This is true not just for engineering hires. I recently experienced this with more evolved roles such as PM and PMMs.
Diversity and inclusion biases go beyond educational background. I have noticed the big tech firms (experienced this with a social network giant) are more biased to hire from a big consulting firm like McKinsey or Bain.
Despite having the requisite experience & education for the role, I got the boilerplate response without even talking to anyone. Some sleuthing revealed this big tech firm tends to recruit heavily from McKinsey. Most people at the role had this trajectory BA at Ivy League --> 2 yrs work exp --> MBA (Top 10) ---> Big Consulting ---> Big tech.
This seems to bode well who could afford either an ivy league education and an expensive MBA. Leaves little room for folks with street experience. On the other side, maybe it calls for long-term gorilla marketing tactics to really sell your personal brand.
PM and PMM at big companies are effectively middle-management. Business manager hiring leans toward the trajectory you describe because 1) its the largest, traditional low-volatility career path for top performers out of good schools 2) it ensures the candidate has passed through a number of relatively rigorous admission filters on pedigree, culture, diligence and performance, and 3) at successful large companies the senior managers/execs are mostly MBA grads and they themselves are biased to hiring younger versions of themselves as reports.
Diversity and inclusion biases go beyond educational background. I have noticed the big tech firms (experienced this with a social network giant) are more biased to hire from a big consulting firm like McKinsey or Bain.
Despite having the requisite experience & education for the role, I got the boilerplate response without even talking to anyone. Some sleuthing revealed this big tech firm tends to recruit heavily from McKinsey. Most people at the role had this trajectory BA at Ivy League --> 2 yrs work exp --> MBA (Top 10) ---> Big Consulting ---> Big tech.
This seems to bode well who could afford either an ivy league education and an expensive MBA. Leaves little room for folks with street experience. On the other side, maybe it calls for long-term gorilla marketing tactics to really sell your personal brand.