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which is best??Product based or Consulting company

 
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Hi All,
I have a doubt regarding Product based and Consulting type of companies. I am a java programmer, so could you tell me will it better to join Product based company or consulting company. If both offer same salary and position.
Thanks in advance
which is best??Product based or Consulting company
 
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Product based software development is going overseas. If you're looking for a job in the US with some security, consultancy is a good place to be.
However, I am probably biased on the matter, seeing as how I am a consultant.
 
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It really depends on what you want, they are different types of jobs. In a nutshell (and these are "stereotypes" so your milage will vary)...
At product companies you'll hang around with a bunch of engineers. The product is the focus of the organization. Lots of highly technical people. Regular release cycles involveing new products, maintainance, and upgrades.
At consulting companies, the customer is the focus. You'll probably develop better business skills, even if you're not directly customer facing, simply because the people around you will be more business saavy. There will be a wider variety of projects to work on allowing you more exposure. Often these is extensive travel to client sites.
--Mark
 
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over here consulting is dead. Consulting firms are dropping dead like flies in winter.
Their contracts are cancelled or at least not renewed, leaving them with large numbers of staff without paying projects.
Over here product companies ARE doing relatively well. Possibly this is because our language isn't English so outsourcing is more expensive (not that many Indians are Dutch language specialists as well as good programmers ), and also customers here want the support infrastructure close and often are prepared to pay for service.
 
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Oh, looks like "Accenture Vs Oracle" thread is gone!
Well, it depends on "which company"; a good professional consulting company might be better (in terms of technology exposure) than a smallish product company where ppl don't know the difference between static and instance members.

Look what you might be getting in terms of technical growth and the stability they would offer.
HTH,
- Manish
 
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At consulting companies, the customer is the focus. You'll probably develop better business skills, even if you're not directly customer facing, simply because the people around you will be more business saavy. There will be a wider variety of projects to work on allowing you more exposure. Often these is extensive travel to client sites.


There is less in this than you might think, Mark. Have you ever worked for one of the big consultantcies?
I would say the customer focus is missing, possibly because the customer usually doesn't know what they are looking for. So the consultantcy defines it for them. They spend a bunch of money and then seek to convince the customer that what they have produced is what was needed. Even when that is obviously not the case.
This is too general, I know. This refers to the sumo-sized consultantcies. Frequently the smaller firms are better both technically and at delivering customer business needs. I moved from a sumo-size consultantcy to a much smaller outfit recently. The culture is markedly different. Most notably the smaller outfit succeeds by delivering successful systems rather than creating immortal (long term) projects which go on for years and years.
Big consultancies are a great place to pick up lousy habits. I haven't worked at a product company, but it's hard to imagine that most of them are worse. For one thing you are responsible for delivering something sometime, and your customers cannot be entirely blinded by bullshit. So I suspect you must do decent work.
 
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