Ask HN: Should I join a consulting firm?
The consulting firm seems like it could be a chance to become more exposed to how several companies do things and possibly learn more faster, but also seems like a risk of them adding me to a company I'd never choose to work for where I could be stuck for six months to a year, and that client also might force me to go back to an office, where I've been remote for years at this point and is my preference.
Meanwhile for the software job, the industry isn't super interesting to me, but businesses find it incredibly useful. They have a lot of clients and are in the process of onboarding a lot more. Their tech stack is a bit older and they said they've had some difficulty upgrading certain parts of it due to the needs of the software (trying to stay vague, they went into detail in the interviews what their challenges were). Also people seem to really love the company once they join and stay for a long time. And they've been fully remote since before the pandemic.
The offers are close enough to not be a huge deciding factor by themselves.
I've worked at several software shops before, but this would be my first consulting firm. Should I give it a try? What are some of your experiences?