Tallying the tech firms

Kicking off the fall recruiting season, we've just released our annual rankings of the top 25 technology consulting firms. Surprising approximately no one, McKinsey once again leads the pack, as it has for the past couple years since we included it in this guide. The top firms look remarkably similar to last year's, but with a few new stars in the top rung, including Gartner, Northrop Grumman, Cambridge Consultants and Hitachi Consulting. Absent from the list is BearingPoint, which we've omitted from the guides this year after it fell and was subsequently preyed upon by its peers.

But while McKinsey may take the spotlight in the prestige rankings, to many job seekers that's only half of the story—the other half made up of quality of life issues. If you're concerned about work/life balance, travel demands, compensation or diversity at a given company—among a range of other issues—you'll find some food for thought in our Quality of Life rankings, which this year prominently feature Smartronix, SRA International, SunGard Consulting Services and Booz Allen Hamilton. We've also added a new QOL category this year—overall business outlook—which seemed appropriate given the shaky economic climate, and the results of which proved to be quite illuminating.

We hope our IT consulting rankings will be a boon to job seekers in the field this year. And a big thank you to the 1,700+ consultants who took part in our survey this year! You have provided us with invaluable feedback and insight into the top firms in the field.

Stay tuned next week for the release of our management and strategy rankings!