MBB vs PM at non-FAANG
I am currently in a MBA program (Haas) and have a fte PM offer from Cisco, wondering what helps to grow faster in PM career, couple years of management consulting at MBB or PM experience at Cisco will be useful. End goal is to get into Google/FB PM.
If I have to hire for a product role at Amazon, I will definitely prefer an MBB candidate over a Cisco PM (unless I am hiring for a very specific use case where the Cisco candidate has very relevant prior experience)
Amazon is weird since most PM are not doing actual PM work but are kind of business analysts. Especially non tech PMs. In light of that I understand your rationale but that's not necessarily true for most companies.
While I understand that Amazon PM roles are often less technical, I don’t completely agree with your rationale here. MBB has a far superior brand name and I view MBB folks as being quite adaptable and having the ability to pick up skills on the go as required. If you have to switch beyond entry level PM roles, communication skills play a significantly important role in your work as a PM and MBB arms you very well with these skills. I went through a PM interview loop at Lyft recently and received an offer which I did not accept in light of the whole layoff situation. The complete interview process had absolutely nothing that I wouldn’t learn/do as an Amazon PM and hence I don’t see why it would be difficult to crack say a Lyft or an FB PM post Amazon.
MBB.
Age, TC, full time or part time at Haas?
It is unlikely you would grow faster moving from MBB to a tech PM role. My experience is MBBs are more likely to move to strategy/BD roles in tech. I would personally chose Cisco in case PM is your field of choice long term
MBB has better networking, branding, and training. It’s an extension of the MBA and you’ll be valued more there.
If your long term goal is to be a PM, I would pick the Cisco PM offer. Or continue interviewing, tell them you have a fulltime offer from Cisco and get fulltime PM offer from better companies. MBBs exit to strategy/bd/operations roles. PM is a very hard role to break into for anyone.
PM at Cisco. MBB experience can transition to faang easily but usually at strategy/biz ops roles instead of PM. Cisco is an ok company to be your first PM experience, and that is what matters most. Stay for 1-2 years then hop. I have MBB on my resume and not a single interviewer asked a question about it during my last career change (I had another PM experience after MBB). Also, WLB at MBB is miserable.
Thank you this is very helpful!
What type of roles did your MBB colleagues transition into after leaving?
I would choose Cisco since it is direct PM experience. Then pivot to another company after a year. MBB doesn't guarantee transition to tech at all.
Depends on if you have technical experience. The strongest PM candidates at Google (e.g. Sundar) have MBB + technical undergrad and/or technical pre-mba work experience. Technical meaning CS undergrad and SWE pre-mba work experience. If you have that experience 100% go MBB. If you don't have that experience 100% go Cisco PM.
Thank you!! I do have a CS undergrad but not SWE exp, most of my pre-mba exp is in Sales Ops, Sales Strategy and Data & analytics.
Hey OP, the cs degree part is actually important (more than the MBA, not sure why you left it out of the post). I'd say because of it opptys will open more easily whatever option you choose
Mbb to broaden skill set and brand name on resume on your first few years makes a huge difference
Which school?
Haas
MBB