
Ask HN: Thoughts on McKinsey Job? - mcthrowaway
Anyone worked at McKinsey or have any thoughts on taking up a job with them. Specifically in the digital labs.<p>I got cold emailed by a McKinsey recruiter. I was not even actively looking and am currently swamped with consulting gigs. Have just hired 2 contractors for a project.<p>I am in my 30&#x27;s so not sure if it is the right fit for me. It seems it would be a good opp at the beginning of your career with little commitments?<p>The reviews on Glassdoor indicate that you will be surrounded by extremely smart people but crazy hours.<p>Any thoughts on:
- Learning ?
- Personal Growth?
- Earning potential?
- I have a family, and 2 kids so that will be a factor
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Joe8Bit
Up front: I'm one of the people that leads engineering in EMEA at McKinsey
Digital Labs (MDL). So please recognise my biases here! I also hope this isn't
creepy, but was browsing HN and saw your post! :D

A couple of thoughts on your points, and I 100% think reaching out to the
community here is the right thing to do and hopefully I can give you a
(biased!) insider's perspective!

* You're absolutely right on the smart people. I've worked at big household name tech companies in the Bay, done startups and worked at VC's: I've never worked with a group of smarter or more capable people. If you're like me and enjoy being challenged, then MDL is a fantastic place for it.

* The crazy hours. That's a bit of a trope about McKinsey outside the Firm, people telling war stories that are often exaggerated. Do we work hard? Sure, is it any harder than I worked when working at BigTech™ in the valley? No. I am also in my 30's and it doesn't detrimentally impact my life.

To you questions:

* Learning - a big plus for me and the reason I joined. Have worked on more interesting tech problems and non-tech problems in my three years here than in my previous 10 elsewhere.

* Personal growth - obviously depends on what your goals are, but I would say it's a good fit. You can become a partner at the Firm as engineer, if that's your thing!

* Earning potential - very good.

I would say however, there is some travel. So bear that in mind.

If you want, reach out to me and I'd be happy to connect you with a couple of
people in similar situations who can give you first hand experiences.

PS the 'up or out' thing is not in any way related to MDL. PPS edited for
formatting

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pinewurst
Depends on the track. I think their primary track is kids moving up or out,
but they have other people in support roles behind the scenes.

My personal experience with them - working for clients - leans more towards
contempt, but it's a very valued name. Like Kent cigarettes used to be in
Eastern Europe, I guess.

