Hi Blinders, Can you guys help me in making an informed decision? I have an offer from UChicago(Remote) and Walmart(Bentonville). UChicago: TC:120K. NO RSU or profit sharing as it is a non profit university Walmart: Base110-125k+ 20% Bonus+20k RSU. We recently bought home in Dallas and even though Walmart pays for the relocation and everything, little worried about life in Bentonville as we have a 1 year old baby. If any of you have made a switch from DFW to NWA, please help me make a decision. P.S. I used to work for an audio systems manufacturing company and got laid off in June. These TC are definitely lower than that I used to make.
It would really help me if you can share why you are choosing one over the other.
@op - 164k TC is amazing for the place. rent prices are much lower in BVille than Dallas for sure. You’ll be in driving distance to a lot of nature trails state parks and neighboring states. I lived there for 2 yrs before I moved for new job. You’ll have enough to cover living expenses and also put some savings aside. Also one last reason to choose Walmart is for its name. Good luck!
UChicago’s name crushes Walmart’s for any career field. I’d take UChicago for the prestige, plus remote work. More comp from Walmart would be great, but in-office work … in Arkansas?
Do you get UChicago benefits!? Ex: do your family members attend free? Can you attend free? If so it's a huge benefit. That's a great school. Job security will be better at UChicago. Also are you guaranteed that 20% bonus? Often that's a scam to inflate the offer and you end up with nothing.
Yes, me and my family can go to UChicago. It is not completely free though.
Lol, most here can't bank on getting into Uchicago. It's one of the most competitive schools in the country.
Few things I can say about Bentonville: As per career opportunities I think it’s very limited, either Walmart or JB Hunt. There good Desi community if that’s a factor for you. Good school district I believe, someone can talk about this as I don’t have kids. Just a domestic airport, so air travel might be expensive. Very good for outdoor person, lot of hikes and bike trails; Camping and Stargazing
I heard they're adding a ton of bike trails still!
If you are willing to move to chicago as a employee you would get to send you kid to lab school for free which is a huge opportunity for your kid Also you can always find alot of pickup work in chicago or maybe even teach a few classes to undegrads
Labschool is not free for school employee, there is huge discount. And professors kids even need to be on waitlist. Agree its huge opportunity for kid.
How does one get 'pickup work' in SWE anywhere?
Both these are bad options. University employers don’t respect talent, no growth, no benefits, huge bureaucracy. For example, you should be able to ask for equivalent benefits in Dallas as what non-remote would get in Chicago (tuition discount, paid equivalent of any K-12 school benefit, etc). But university will never in a million year agree to it. They don’t care who they hire. But Walmart is equally bad. No fallback option in Bentonville, poor raises & career growth, treat employees as cogs due to mass scale workforce. My advice: keep looking for something better if you can, otherwise take the UChicago job and keep job searching without stopping, try to get out of that job as fast as possible but at least you don’t have to commit to move away first.
Thank you very much for the thought process.
Agree with this post completely. My own experience, I worked in consulting supporting many prestigious higher-ed (i.e. universities) and while many of my clients understood the mission, they felt unfulfilled and to this day, reach out about Google and Big4 consulting to make a switch… I agree on the ‘possible benefits’ for discounted learning and fam benefits but it’s just not worth it. Side note, I would ask how their funding is structured. This MATTERS! Does CISO report back to CIO or directly to the President? Funding for projects, resourcing and security/support can prove difficult. Many of my clients wore 3-4 different roles or hats at their uni’s. Also, reach out to the previous title holder or previous employees, get some good ☕️ on the current life there… Good luck OP and congratulations on the offers!
Have you visited Hyde Park neighborhood where University of Chicago is? That area is a war zone and surrounding neighborhood is why Chicafo has a nickname Chiraq. Go to Walmart.
That’s exaggerated and uninformed. Hyde Park, while mildly unsafe, does not mirror a war zone at all. The “surrounding” neighborhood which is actually unsafe is 20 blocks away. UChicago also has one of the largest private security forces in the world. Chiraq is just a name given by republicans and some people living in the suburbs who think every large city is unsafe. Is it the safest place? Obviously not. But war zone? Jeez.
I lived in Hyde Park for 2 years. LOL. My opinion is based on personal experience. BTW, Chiraq is name coined by a black rapper from Chicago. Even with 100+ cops employed by the university, my classmate was murdered. The nickname is well deserved.
I’m taking Chicago over Bentonville 10 times out of 10
Having lived in that part of Chicago, I'd take the Bentonville every time. 🙂
Chicago's offer is remote, and the crime rate in Arkansas is also very high.
Doesn't Walmart have a tech office in Austin?
They have in Dallas too. But, this is for Bentonville and not compromising on it.
I would ask them why they can't let you work out of the Dallas Office.
I’ve lived in Chicago and NWA too Bentonville is probably one of the best places in the country to raise kids right now.
based on what?
High density desi and Asian population results into better school district rankings
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1303
Companies that pay as much as meta
Today I Learned
Yesterday
1652
White male privilege is real
2024 Presidential Election
Yesterday
234
Canceling debt isn’t inflationary or costing tax payers
Personal Finance
Yesterday
1925
Thank you AAPL and NVDA
Tech Industry
2d
9415
What happens when most of your team is Indian?
Stay away from Bentonville
May I know the reason @ieatcurry?
Is there any other job in Benton other than Walmart