Sanja, a data scientist at QuantumBlack by McKinsey, tells about her daily life at work:
Infusing teaming and statistics
A two-year postdoctoral project in statistical genetics reinforced my love for programming and statistics, and made me realize pursuing these interests in a client-facing, fast–moving environment would be better suited to my personality than the solitary context of the academia. I joined McKinsey, and couldn’t be happier.
My position as a data scientist at McKinsey has given me the opportunity to develop my technical skills more broadly then I was able to do before, while allowing me to work on a diverse range of real–world problems, closely collaborate with multidisciplinary teams on a daily basis, and improve my communication and presentation skills through regular client interaction."
McKinsey's investment in my growth
One thing I particularly enjoy is the absence of a typical day. Whether it’s programming, modelling, problem–solving, visiting clients, interviewing candidates, representing McKinsey at events, attending presentations, or doing yoga in one of our weekly sessions, I am guaranteed to do something different to what I did the day before.
Another thing I appreciate is McKinsey's investment in the development of talent; following courses, attending scientific conferences, and participating in reading groups are all parts of the job. I have a lot of autonomy to shape my career path, whether I want to stay on the technical side, engage more directly with clients, or land somewhere in between.
Finally, the immense talent surrounding me and the academic mind–set of the data science team make this role feel like a client-oriented, data-driven, real-world enhancement of my academic experience.
About Sanja
Sanja is a London-based data scientist with QuantumBlack by McKinsey. Prior to McKinsey, she was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford, focused on statistical genetics and bioinformatics. Sanja holds a doctorate in behavioral genetics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
For more information on McKinsey's data science career paths, visit mckinsey.com/TechCareers.