Exit opportunities from MBB consulting to FAANG (or other top tech)
Hey everyone. Looking to get some information on what are the typical roles/positions that people go into in top tech after spending 2-3 years in MBB consulting straight out of undergrad (~25 years old). I have lots of tech interest but no actual coding experience so I would be more leveraging my MBB strategy consulting experience - what are the typical roles and starting salary from this type of background? Also, any insights on the recruiting process would be highly appreciated.
Lots go to grad school then become a product manager, business Ops, product strategy, or corporate dev/m&a. Grad school optional
Curious - does FB have separate roles for PM and product strat?
Yup - there’s the RPM program (suited for those without PM experience and <6 years of working experience) or you apply to a specific team for a PM role. For Product Strategy, you can be a “Product Strategy Lead”, but the role is similar to a Corp dev/M&A role, looking at internal FB initiatives
Not pm, go for bizops, operations, strategy, account management etc gigs Going through this now and without good previous pm experience you will face a challenge breaking in even if you are MBB.
PM at Google requires a coding interview
Which roles don’t require coding experience and how do you break in?
Account management, StratOps are a couple that come to mind
OP what is your long term career goal? Money? Title? That might help narrow down what you can do
I don’t care as much about prestige or money (if not I would go to PE/VC/HF). I’m looking for a same/preferably better pay and less work than consulting. I have previous experiences in investment banking so I already know the finance route is not for me. And I’m not going to say it’s 100% but right now I don’t think I want to stay and grind to make partner (although I love my office and culture so it’s not off the table). The thing with Bain is if I go off and try some tech company for a couple years and I don’t like it, they’ll take me back. So I’m considering trying something different for a few years (or longer if I end up really liking tech). My ultimate end goal is to own my own company but i wanna explore more before I go down that route again (I have started a company in the past)
You sound like me, if you can pick up some basic system design skills and you’re not afraid of getting technical (albeit without training) you could probably get in anywhere as pm except google (I think they make you code..?) you’ll want to get creative with your experience to show there is some relevance to the role you’re applying for..
I have friends from MBB who were able to get strategy and ops roles at Google and Facebook. I’d recommend trying that and then maybe switching to PM if you find those problems exciting (I personally do). If you’ve spent 3 years at Bain, I would look at L5 roles.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but if you’ve been at MBB for 2 years, top tier CS / Eng ugrad, have workshop papers at ML conferences, and code regularly/read ML papers on the side, do you have more of a shot at Google/FB? Should I apply for an APM position or straight PM? Happy to take pay cut to new grad pay (don’t care about the cash as long as I can live)
Definitely. FB you would without any of those, G needs the technical degree which you have. APM is technically new grad, but the Comp is probably similar to what you make at MCK as an Associate. PM would still be difficult IMO
Awesome - ok will give it a shot. Would have loved to do PM out of ugrad (had a PM internship at a startup) but visa issues meant no one ever considered my application. Looking to try and head to the US now via McK and convert to a PM position somehow :)
I know ex-MBB person now working as a PMM at FB.
I have seen corporate strategy and development. But then the guys i spoke to there exited to startups or PM. Have also seen PMM exits. Was deciding between MBB and FAANG so did some of this research.
Product management
Other comments below seem to suggest I would have a tough time getting into PM with my no coding/CS experience. What do you think? Any other roles come to mind?
About 1/5 of the PM candidates I interview come from MBB and IBs. I hear it’s similar at Amazon. There are technical and non-technical PM jobs. At most bigger companies, PMs do not need to code, they just need to be able to partner with engineering and lead initiatives on which engineers execute. Google and FB are notable exceptions where most PMs have a CS or similar background. But it will be important to highlight what little tech skills you do have. MBB can’t compensate for being “un-technical”, at least at tech oriented companies.