MSP vs Corporate??

I work for an MSP, long hours, 0 down time, but it's fun and we always work with the latest and greatest technologies. I recently accepted an offer to work for a very large insurance company, joining the IT management team, after going through their 2 - 3 year leadership development program. I work mostly with Microsoft server OS and VMware, and some Cisco stuff here and there. When I gave my notice at the MSP, a couple days later they came back and offered a $15k salary increase to stay. I'm still young, mid 20's and I'm looking for some advice from people with experience. Stay where I'm at and make a lot more money, or join the corporate world and have the potential to make a lot more money down the road (I think). I also have no idea what to expect for salary (besides starting), raises, bonuses and what not at the insurance company either. Any advice is appreciated.

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Comments

SteveFT

I cannot comment on pay in a MSP vs. Corporate. With that in mind, could you potentially get into Management at the MSP down the road as well?

I am fairly new to the field. Corporate IT bugs me at times because I feel like we are treated as an expense to the business. This is true, but it can feel shitty at times. While you can contribute to improving business processes and improving worker efficiency with technology, you will ultimately never directly contribute to making the company any money. What is drawing me towards a MSP is that what you do does directly affect the business.

I'd like to hear if I'm way off here, but this is why I have been considering going to a MSP role down the road.

BradleyHU

i work for an MSP right now, and i'm dying to going back to corporate, despite the fact that IT there is an expense-making group rather than revenue generating....

i wouldn't take the counter-offer tho...always move on, and never look back...
and did you make a exact lateral move, pay wise? i mean, you should have at least embellished your salary a little bit...

pinkydapimp

Move on. There was a reason you decided to move. And the new skills you earn will help you to make that money back down the road.

eLs

Screw that 20k more in a MSP that is too much to let go. I'm sure you can still learn more and ask for more responsibilities.

JoJoCal19

If the MSP offered you $20k to stay that tells me either A) They couldn't have given a crap about you before to be underpaying you that much and didn't care enough to pay you that even if they thought you were worth it;

They are just throwing that out there to keep you until they can hire a replacement at the cheaper salary you were making before (or less) and then show you the exit.

Never accept counteroffers. First, there is a reason you were going to leave in the first place. Second, statistics show that it doesnt work out well (they were posted in a previous thread on the same topic).

TomkoTech

Why is everyone always so cynical?

What is your experience like at the MSP? Do you get along well with your co-workers and bosses? Have you had conversations about getting a raise previously? Was this your first IT job? What lead you to wanting to leave the MSP in the first place?

If you enjoy your current job, the people you work with, and the raise is something that is overdue and you had just never asked for it, I would stay at the MSP.

networker050184

Obviously the reason you were leaving wasn't money if you took a job with the same pay. So think about the reasons that made you take a new job in the first place.

Bokeh

Take the new position and never look back, but thank them for the experience. Once you accept a counter-offer, you are setting yourself up to be one of the first to be let go if things happen at the present company. I worked employment many years ago, and saw this happen all the time. If you were worth x-amount of money extra AFTER putting in your notice, why weren't you worth the same amount the day prior?

puertorico1985

The first question I would ask myself is why are they giving me a raise now, instead of a few weeks/months ago? Are they afraid to lose you, and didn't think that you would jump ship? Did you ask for a reason to stay? How will your career progress if you stay? Will you be able to get promoted/become a manager/Sr personnel while at the MSP?

I know those are a lot of questions, but I would look at my long-term outcome instead of just the 20k increase, and decide from there. I'll be honest, if my employer offered me 20k raise to stay, I would have a very very difficult decision to make. Ultimately for me, it will come down to whether or not I can reach my long term goals while working at the MSP for a while longer.

Hope that helps, and please look at what Bokeh wrote above. If things go great at the MSP, you will most likely not have a problem. If the MSP begins to lose money down the road, they are going to be looking at cutting expenses, and that 20k that you received AFTER putting in your notice....well, let's just say that they might want that back, and decide to let you go. Keep in mind that these are all "what-ifs"...but I still stand on what I mentioned above.

RHEL

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an MSP?

networker050184

Managed Services Provider. Basically outsourcing IT to a provider.

RHEL

networker050184 wrote: »

Managed Services Provider. Basically outsourcing IT to a provider.

Hmm... My first job out of undergrad was with CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation), who managed the entire IT infrastructure for United Technologies. Would this be considered a MSP?

networker050184

Not familiar with those companies, but sounds like it.

CIO

RHEL wrote: »

Hmm... My first job out of undergrad was with CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation), who managed the entire IT infrastructure for United Technologies. Would this be considered a MSP?

CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) is considered an MSP

SweenMachine

CIO wrote: »

CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) is considered an MSP

The elephant in the room is that corporate IT is falling by the wayside..

Businesses are focusing on core products and ways to make money and that isn't IT. I worked for a large (91k employee) company and was cocky enough to believe we wouldn't be outsourced..

