My Profile: Finishing up at a top 5 B-school, with previous experience in software / project management (defense and aerospace field). I should state up front I have little interest in IT/CIO as a future career (i.e. anything to do with ERP, Oracle DBs, etc.), but do want to work in the high-tech space eventually (development of high-tech products, later stage start-up, etc).Question:I have an offer from McKinsey BTO, but I am worried this will label me an IT guy when I exit consulting and limit my opportunities. I also get the feeling it is not as highly regarded externally as a straight McKinsey strategy position. I have confirmed with those in BTO that about half of their work is outside BTO.I also have an offer from Amazon to be a Senior Technical Product Manager.Long term I would like to be more on the product management side of things, and I am worried McKinsey BTO might type-cast me as an IT guy, making it hard to move in to anything other than IT post-McK. Any thoughts or input?

How much do the respective roles pay?

McKinsey is a great brand on your CV, no question. Even outside strategy it holds value. But my money goes on Amazon.For what you want to do and where you want to be McKinsey will contribute precious little, and with Amazon offering you a produc role anyway why take the long way round to get there? Ask yourself what you want to do - stay in the technial layer on the product (the NPD layer so to speak) or is it identifying the customer want/need, developing the opportunity assessment, business case etc - propositions development? If the latter firms like inzenka, edengene, market gravity etc all do this much better. If you want the technical depth too, go to Amazon. McKinsey's biggest asset is really their access at board level - but the game is changing, ideas are crowdsourced, innovation and product management is driven around analytics which are often now in house (Google are a good example)...in this area McKinsey dont really have much to add in the mix other than intellectual firepower. And Im not slating them - fantastic brand, but for where you want to go, they will take you in another direction entirely.

Hi there,I have an interview coming up with Mck BTO. There isn't much info available on web w.r.t BTO interview. I am not sure whether you finally opted to take the job but hoping that you can share your interview experience.I am aware of the general interview format at McK but am worried that BTO interview will be quite different. Really appreciate your help.- Will there be IT flavored cases? if yes, can you please share an example to get an idea.- Is candidate expected to have deep IT/Technical knowledge? I have been in Analyst, PM roles in IT but I am no Architect!! Is that a problem- Any other advice from your side?Thanks for your help.Cheers!

BTO interviews are identical to all other McK interviews. The only 'flavour' you might get to the cases would be that it might be e.g. about a high tech company looking to enter market with new product. It will not be about architecture or any deep tech knowledge, but there may usually be scope for experience about technology to shine through in your answer (e.g. understanding what the high-level issues facing IT execs are, trends within tech space etc.)

You;d be insane to put McKinsey BTO. do you want to be a first-class citizen in your industry of choice or a second-class citizen (yes, that's how BTO is perceived at McK) at a place you are not even that interested in. Unless you want to be in consulting long-term, I'd say Amazon.

BS. Maybe it's a geography thing, but every BTO person I know does whatever they are interested in doing at McK, whether it's strat, M&S, Ops etc. This 2nd class citizen line is just plain rubbish - maybe it was there 15 yrs ago.As for exit opps, I can tell you very clearly that not once has a potential employer or recruiter cared a whit whether I'm BTO or generalist. What everyone cares about is what your experience within the firm is, what areas you focused on, what your impact was.