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CDD is fast-paced and highly analytical because you assess markets, competition, and growth potential before an investment. You get exposure to many industries quickly, which is great for learning but the project format can feel repetitive. Travel is usually low since much of the work is desk-based. It’s strong for exits into PE, portfolio strategy, or corp dev.
Strategy consulting offers the broadest scope (corp strategy, growth, transformations, etc). It’s high variety, high exposure and great for exits into general management, product, ops, or entrepreneurship. Travel is higher, especially for client-heavy transformation work, though many projects are now hybrid.
PMI is about aligning cultures, integrating systems and delivering synergies. Travel can be significant if you need to be on-site with merging entities. It’s less discussed than CDD or strategy, but that’s more about visibility than importance because strong experience is highly valued in corporates and scaling businesses as you go deeper into fewer companies but across many functions, which builds strong operational and scaling skills, valuable for COO-type roles or running your own business.
Compensation across the three is generally similar at the same firm and level, with occasional premiums in niche PMI boutiques or PE-focused CDD teams. The bigger differences come from exits because PE and corp dev can offer higher immediate pay after CDD, while strategy and PMI can lead to high-paying operational leadership roles over time.
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