because of ‘prestige’.
If you don’t have anything tying you down, I would personally give Apple a shot. At this point it’s not really if work life balance matches pay (what people seem to mostly care about at Slalom) but getting that brand recognition under your belt especially if you’re early in your career. You have way more exit options coming from Apple with higher earning potential down the road and can always come back to Slalom or any other firm with FANNG exp. Also how many years of exp do you have? I do think 90k is slightly avg/lower for the Chi market and you can probably get more
Strategic sourcing
I do think 90 is a bit low for 4 years of exp. However, how did you get almost a 17% bonus? That seems on the very high end
Leaving after only 5 months wouldn’t look good IMO. You’d probably burn bridges and on your resume it would look like you can’t stay at one company
Fully agree SC3 and a large part of my hesitation. Company has been great and definitely enjoyed the more relaxed hours (40-50). Not sure I should count on getting another opportunity like getting to work at Apple to come up in the future..
Apple 100%. Chicago Slalom is known for having terrible culture. I love this company but actively discourage my Chicago friends from applying unless they’re going to a different market
Go to the Slalom bowl on FB; you’ll find that the majority of negative posts about a specific office are about the Chicago office. That said, it could be other offices are just as bad but don’t have as many people on FB. I work in the Slalom Silicon Valley office which I think is pretty great.
Apple
I feel like the money is roughly the same when COL is factored in and would make the switch purely on the prestige. I don’t have anything tying me down either.
Another concern is I started at slalom only 5 months ago and I am in the middle of a project with several people counting on me to deliver. Would you still say make the switch the Apple? Not trying to burn a bridge but the opportunity came out of nowhere
Agree with SC1 - if you give sufficient time, document, and leave on a high note, things should be fine.
I am about to transition out of Slalom and just hit my 1 year mark. People are good about it - just be frank, honest, and offer to finish things strong (KT/support until they are comfortable).
I thought about taking my Apple offer to Slalom and saying can you match, but I feel like that is slightly rude to ask for a large pay increase after i started a few short months ago
Bro - go to Apple. Slalom is a dead end. If you want to stay though, Slalom can match your offer if they want to.. don’t expect any decent annual increase after though. Just depends on your overall market value.