Pros
Exposure: You'll also have the opportunity to work with great companies with the added bonus of being exposed to high level clients (depends on which company). Autonomy: You'll be given the space to lead a team offshore to complete projects. Since the company is unorganized then it ends up being pretty self-driven since everyone is stretched so thin they have no time to consider what's happening in your world. Managing expectations: The offshore team tends to make errors on project deliverables almost on a daily basis. You'll quickly learn how to manage these type of situations while keeping your client happy or somewhat content
Cons
Employee Value: Not a company known for its benefits or salary. They do not value you whatsoever. We are all somewhat irreplaceable, but they make sure you really understand that from day one. Everything is about them getting value from you, but not the other way around. It always comes down to how much you cost them and how to minimize that. Additionally, you can be worthless and get away with it (to me that says they really don't care about you're personal development). Attrition: About 80% of most classes leave by the end of the first year. Probably worse for offshore, but they've been trying to fix that. Not looking good as (to my first point) they do not value their employees. Unorganized: Due to their lack of employee value and heavy attrition, everyone still there is stretched and trying to juggle multiple teams or projects all at once. This leads to poor delivery, which puts the company in a reactive state to try and fix things. Doesn't get fixed. Learning: One of their biggest pitches is that you'll learn a ton. While that tends to be true initially, you'll find that you'll learn most of what you need to know within the first 6 months at a client site. The MSU training is worthless. You'll actually learn more from the actual clients themselves. The clients are basically teaching you what you need to know while they pay you in order to "consult" them. Quality of life: Doesn't exist. Say goodbye to your early mornings and late nights. Stressful work days if your offshore team doesn't perform well. Managers probably have it the best since they just pawn everything off onto their analysts. Projects: It may seem like you're going to work on some cool stuff, but 8 out of 10 times you're stuck working on some worthless project that ultimately has nothing to do with Big Data or Analytics. It's just some excel sheet with some cool built in features. There's more to add, but what it all boils down to is lack of employee values leads to so many other issues that in turn creates stress and crappy delivery. You'll really get some great exposure to how the industry is moving to Big Data, but ultimately you'll just end up looking 5 years older within your first year.