I work for an MSP now, and it feels good to be on the other side of it to be honest with you...

I will never go back to a large corporations IT, I don't trust it... I know that we can all lose our jobs at anytime and my MSP could fold tomorrow, but I am learning tons more here, there is less political red tape, and I feel better about it.

That is my situational experience at least..

-scott

networker050184

I agree SweenMachine. I will never work in an internal IT department as long as I can help it. If technology isn't the business you are nothing but a cost.

j4g3rb0mb3d

Original Poster, I am going through the same dilemma right now. I work at a MSP right now. I was offered a position at a fairly prestigious law firm and accepted it, but am having second thoughts. I truly enjoy the environment that I work at right now for almost exactly the same reasons that you mentioned. The law firm did offer me a 6.5k/year raise and 24 days PTO, but in the coming months, I will be making almost the exact same at the MSP, if I were to stay, due to how the scheduling is going to change that would give me 8 hours of overtime every pay period.

The work that I'm doing at the MSP is far more glamorous than what the law firm would be. The law firm is basically word processing, mobile phone troubleshooting, office troubleshooting, and password resets. Certifications also mean nothing at the law firm. At the MSP, I do a little bit of everything, and certifications are important here.

In the end, I think I'm going to retract my decision to move to the law firm and stay at the MSP, but haven't decided yet. I'm worried about **** people off and burning bridges. Luckily, I haven't given any notice at the MSP as I don't start the firm until June 9th.

JoJoCal19

j4g3rb0mb3d wrote: »

Original Poster, I am going through the same dilemma right now. I work at a MSP right now. I was offered a position at a fairly prestigious law firm and accepted it, but am having second thoughts. I truly enjoy the environment that I work at right now for almost exactly the same reasons that you mentioned. The law firm did offer me a 6.5k/year raise and 24 days PTO, but in the coming months, I will be making almost the exact same at the MSP, if I were to stay, due to how the scheduling is going to change that would give me 8 hours of overtime every pay period.

The work that I'm doing at the MSP is far more glamorous than what the law firm would be. The law firm is basically word processing, mobile phone troubleshooting, office troubleshooting, and password resets. Certifications also mean nothing at the law firm. At the MSP, I do a little bit of everything, and certifications are important here.

In the end, I think I'm going to retract my decision to move to the law firm and stay at the MSP, but haven't decided yet. I'm worried about **** people off and burning bridges. Luckily, I haven't given any notice at the MSP as I don't start the firm until June 9th.

With what you described at the new job, there's no way I'd move to that from an MSP. You want your skills and experience to GROW. Sounds like that is a dead end position at the law firm and you would stagnate there. Since you say you haven't put in notice at the MSP, I'd be letting the law firm know in a nice way that you appreciate the opportunity but you will not be able to take it as you had planned.

SweenMachine

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

With what you described at the new job, there's no way I'd move to that from an MSP. You want your skills and experience to GROW. Sounds like that is a dead end position at the law firm and you would stagnate there. Since you say you haven't put in notice at the MSP, I'd be letting the law firm know in a nice way that you appreciate the opportunity but you will not be able to take it as you had planned.

+1 to JoJoCal19

Sounds like you and I work at a similar place. It's all about where you will be at in 2 years.. I think if you stick where you currently are, you will be in a better position to make a move.

-scott

JoJoCal19

Do you want to be a pure manager of people (corporate managers generally do not get their hands dirty) or be more of a leader (I'd imagine management at an MSP have the ability to still get their hands dirty) ?

Devilry

I worked in Healthcare IT previously - its EXTREMELY bureaucratic. There tends to be just as many managers as there are staff. Work load is typically very high. That being said, I prefer a corporate gig to an MSP. Why? I prefer the pace, I get to focus, learn and not work 24/7. However, some corporate gigs can be just like an MSP at times.

SweenMachine

Devilry wrote: »

I worked in Healthcare IT previously - its EXTREMELY bureaucratic. There tends to be just as many managers as there are staff. Work load is typically very high. That being said, I prefer a corporate gig to an MSP. Why? I prefer the pace, I get to focus, learn and not work 24/7. However, some corporate gigs can be just like an MSP at times.

I respect this opinion; corporate does allow for focusing and learning... I am not so sure if that means on the job or not however. Most corporations have their services and processes so fine-tuned you just do the same job over and over and over again...

It is definitely life balance vs experience vs goals. I did 7 years at a very large internal corporate help desk.. I moved up as far as I could, and I enjoyed the pacing and the company. But I have felt more confident in my tech skills after 4 months at a MSP than I did after 7 years at my last gig..

I know a lot of that is me, and my own desire to train outside of work.

But my experience at this MSP has been nothing but roses.. and all of my corporate experience is being mined by mgmt, and I am getting a lot of respect very quickly

-scott