I did a freelance project for their digital ventures unit at some point. Nice rates and it was a well run project that did not fail. It's not all bad with companies like this.
But there's a big "you get what you ask for" factor here and when the customers are gullible fools representing wealthy companies, you get obvious results and BCG is happy to take the cash. Often the whole point of involving BCG is internal posturing between executives that justify their position by starting expensive initiatives. Corporate politics is lucrative for consultants. The customer is in on it in that case. Often they are repeat customers as well.
What I liked in the project I did with them was just the amount of professionalism. The customer paid a lot, asked for sensible things, and they got good results. Did they pay a lot? Definitely. Would they have been able to DIY? Definitely not. So probably worth it for them.
One pattern I noticed was that engineering was something they used freelancers for routinely but anyone talking to the customer was an internal employee with a fancy job title. Basically if you are internal, they work you hard and people don't tend to stick around very long. The ones that do stick around get promoted and start earning big money. But you also get a lot of fairly junior talent with not a lot of experience but great education as well.
Freelancers got nice rates which the customer probably paid 2x or 3x for. So, money was no concern here for BCG. They focused on quality here. Nice project; would do it again.
But there's a big "you get what you ask for" factor here and when the customers are gullible fools representing wealthy companies, you get obvious results and BCG is happy to take the cash. Often the whole point of involving BCG is internal posturing between executives that justify their position by starting expensive initiatives. Corporate politics is lucrative for consultants. The customer is in on it in that case. Often they are repeat customers as well.
What I liked in the project I did with them was just the amount of professionalism. The customer paid a lot, asked for sensible things, and they got good results. Did they pay a lot? Definitely. Would they have been able to DIY? Definitely not. So probably worth it for them.
One pattern I noticed was that engineering was something they used freelancers for routinely but anyone talking to the customer was an internal employee with a fancy job title. Basically if you are internal, they work you hard and people don't tend to stick around very long. The ones that do stick around get promoted and start earning big money. But you also get a lot of fairly junior talent with not a lot of experience but great education as well.
Freelancers got nice rates which the customer probably paid 2x or 3x for. So, money was no concern here for BCG. They focused on quality here. Nice project; would do it again.