gpresot

I realise the article was written for a specific audience for which this may be obvious, but what is the difference between data scientist and data engineer (in terms of what their job is)?

A good presentation is not a matter of software. You can make outstanding presentation without embedded videos and fancy transitions. And you can make them on PowerPoint, Keynotes, Libreoffice, or translucent sheets. Focus on a clear storyline, and key messages of each slide, keep it simple, use some visuals instead of a wall of text, use bullet-points wisely... People spend months on a project and then 1-2 days on the final presentation and wonder why the audience does not understand / is bored. Management consultants (whose main output are presentations) start working on the final deck from the first weeks / days of the project.

It is one of the few subscriptions to media / news sites that I really value. Apart from their Editorials section, all articles have a balanced point of view, presenting all sides of an argument. They are all well written, and manage to explain complex topics (science, economics) in a fairly accessible way. And is also a good way to keep up to date on what happens around the world as each world region is covered and articles are often a well argumented summary of any relevant topic in that area in the past week(s). Their Christmas double issue is joy to read. But you can buy the print version at your newsagent for a few weeks as a trial.

Former management consultant here (with one of the Big 3). It is true that some of this type of work (twisting analysis to fit conclusions) happens, but my experience has been the opposite, as in the medium-long term clients appreciate more the consultants that don't hide the truth, and in the end consulting partners want to keep long term relationships with the executives they work with. Consulting has offered me a lot. Money, but more importantly exciting projects that one usually doesn't work on at a relatively young age, the opportunity to learn how to structure communication effectively, how to manage stakeholders with opposing views (and how to become a bridge between them), how to break down a problem in pieces that are solvable with the experience and tools that you have. This in turn has accelerated my career (also outside of consulting). I also went back to consulting after working in industry.

Companies hire consultants for many reasons. In general they have the skills internally too, but unless they have overcapacity, their people have a day-job too and it is preferable to throw a group of smart and motivated mercenaries to solve a tough problem working full-time on it. Sometimes consultant are the only ones that are capable of liaising across functions and departments, without seeming skewed towards any particular one: as roles in industry tend to specialise ever more, this is becoming more and more important. And some problems (organization, process, etc) benefit a lot from an external view.

Sure, sometimes Mck, BCG, Bain (and many others) are used to provide validation for something that the CEO wants to do. But it happens a lot less often than people think.