Pros
There are some perks to working at Mu Sigma, although the cons far outweigh any benefits. 1. Clients are Fortune 500 companies. As an entry-level employee, you will get access to senior management in these companies. 2. Training for new Junior Associates (the Columbus Program) takes place in Bangalore, India. I never would have gone to India otherwise, and it was a great cultural experience. Trainees learn SQL, R, SAS, and Excel; I did not have any coding experience prior to this job, and I learned a great deal in a short period of time. 3. Working with an offshore team in India provides great management experience. This experience does not matter to Mu Sigma, but it looks good to other prospective employers. You will also have a lot of independence in managing your projects.
Cons
1. Hiring Process: The hiring process is intentionally vague. Once you accept your offer of employment, Mu Sigma will not negotiate on your salary or benefits (which are paltry at best). The training will be at least six months, despite what interviewers tell you. You will not receive any information about the Columbus Program or the company prior to leaving for India; HR believes that everything you need to know, you will learn once you're there. This can be especially jarring for people who have not been to a developing country before. You will not always be able to choose your assignment back in the US; sometimes it is done randomly. 2. Training: Mu Sigma's training program in India is the biggest draw for most new employees. I joined for the opportunity to go to India and to learn coding. While the trip to India was definitely worthwhile, I wish I had known more about it before I left so as to better prepare. We were not given any details about our living arrangements, our offices, or Bangalore in general before arriving. That being said, the best parts of being in India are the ones that do not involve Mu Sigma. Getting to travel is an amazing opportunity. The training needs major improvements. You will spend 1 week learning each program (SQL, R, SAS, Excel), which is enough time to master the basics. For the kind of analysis your clients will require, this is not good enough. After self-learning, you will work on a mock project, a client project Mu Sigma has already completed, to practice your coding and consulting skills. This practical exercise is the most helpful part of the training. Once you are assigned to a team, the training varies. Most teams give basic transition sessions, but it is nowhere near enough to prepare new employees to go back to the US and work on site with clients. 3. Management: Account managers vary wildly, but on the whole, managers do not value Junior Associates. They are treated interchangeably, with no regard for their interests or desired placements. People are frequently moved to new accounts in different cities with only a week's notice. While there are nominally feedback systems in place, performance reviews are rare. The only time you will interact with a manager is if your project is going poorly and the client is complaining. 4. Work/Life "Harmony": You will hear this phrase daily. It is a myth. Your work becomes your life--that is the harmony. You will have 1-2 calls a day with your offshore team (either early in the day or late in the evening), in addition to working 10-12 hours in the office. These calls are the most-cited pain point for employees. Having a call that starts at 10:30pm prevents you from ever escaping work and having time to relax. 5. Salary and Benefits: Salary is not competitive for the field of consulting OR data analytics. Well below market average. There is no 401k matching, and employees only receive 10 days off (total, including vacation time and sick days) per year. 6. Founder: Dhiraj Rajaram, the company's founder and CEO, sends sexist, insensitive emails to the entire company. He also hosts town hall meetings in which he berates employees and makes offensive remarks. He expects everyone in the company to adhere to his "belief system" (a hodge-podge of other companies' methods rolled into one) and rejects anyone who questions him.
