Company: PwC
Date: 2020-02-16
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

No growth at the AC/SDC office, poor pay, but great people
Pros: Great benefits - 120 hours holiday, 110 hours vacation, unlimited sick, 401k, wealthbuilder, HSA, 
Great coworkers - The people who work there are awesome
Buddy/Coach Support - you're assigned a buddy and a coach to help you
Great Resume Builder - Big 4 experience goes a long way
Work LIfe Balance - but only if you're on the right project
Cons: AC/SDC office - This is not a regular "core" office, so the rules are different, but no one really lets you know going in. You're not whatever they're hiring you to do, you're just cheap labor
"Just bodies" mentality - As mentioned, you're just cheap labor at this office. By using the cheap labor, profits are larger, benefiting pretty much everyone but you. And because you're just a body, they don't really care if you stay or go because they'll just another body to replace you
Zero Career Control - Whatever you were hired to do isn't what you'll end up doing. Because utilization is heavily weighted, they'll staff you on any project at all rather than wait for you to be on a project that aligns with your skills and interests. You don't have control over what project you're on, and it is actually easier to get a new job than get rolled off a project that doesn't match your career goals.
Some benefits don't apply - at the AC/SDC Columbia office, you come in as an Analyst. The recruiters will tell you all about great benefits (like student loan repayment) but those only apply to Associate and above.
Non-competitive pay - Management will preach until they're blue in the face that you will get paid less because they do it based on cost of living, but keep in mind, people get paid almost double to leave this office for lateral job moves (not even promotions). That's a big difference that is not just cost of living. FYI, analysts start at 42,000, Senior Analysts at 44,500. If your recruiter tells you there's no negotiation in your salary, they're lying.
Promotion is hard - In case you're thinking I'm saying that because I didn't get promoted, know that I did get promoted and did so fairly quickly, but it is entirely dependent on the project you're on and the opportunities you have access to. Some projects don't have enough opportunities to stand out on and since you have no control over what projects you're on and it's near impossible to get off of a bad project, it can become very dead end very quickly. Further, there's not much growth at the AC/SDC due to them focusing on the pyramid (lots of analyst, less senior analyst, less associates, etc etc as you go up) and they'll keep you in a lower position because it fits their pyramid
Core Transfer even harder - They preach at the office that you will be able to transfer to a core office after working for two years, but they make it very difficult. You are actively kept away from core personnel, and turns out you require a core recommendation to leave. You essentially have to have a high level (Director -ish) person in core say they will hire you, which is difficult to get with the types of projects you get at the office. People have more success quitting and getting rehired.
Management lies - The office management will say whatever they think you want to hear to pacify you, but will lie to your face about anything. Trust nothing they say, never stop advocating for yourself, and never let them try to make you feel bad for their decisions