The contracting agency needed someone to work on a federal government contract. IBM's offer was far superior in type of work I would do, pay, benefits and prospects. Thus I had no trouble making a decision. Working in Industry Industry represents a different set of challenges and rewards from academia. The jobs are likely to be more diverse and less structured.
University life ebbs and flows with the school year.
In industry, crises and deadlines might happen at any time. In industry, once a project is over, you might be reassigned to do something completely new and unknown. There is always a lot to learn, and sometimes you have to learn and produce quickly. Being surrounded by people willing to answer my questions helped me get up to speed fast enough to avoid major disasters. Industry has no tenure, so there are real incentives to try to excel in what you do.