Trying to decide between PM position at Microsoft or consultant in Oliver Wyman in the NYC office (both entry-level positions). Would love to hear anyone's thoughts and input on the two #consulting #product #pm #offer
I am a PM and was an ex consultant. In general being in professional service is really difficult with long hours, potentially lots of travel and the need to be constantly billing hours. However if you are trying to learn business decision making and business problem solving then consulting is an excellent path especially early in your career. Product roles in FAANG will definitely be more balanced and are definitely the future. For me, I like building things and seeing them through so I moved to product. With consulting you study a problem, propose a solution and move on.
If you are not interested in tech and/or have a serious interest in Partner path/exiting to very different industries OW makes sense. Consulting will give you arguably a better understanding of business/slightly more interesting opportunities but at a very high cost (1.75x the hours, .75x the pay, outdated analysis tools). Agree with above, PM is probably the better choice for most people. Feel free to DM, Iโm at OW
Hey a similar position as op, may I dm
Consulting is great for building a good network and getting great industry experience. Especially relevant if youโre going to be a more customer facing PM down the road. That said, many tech companies can be suspicious of people coming from anything professional services, so best bet is to try to build enough tech expertise and network so you can leverage a connection when you jump over into PM.
Iโd 100% pick Microsoft over Oliver Wyman. Most consultants try to become PMs later down in their career because the WLB and TC are better in tech