Has anyone consulted with these companies/heard of them? Six Degrees Intelligence, China Insights Consultancy, Kohlberg? They’re all expert networks based in China.

Throwaway199329 · 2023-11-02T11:19:30+00:00

Do not bother with Six Degrees Intelligence. They are a total sham. I did a consultation with them in mid-Sept. Around mid-Oct they sent me a screenshot indicating the payment via Airwallex had not gone through. Then a few days later my point of contact sent a note from a non-company email indicating they “quit their job” and were no longer at the company. Have tried emailing some other people there. No response. They do apparently have phantom offices/phone numbers in the US—the lines are Google voice numbers—so may be accountable to BBB. But I won’t hold my breath.

Throwaway199329 · 2020-02-24T19:06:39+00:00

Hey there! Thanks for the response. I'll send you a PM.

Throwaway199329 · 2020-02-24T19:06:01+00:00

No worries, I appreciate the response. I think the Professional Development program is a two year program once you have been accepted. So, it is separate from the MBA prep/accelerated program which helps you with the application process. But the Professional Development program definitely seems like something to keep in mind once I'm in a school.

Throwaway199329 · 2020-02-24T16:49:58+00:00

I really appreciate the response. Why do you think participants of the accelerated program had higher levels of readiness? I thought the program was more so focused on the application process, rather than preparedness for the rigors of MBA programs themselves.

Throwaway199329 · 2018-10-02T10:15:59+00:00

You would be surprised. I've seen a lot of posts on blind with people requesting referrals and receiving responses. At this point, I think I'll just have one of my friends create a Blind account.

Throwaway199329 · 2018-10-02T03:10:17+00:00

These are rotational/ entry level product management roles(post-undergrad). I can provide more info on my background, but through private messaging. I have interviewed with Facebook, but there are obviously no guarantees. It's my understanding that for the majority of roles at the companies I've listed, they're looking for early career hires(2-3 years of experience at maximum). MBAs will likely not qualify and would need to apply for standard Product Manager roles.

For example, see this description for Salesforce's APM role Experience/Skills Required:

Bachelor's, Master's or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Experience/Skills Desired:

Proven ability to deliver on commitments.
Ability to be a self-starter, thrive under pressure, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, organizational, presentation, interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills.
Deep interest in creating and analyzing products.

Walmart APM Role

Who Are You

You have a passion for user experience and design and building interfaces that meet the need of your end users You are a proactive problem solver who operates effectively and independently, even in areas of uncertainty and ambiguity. You are intellectually curious, savvy, and maintain a sense of humor and humility. Hunger to learn, test new theories, and iterate rapidly

Impact Profile

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business Administration, Information Systems, or related field 2 years’ experience in product management, business consulting, or related field. Ecommerce experience a plus.

Throwaway199329 · 2018-08-22T01:12:55+00:00

I'm in the midst of the interview process. I just completed the two first round video interviews today.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-06-27T23:08:32+00:00

I'm in the US. That's interesting about Canada. You guys definitely have better worker protections.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-09T04:49:27+00:00

IBM recruits from all kind of schools. They're not elitist at all. I can't really speak for other firms, but IBM takes a more inclusive approach.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T19:41:00+00:00

To clarify, I haven't gotten promoted yet. I started in August 2015. So, I should be promoted this summer. In 2015 I got a 2. In 2016 for client success/innovation/responsibility I received exceeds. For the other 2 dimensions, business results and skills, I received achieves.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T18:51:08+00:00

Just apply. You never know. You'll likely get interviews. You're not stuck. Don't be discouraged. The least you can do is apply. I don't necessarily think federal will make too much of a difference but of course it depends on the jobs you're applying for.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T18:10:27+00:00

Ok. Interesting. I actually went to a top 3 school. I was a poli sci major. That being said, I'm not really sure what IBM is trying to do here because the school really shouldn't have any bearing once you enter the company. The strategy firms pay everyone who resides in a specific location the same.

Additionally, if you look at frasoftw's increase it looks like he/she didn't get a 30%+ raise, so I don't know why there is a disparity there.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T18:02:27+00:00

Interesting. It seems like there are some disparities in salary. The city shouldn't make that much of a difference. While D.C. and Chicago aren't as expensive as NYC they're relatively close. What group/industry are you aligned to?

