Just received a $93K/year offer to be a web developer at an SME. Am currently a developer with an MNC. Would you recommend I switch jobs?

New web developer salary:

$75K/year basic
1 month AWS
2 months performance bonus

Total: $93K/year

Current MNC salary:

$75K/year basic
1 month performance bonus

Total: $81K/year

I'm in a dilemma because the pay is 15% higher at the SME. Working culture at the SME is good also, because it's run by a friend. The SME is profitable so I'm not worried about them closing shop.

However, the MNC gives me a good brand name for my resume, which I believe is beneficial for long-term career growth. I also have some concerns about future career development if I leave the MNC to join the SME. Will I be able to rejoin another MNC after working at the SME? Or will I be "pigeon-holed" into joining other SMEs, which may not offer me the same good salary?

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Discussion (5)

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Rick

28 Jan 2022

Bro,

IT Engineer here too and I have 'tasted' both SME (new babies owned by ang mo and old babies like Comfort) and MNC (Accenture, IBM).

Based on my experience, you need to check :

is your friend emphasising IT as the centralised tool ? Meaning that he or she wouldn't mind to invest on IT.

If yes, then the team would be expanded, IT will be refreshed regularly :
1.1. Learning curve is a lot, fun, and open to mistakes.
If no, then you would be one man show Forever (from Helpdesk, BA, Enhance, Fixes, Server Maintenances, etc).

You can make a guess on what kind of products are sold and whether IT is heavily / mainly used.

What is your road map of your IT career? Do you wanna have more specific as you are experienced IT or do you prefer one man show role ?
(As 7+ yrs experience , i dunno want one man show especially if the company doesn't want to invest in IT)
Is your friend a closed friend ? If yes, i would prefer no personally, if no, then yeah we can try. When we do jobs, there will be always clashes and hopefully won't separate you guys.

Can you rejoin back to MNC ? Of course yessss.
I changed job twice last year : from ibm to comfort to Accenture (you can PM me on i moved fast from comfort, there were shocking tons of points lol)

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1M45

Edited 27 Jan 2022

Will join because:

Higher salary
Run by ur friend, lot of things easy to nego. in the future including increment
Easier life + higher pay = perfect
Always take the least resistant path, will lead you to the top faster. Dont make life difficult for yourself.
Experiences are just things u write in your resume, and you can write whatever you like, as long it can make the interviewers happy. So SME/MNC doesnt matter. Is your resume crafting skill.

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