Since then, he's bounced around various industries, including telecommunications and sales, but now he's finally returned to his passion: writing. Lastly, managers will also spend some time directly interacting with the client(s), depending on factors such as the level 1) the principal's involvement 2) scope of case 3) whether the team is on location or not. Understanding the differences can be really difficult. It’s a career path that’s well-suited for those interested in moving up the corporate ladder, since it provides for excellent networking opportunities and invaluable management experience. This is intended to be directionally accurate, rather than a perfect view into reality! First, some aspect of partner compensation will be varied by the amount of business and cases the partner brings in. Published: April 27, 2017 | Last updated: May 11, 2020, Consultant / Project Leader / Engagement Manager. Mark’s Career Path. Now that we've got our frame of reference on the industry, the types of consulting firms that make up the industry and a sense of the unit economics, let's discuss your career path. In addition to managing the analysts, they're concurrently synthesizing the output of the work streams and sharing progress updates with the senior team leaders. This is a basic entry-level position where you’ll “learn the trade” under the supervision of a senior engineer. Due to the extremely versatile nature of the job, consulting engineers can come from a variety of different backgrounds – from project managers to test engineers – and from every engineering discipline. Once given an assignment, analysts and associates are expected to work independently with minimal oversight to get the job done. Below Rob Reiling, a former McKinsey & Co. And to help ease the pain, many of the firms, especially the big ones, provide generous outgoing services to help place you in your next role. So suffice it to say, partner compensation will be quite healthy, likely over $450K in almost any firm, and it will be aligned with your ability to bring in new business - which makes sense! We'll look at entry points into a consulting career, what the job titles are, what the rough career progression timeline looks like and, of course, the salary bands and compensation that consultants often enjoy. Within the consulting field, most consultants have expertise in one or more specialty areas. As research and design engineers, you’ll be responsible for developing and testing new products and technologies. There are four general entry points into consulting: after graduating undergraduate, after graduating from a graduate program, transitioning from industry and joining as a senior industry hire. Copyright © 2020 TalentEgg Inc. All Rights Reserved. Partners also will spend some time working directly with the case team, but will primarily rely on a principal to drive all the case work streams and manage the rest of the team. The bulk of many firms is made up of post MBAs who are between one to three years out from their program. This is a job that blends the technical and social aspects of engineering and which requires an abundance of leadership skills, as well as strong organizational acumen and a certain comfort with workplace politics. Becoming licensed as a Professional Engineer, Six Reasons To Explore A Career In Engineering, Specialization And Other Useful Skills In Engineering, How Insurance Touches and Impacts Many Industries, Why Soft Skills Matter In Your Engineering Career, Applying For A Job In Accounting: Resumes, Cover Letters And Interviews, New Grad and Early Career Fair: May 2nd, 2019 – Event Recap, Average Starting Salaries For Engineers: 2014 Edition. Think of it as a mental model to get a grasp on how many years you might spend at each level, the total compensation you could make and the responsibilities you have. Toward the bottom, we've listed the activities that you will start taking on as you become more senior within that band. Due to the extremely versatile nature of the job, consulting engineers can come from a variety of different backgrounds – from project managers to test engineers – and from every engineering … Unlike any of the prior roles discussed, individual contributors won't have to officially manage any other entity in the case team, which frees them up to focus 100% on their work stream. For example, a really good Associate Consultant toward the end of their tenure at that band might start taking on more responsibilities such as leading a whole work steam. Preparing for interviews? Successful project engineers can find themselves promoted into the executive branch of an organization, becoming Technical Directors, Vice Presidents and even Chief Technical Officers. We'll start by discussing the vaunted case interview, what firms are evaluating you for as you're going through a case and how to succeed in it. A few things that are worth calling out as you review the table: The titles are fairly straight forward and have remained relatively constant over the last few decades. One option is to move into project management, where you’ll be responsible for managing and overseeing the work of other engineers. While salary variation tends to be a bigger issue in industry, consulting firms have done a very good job of standardizing the wages they pay to their talent especially around the common entry point levels (e.g., analyst, consultant). Get RocketBlocks. While the ranges are tightly clustered, historically BCG has paid around $10K per year more than peer firms such as Bain and McKinsey. These are ranges obviously, but unless you're an absolute rockstar or on the other end of the spectrum, it's highly likely you'll fall directly within one of these ranges. If you join a consulting firm, what will your career path look like? In addition, some firms, like Deloitte, have started offering to pay the 2nd year of graduate tuition for candidates that successfully intern with them and receive a full time offer. Becoming licensed as a Professional Engineer can open up many opportunities for you, and it’s something that you’ll want to start thinking about early in your career. This is a career path that’s well-suited for those who enjoy the freedom of working for themselves and making their own hours, at the expense of a regular paycheck and company-paid benefits. This is a career path that’s well-suited for those who enjoy the freedom of working for themselves and making their own hours, at the expense of a regular paycheck and company-paid benefits. Sometimes these title changes are official and sometimes they're unofficial but, regardless, they are helpful to understand where a person is in their trajectory. As an undergrad studying Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Mark wanted to work in the automotive industry.