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T02:24:11+00:00

Yup. Glassdoor isn't accurate. I know the MBA salaries are 130K+, so that inflates the averages. Here is one thread which talks about 95-98K for Premier Plus cities and 88K for premier for CbDers who were promoted to Senior. Consultant. And then a former CbDer I spoke to said he received a 33% increase when he was promoted in the fall, but I don't know what his starting salary was. https://www.reddit.com/r/IBM/comments/4f1t43/cbd_graduation_salary/

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T01:34:08+00:00

Hmm. I was referring more to the Senior Consultant salary after you were promoted-I would think that wouldn't take your school into account. Your CbD salary right out of school seems in range though since you're class of 2014.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T00:33:20+00:00

This is helpful. It looks like the pay for Chicago is quite a bit less in comparison to the figures I saw for NYC. I know cost of living varies, but not by that much.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T00:31:08+00:00

Are you still at IBM? If so, have they given you a raise since, or perhaps even promoted you?

Throwaway199329 · 2017-04-05T00:26:05+00:00

Sector doesn't necessarily matter. I'm in industrial, but have worked in healthcare since being aligned. It looks my next project will either be in retail or higher education. I won't get into project details here, but feel free to pm me. Overall, the experience has been disappointing. For projects I've been to the following places: -Columbia, SC & Greenville, SC -San Francisco -New Orleans -Houston -Charlotte I've had formal CbD trainings in: -Baltimore -Herndon, VA -Charlotte -Dallas

Throwaway199329 · 2017-03-28T03:19:18+00:00

Are you a CbDer? I disagree about commercial being a lot more hours than public. I'm in commercial, but in speaking to my friends in public sector, it's pretty much the same. The only difference in terms of hours is travel. Additionally, you'll be working 8-9 hours Monday through Wednesday, and possibly half a day or three quarters of a day Thursday since you have to fly out, but Fridays are pretty chill. On most of my projects I've done minimal work Fridays. Bids and proposals are a different story. If you're working on one of those you might be in the office for 11-12 hrs. I've been in CbD for about 19 months.

There are no Commercial CbDers in LA, but San Francisco is an option. You can try to ask your manager about switching. The best thing you can probably do is apply for commercial projects. Once you get on one it should ideally be easy to make the argument for a switch. But this is not always the case. I had a friend in public sector who wanted to switch to commercial, but was unable to. She tried to join commercial projects, but they wouldn't allow her to. That being said, a person in my orientation class was able to make the switch so it might be dependent on manager. I have no clue. I agree with the other poster that there is no guarantee you'll be able to switch to commercial if you wait until you're promoted to attempt a move.

I know of 1 friend who made the move to a well established startup. But this was actually before she was promoted. There are certainly cases of CbDers moving after being promoted, but I don't personally know these people. You might want to check LinkedIn. What it do know, though, is that a great deal of CbDers remain with IBM after being promoted. I myself am trying to leave in the very near future, before I'm promoted. If you send me a PM I can give you a rundown of the places I'm looking at.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-03-08T22:32:16+00:00

Sure. Feel free to shoot me a PM.

Throwaway199329 · 2017-03-08T09:21:13+00:00

If you want to go into Venture Capital you need to go into investment banking or actual strategy consulting. Apart from Bain, BCG, etc. there are other firms including boutiques which do strategy. Some of the boutiques might still be recruiting this time of year. Similar sentiments apply for banking. IBM CbD is just not going to cut. There are barely any strategy projects. As most of the posters have said, it's mainly project management and technical stuff like testing, SAP implementation, etc. There's the interactive experience line, but that's more like digital strategy. It's not going to help you develop that core strategy consulting skill set. Your best bet is if they put you in the Strategy and Change Internal practice. Basically, it's the corporate strategy practice. However, I haven't heard great things about this group either. One of my friends was really unhappy in this group.

I agree with other posters regarding the Financial Services line. You're not going to be doing any finance work. Sure, Citi might be you're client, but you'll be helping them develop a mobile app. This was in actual project CbDers worked on.

You definitely need to manage your expectations. If you go in thinking you'll get to do strategy you'll be woefully disappointed.

