I went to university in my hometown of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and studied information systems with an emphasis in management. After graduating, I moved to Johannesburg and joined a private bank as an analyst on the business intelligence team.
I initially focused on reporting and analytics for the personal and corporate investments division. I worked my way up into corporate and institutional banking and setting up the infrastructure for reporting and analytics for the division. Over the course of 5 years, I built a strong foundation for data analytics in banking. However, I was ready to expand outside of the banking universe.
I was surprised when I discovered McKinsey was hiring for roles similar to mine. I was familiar with McKinsey but didn’t know of the firm’s investment in new areas such as technology transformation. I decided to interview largely because I wanted to see how McKinsey utilizes the business intelligence analyst role.
I decided to join McKinsey because I would have vast opportunities to develop in my discipline while also having the freedom to explore many different industries across the globe.
My role in the Client Capabilities Network
The McKinsey Client Capabilities Network provides state-of-the-art research, asset-backed and rapid diagnostics, benchmarking, workflow support, and specialized on-demand analyses for teams across the firm.
In my role, I am plugged into consulting teams to provide expertise in analytics. For example, if a client wants to build a dashboard to monitor a specific operation McKinsey has helped implement, I step in to help build the model and the dashboard. I assess the data and then apply code to transform the data or add logic so the client can glean useful insights from the data to drive strategy and decision making.
Then I am onto the next project with a new client and potentially a different industry all together. I enjoy the fast pace and opportunity to support so many different teams and clients. My work never feels monotonous or boring.
Expanding my horizons and learning new industries
Since joining the firm less than a year ago, I have branched out from finance and banking and supported clients from other industries, including a cleaner distributor and mining companies.
In fact, one of my most meaningful engagements was with a mining company, which at the time, was an industry far outside of my expertise. The company wanted to optimize their operations across several plants, each with a different matrix that they have to follow. I was brought on to help the client develop dashboards to monitor how each plant met each matrix. The dashboards provided a visualization of the data showing how the plant performed before, during, and after implementation. These were complex dashboards and the data coming in from the client had to be cleaned—so it required a good bit of code for each plant. I also played a role in building capabilities for stakeholders within the company to maintain the dashboards.
The dashboards helped the client, and it was special for me to see the end-to-end value I could bring to the client. This work that I spearheaded also became an asset for the firm because of the impact it had for the client, which means we will consider the lessons learned and best practices for future similar engagements. My work will also help other teams move faster because they can learn from the foundations and best practices we have developed.
That was my first engagement at McKinsey, and it feels good to have made a contribution like this so early in my career.
My best advice for people interested in my role
McKinsey has an in-depth interview process. I think people can be intimidated by McKinsey’s reputation—and the interview experience, which can feel daunting—but my best advice is to respect the process. McKinsey’s interview process is all about finding the right talent and fit for a role, and you learn so much while interviewing.
After the interviews, I walked away with a genuine sense of what it would be like to work here. I spoke with several experts in my field and learned the tools I would be using, the industries I’d work with, and how I would be able to apply my skills to all the different platforms that various industries use. Even if I hadn’t joined the firm, it would have been such a valuable experience for me.
Then once you’re hired, I recommend being open to learning—even to those things outside of your role. For me, the opportunity to learn is one of the greatest benefits of working at the firm. The on-the-job learning is profound, but the firm also offers exceptional training, both self-paced courses, and workshops that align with a specific certification. So, if you want to grow as a data scientist and build pricing models, there is a learning path for that.
Where your career goes is really up to you.
More about me
I am an artistic person, and I love to go to musicals, plays, and art shows. But poetry is my thing. I love writing poetry and have published some of my work. I also love attending poetry readings and spoken word productions.