Is Mckinsey worth it for tech career?
It is been told that storytelling, communication skills with top management, are the key skills to grow and climb the ladder within any company. And top consulting firms focus on improving those skills , especially communication Since you already can code and know tech stuff. Is that worth to go and work for Mckinsey, if you want to grow fast and eventually become CEO of a big tech company?
This is just wrong. At big tech, it is more about how a candidate is able to navigate the trenches of middle management and eventually ensuring visibility among senior management. Yes, luck does play a role, and yes passion can play a part, but being politically adept is far more important.
Some of just want to be regular CEOs, no need for "successful CEOs"
@OP : You can acquire those skills at big tech too. You just have to work hard for it. Constantly look for mentors who are ahead of you on the leadership track and learn from them But yes, going to McKinsey will surely get you those skills. But you will have to get your hands super dirty with things you are normally not very comfortable of. You might start hating yourself for lying or overselling yourself (during sales pursuits), doing too much redundant work in Proj. Mgmt, etc. But there are hundreds more positive reasons why you should go if you want to learn to be a leader
Out of my numerous McKinsey friends, not a single one is in a true position of power moving to a tech company. None of the executives/VPs I've ever seen came from a consulting background.
There are a few here and there . Not extremely prevalent. Check out Joel Jones’ profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-jones-1a03 Check out Myles Presler’s profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/myles-presler-2914b62
But it is nice to promote from within or hire from the industry rather than head-hunt leaders from dissimilar backgrounds
So it depends on what you do at McKinsey. I went in to code up projects and that did not help in anyway. I then stopped coding and started taking on leadership/coaching roles and that helped build my communication and leadership skills. I got offers after to become director of engineer, CTO, etc. BUT what I really wanted was to code and going back to that was hard since nobody values McKinsey for its engineering practice.
Come to amazon
Lool I still got offers from tech companies, just saying McKinsey didn’t help as much