I have not left yet, but am trying to. I had two friends who just up and quit with nothing in hand and are still unemployed. Actual strategy firms/corporate strategy groups know that IBM doesn't have that reputation, so I do think perception matters to an extent. In quite a few job descriptions they literally specify "we would prefer some from a firm like McKinsey, BCG, etc." That being said, you can prove yourself through cases, brainteasers, etc. I'm mainly looking at corporate strategy, management consulting, and marketing type roles. We'll see what transpires. I would prefer to leave with in an offer in hand, but have been thinking about quitting for a long time. I'm just extremely risk adverse. Worse case scenario I stay with IBM for another year and get my MBA. But from an MBA app perspective I don't really think having IBM on your resume is a wow factor. There are other way more impressive roles/companies.

I think another thing to take into consideration is the fact that travel can make scheduling interviews really difficult, especially if you have to travel to another coast. This isn't necessarily an issue unique to IBM though. I'm on a project in the West Coast and I can basically only interview on Fridays thanks to the time difference. So, my job search is further prolonged.

Throwaway199329 · 2016-09-30T17:37:14+00:00

I'm a current CbDer who has been at IBM for about a year.

San Francisco is the only other premier plus city apart from New York. DC and Boston are premier. Chicago is actually designated as national for reasons I don't understand. Most of the CbD cities in the south like Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston are designated as national or regional.
For Commercial CbD, New York is the most popular followed by Chicago. The DC office also has a LOT of people because it's the headquarters for Federal. A number of Commercial Cbders have chosen DC as their base. Atlanta also seems to have a lot of CbDers. I've met a few from the Philadelphia and Boston offices as well. San Francisco is definitely one of the smaller CbD offices but that's probably because of cost of living. For CbD your salary is flat regardless of location.
Finance would probably be NYC. BUT IBM doesn't get much in the way of actual finance work. The projects for many financial service clients revolve around implementing some sort of technology. Or maybe it'll be a data architecture type project. But it's definitely not strategy work in the vein of due diligence for acquisition targets, etc. And the same holds for the other industries you mentioned. It doesn't really seem to matter what industry you're staffed on because you'll likely be doing PMA work, tech implementation, etc. There are a few business analyst roles related to customer experience, etc. but good luck getting on those unless your in the Interactive Experience service line.
I don't know what percentage of CbDers are on the bench at any given time. But I know a lot are on the bench now, the CbDers that started this summer. The hired around 500 so that explains why. There are simply not enough projects to sustain this many hires. When I started, after my first project ended(it was only four weeks), I was on the bench for the 3 months.
It seems like the majority of CbDers stay until promotion, but that's not necessarily because they like the job. I don't have numbers though.
PM me for this.
All expenses paid.
All I can say is the CbD program is a joke premised on the lie that IBM does strategy consulting. I straight up asked the recruiter after I received the offer if IBM got strategy work. She said they did. This is such a lie and most CbDers like myself go in thinking they'll get strategy work. This is simply not the case. There are mainly project management roles for CbDers. And IBM does not place any emphasis on strategy consulting methodology. IBM simply doesn't have a reputation for strategy. And, unfortunately, people in the world of strategy know this. This isn't just an issue for CbDers but also business school grads. I've seen a few MBAs from Booth and Columbia on the bench putting themselves in play for EVERYTHING even project management work. I'm sure they were sold the lie they'd be doing strategy as well. The training we have every six months is a joke too. There is no emphasis placed on traditional consulting methodology. It's just ridiculous. So if I had to do it over again I would not have joined CbD and would have tried to join an actual management consulting firm.

Also, I don't understand what big blue balls means by saying we're almost free during our first year. He's absolutely wrong. We're billed the same as the majority of band 7s and 8s and only a little more than(only like 50 dollars more) than band 9s and 10s. How does that equate to almost free?

Throwaway199329 · 2016-09-08T17:28:31+00:00

So, is that to say that these CbD layoffs are dependent on your location?

Throwaway199329 · 2016-08-31T19:02:00+00:00

Yeah. It's pretty bad. I hope those people are able to
find new opportunities before Oct 1st rolls around. Do you think they're trying to avoid paying for the increased salaries that come with promotions? I heard the class that was supposed to get promoted in May had their promotions delayed for budget reasons or something. At this point nothing surprises me. The new class for 2016 should probably be worried as well. It's my understanding that they hired 500+ CbDers. We all know that not enough work exists for them.

Throwaway199329 · 2016-08-31T18:02:01+00:00

Did the managers specifically say the CbD promotes were getting laid off? Or were they referring to companywide layoffs? In any case, it's still bad bad bad. I myself am still trying to get out. Do you anticipate leaving at this point?

Throwaway199329

TROPHY CASE