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I don't agree though. That's my point. A database engineer, accountant, and PM all enable the product they support. That is the ultimate goal of the work. If I

I don't agree though. That's my point. A database engineer, accountant, and PM all enable the product they support. That is the ultimate goal of the work. If I work on a project to help a pharma company set up its supply chain to produce rare disease treatments, does that enable some guy in Asia to work on oil projects? Vaguely, yes in the sense that there is more money in the system. But not much, and certainly far less than it does on building the local capability to support other pharma companies on similar supply chain problems. Personally I feel the direct impact of my work is positive, and likely orders of magnitude more positive than I would see working in tech for "engagement" or spyware or whatever. If I decide to leave, I'll go to one of the companies working on these same sets of problems. And on a wider spectrum, no I don't believe the firm is bad on a whole. I think it nets good, trending towards banal average. edit: putting it another way Facebook could not run (or would run less effectively) if it had 0 database engineers or PMs. McKinsey's oil division could work just fine if it had 0 pharma consultants. And its not that much of an anathema for some people to work on oil clients.

ativzzz 5y ago
> McKinsey's oil division could work just fine if it had 0 pharma consultants Their oil division would be much smaller, or possibly insignificant without the other divisions because the of the total "power" the company has by having its tendrils in every industry and government all over the world. If the COO of Ghana Oil needs a consultant, he will ask his friend the COO of Ghana Pharma, who is using McKinsey, and will get that recommendation. McKinsey is the whole sum of its parts. If some parts didn't exist, the whole would be much less effective, just like engineers and product managers at FB who don't directly work on the "problematic" parts make the whole more effective. Also, I was being sarcrastic to compare your statement about working at McKinsey to FB employees

ativzzz 5y ago

> McKinsey's oil division could work just fine if it had 0 pharma consultants Their oil division would be much smaller, or possibly insignificant without the other divisions because the of the total "power" the company has by having its tendrils in every industry and government all over the world. If the COO of Ghana Oil needs a consultant, he will ask his friend the COO of Ghana Pharma, who is using McKinsey, and will get that recommendation. McKinsey is the whole sum of its parts. If some parts didn't exist, the whole would be much less effective, just like engineers and product managers at FB who don't directly work on the "problematic" parts make the whole more effective. Also, I was being sarcrastic to compare your statement about working at McKinsey to FB employees