My Fathom journey in retrospect

Article by Juan Orts

A sideways look at economics

After two and a half years, my time at Fathom Consulting has come to an end, and I could not think of a better way of wrapping up my journey here than by summarising what has undoubtedly been a great career experience. So, put your seatbelts on, because you are in for an interesting ride!

I started working for Fathom Consulting in October 2022, first remotely from Spain for some time, due to Visa issues — thanks, Brexit — before finally settling in London in January 2023. The curiosity to work for a boutique macro consultancy was immense, after having spent a few years at large corporations. Besides finally finding out what it would feel like to be a ‘consultant’, this experience was bound to provide me, I thought back then, with a significant acceleration to my career.

After two and a half years, I can confirm that I was spot on in that assessment. To be fair, when I landed at Fathom Consulting, I already had four solid years of experience as a professional economist. However, it is important to recognise that even though the work itself may be similar (you are still doing economic analysis, after all), in a consultancy the dynamics and the pace of work can differ greatly compared with other places. It is precisely these dynamics, which I will explain in a moment, that supports why I think a consultancy environment can help an ambitious individual take their skills to another level.

First, in a macro consultancy you are given a lot more space and independence to work, no matter how many years of experience you have. What that means is, unlike at big institutions where you have a manager who is ultimately responsible for what you do, in a small consultancy you have full responsibility for your work, from research to execution. While there is a review process, you are expected to take full ownership, which fosters independence and professional growth. Some people may see this as a downside, while I think it’s the opposite: it teaches a person to ‘own’ their work, which provides an obvious upskill, especially if you are early in your career. In simple words, you ‘mature’ earlier…because you don’t have a choice!

The second thing is visibility. When you work for a boutique consultancy, you are ‘in the spotlight’ all the time, for good or bad. For the good, because the work that you do will have an immediate impact and will be seen by everyone, without layers of intermediaries and overlaps. If you are good, you will shine and people will notice quickly. On the other hand, if you take too relaxed an approach and don’t push yourself, that too will be easily spotted. This kind of monitoring may sound a bit like the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, but in a consultancy time is money (literally) and therefore there is no room for messing around. This is in sharp contrast to your visibility in some large institutions, where (and I can tell you from experience) there are some people who are just not that keen on working hard but manage to get away with it because they are but a tiny cog in a colossal machine. Quality is also important: even if you have worked very hard to produce a piece of work, yet it does not meet the standards, it will not be published (and you will be in the spotlight once again).

Another advantage of small consultancies (and this one is one of my favourites) is that you are pretty much bureaucracy-free. This means that you can spend a very significant amount of your day doing the actual work instead of attending totally pointless meetings, seminars, or God knows what other kind of bull**** that is created in order to justify that you are ‘working’. And do not misunderstand me: meetings are very important too. But they need to have a clear purpose, while ideally being short and to the point. A tangible benefit that I have obtained from all of this ‘liberated time’ is that I have been able to spend most of my working hours focusing on doing the actual macro analysis, thereby raising my skillset very quickly: over the past two and a half years, I have been able to produce a very large number of research notes (a total of 43, not bad!), ranging from short pieces to more in-depth analysis.

The reason I have been able to upscale my skills so much is not only down to the number of pieces, but also the diversity of their content. At Fathom Consulting I have been able to pivot between different topics, depending on the needs of the company and my interests. For example, my primary focus at Fathom has been on China, however I have also written about the US, the euro area and Japan, and some emerging markets such as Poland. To produce these pieces, I have used a variety of techniques, including more traditional macroeconomic analysis, but also sophisticated econometric modelling. This area is something I am particularly interested in, and I have to say that Fathom stands out in it compared to other macro research providers, who use very little modelling — if any at all. Therefore, thanks to my time here, my modelling and programming skills have also improved massively.

Looking back and trying to make an objective assessment of my time at Fathom, I can most definitely conclude that it has been a great experience. I leave this place as a better economist, having improved both my hard and soft skills, while being equipped with a new, fresh perspective when looking at things, thanks to having worked with people who have a very different work culture than me. I could not finish this post without personally thanking everyone at Fathom for the treatment that I have received here, with special mention to the amazing Global Outlook team whom I have enjoyed working with the most. I leave this place at peace and with the satisfaction of a job well-done.

And finally, thanks also to you, dear reader! The amount of support and good feedback that I have received during this time has been amazing. I have also very much enjoyed writing to you and will definitely miss it. If at some point I have managed to steal a smile from you, I consider this experience a success already.

Without further hesitation, I am calling it a day. Thank you very much to all of you, and I hope we can keep in touch in the future.

Best of luck and… hasta pronto amigos!!

Juan Orts