Too bad so many graduates end up as powerpoint engineers

The newly graduated civil engineer “Tiril” from Stavanger squeezes onto a packed bus on its way out to Fornebu. Will she revolutionize the IT industry by developing superconductors that can work at room temperature? Should she create the algorithm that can take us a little closer to solving the climate crisis? Nope. She will bill 2,000 tax kroner an hour for making flashy powerpoints in an international consulting company on behalf of the state.

The article was first published in Teknisk Ukeblad

NTNU alumni’s value
lies in not her eminent head, but in the siv.ing ring on her hand. “Tiril’s” goal is not to utilize the knowledge the university has given her, but to acquire another stamp. This time a stamp for having endured three years in a prestigious job with competition for positions, where she works 12 hours a day and the ladder shines towards her from day one. If she passes this test, the rest of her career and life will be a cakewalk. At least that’s what they like to make you believe.

The. Who are they? I am talking here about the large international consulting companies. The seven largest in the world in descending order are PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, McKinsey, BCG and Accenture.

The Washington Post and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver have both told about how, for example, McKinsey runs its business. The company describes itself as a “value-driven organisation” that will “create lasting positive change in the world”. But time and again you see that they have no scruples when it comes to taking on unethical and socially unhelpful tasks.

An example is that McKinsey worked to “turbocharge” harmful opioid sales while several thousand died of overdoses. In another example, the same consultants were used to lobby the US tobacco industry while also advising the regulatory authority they were supposed to influence in the first assignment. A third example is that McKinsey, at the behest of the prince of Saudi Arabia, surveyed and tried to silence people in the environment surrounding the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered at the behest of, precisely, the prince of Saudi Arabia.

Not that poisoning, double standards and human rights violations describe a typical working day at McKinsey in Oslo. These were only a few selected examples that illustrate a culture in possible conflict with the company’s stated vision of creating positive change. According to Menon Economics, Norway has a great need for more engineers and technology entrepreneurs. We are thirsty for technologists who develop the solutions society needs for a green transition, better welfare technology and new protein sources without loss of nature. So why do our best students take jobs in international consulting companies?

“Tiril’s” journey began on the study energy and environment at Gløshaugen at NTNU in Trondheim. I myself have a degree in civil engineering in construction from the same university.

Not a week went by during my studies without the consulting giants wanting to treat me to dinner and alcohol under the pretext of a company presentation.

Not a week passed
during the study period without the consulting giants wanting to treat them to dinner and alcohol under the pretext of a company presentation. And I was “only” a construction student, not from Indøk (industrial economics and technology management) or cybernetics. The companies enticed with parties and cabin trips at home and abroad rather than the socially useful technology the department had developed in recent years.

“Tiril” goes out with top marks and takes the status job behind the door with gilded door handles. As a junior associate, she is assigned to create powerpoints for clients in the public sector. Why does the waste management agency “Tiril” really need help? Right behind competence and capacity reasons, it appears at ICT Norway that the public sector buys consulting services because there is a “need to legitimize decisions”. Because if a project fails, it’s all very well to blame expensive consultants from international companies, isn’t it? Personally, I would rather the tax money go to nursing home places than to the backs of public directors.

The journey to “Tiril” is going uphill the career ladder. The company’s cash flows cross national borders. The international consulting companies have business models that are largely based on tax adaptation. To avoid corporation tax in Norway, they allow Norwegian consultants to carry out assignments abroad. The companies spend the expenses in Norway so they don’t have to pay high tax on profits, revenues end up in countries where profits are taxed lower.

The result is completely legal distortion of competition and less tax money for the community that financed 18 years of education for “Tiril” and the other employees in the company. Liberal Terje Breivik stated in 2015 that it is unnecessary for the public sector to use consulting companies that do not pay taxes to Norway. Nine years later, I wholeheartedly agree. Let it be said: I believe we need private consulting companies with strong professional environments, also in assignments for the public sector.

I also mean that the big ones the international consulting companies in isolation and occasionally can provide value for money in their assignments. But I think NTNU’s slogan “knowledge for a better world” would have fit better in many other places than at “Tiril’s” current employer.

So dear, talented technology student: Norway needs you! Look around for employers who make full use of your specialist skills, who carry out projects useful to society and who pay tax so that those who come after you can also get free education. If this is important to you, there are better options than McKinsey, Accenture or EY.

“Tiril” is a fictitious name to anonymize one of the sources of this text.