Calling all coders and data scientists. We invite you to join McKinsey's in-person Datathon in one of three cities - Amsterdam, Stockholm, or Zurich. Learn more here.
What is your background?
I studied electrical engineering and business administration. I’ve always had a strong interest in energy markets, decentralized energy systems, mathematical optimization, and finance. I am a data enthusiast who taught myself to code and hack.
Why did you decide to participate in McKinsey's November hackathon?
I was always on the lookout for machine learning projects and competitions; I spent a lot of time searching around on sites like Kaggle. The McKinsey hackathon gave me an opportunity to compete for a new job, which was a nice bonus. Plus, I was curious about the type of problems McKinsey would present. I did not have McKinsey in my mind as an analytics consulting company or place where I could do what I love but the hackathon opened my eyes.
What was the most fun and interesting part of the hackathon?
As with most machine learning problems, I had to be creative to get the most out of the limited dataset given. In this case, the key was to enrich a time–series sales dataset with meta–information about the dates (e.g. holidays, without knowing the country). Struggling and working with a problem like that is much more satisfying than just running algorithms over a dataset.
What did the recruiting process look like after the hackathon?
After the hackathon, a recruiter from McKinsey contacted me. I had a technical phone interview with an analytics consultant who is now my colleague in Düsseldorf. After that, I participated in a one-on–one case coaching session with a consultant and an interview training webinar to practice for my final round interviews. The recruiters assisted me throughout the whole process.
Who do you recommend participate in this kind of hackathon?
Anyone with a strong numbers–driven mind, analytical skills and a solid foundation in statistics, machine learning and programming. No matter what your background is or what you’ve studied in school, you’re eligible to participate, so come join the fun!
Learn more about the City Cup Datathon.
About Fritz
Fritz is a data scientist based in Dusseldorf, Germany. At McKinsey, he has worked on projects in a range of industries including automotive, MedTech and manufacturing and supply chain. Fritz has a master’s and bachelor’s in electrical power engineering from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen in Germany.
For more information on McKinsey's data science career paths, visit mckinsey.com/TechCareers .