Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 225 posts

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#71

Post by amavisca »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #46
rayiner wrote: post #14

People like to dramatize this a bit, I think. First, I'll quibble with the definition of all-nighter: "I ended up doing an all-nighter in my first week as an intern, which is when you start work at nine, you stay until five or six the next morning, you go home, have a quick shower and then head back into the office and continue working." If you leave work at 5 and start at 9, and are sensible and live within 20 minut…

* Three hours of sleep - if that - is far, far too little for any normal human being to function normally. Also yes, working until 6 AM is an all-nighter, it's dawn then. > Second, how many times did you pull a few all-nighters in a row during college? I can't even count. I certainly didn't die. Never. I don't get why people do it either, it's not like it makes you a better student. If anything, having to pull all-ni…

You provided a single example and then skipped the alternatives.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#72

Post by rayiner »

gpvos wrote: post #68
rayiner wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the article is describing investment banking, which is particularly demanding because it's a service job. You're helping a client do a deal, and clients are demanding and deals are time-sensitive. People generally do not go into investment banking expecting to make a career out of it. A few-year stint as an analyst is a great way to get into HBS/GSB/Wharton, and from there into a CFO-track position at an F500. It'…

All that doesn't make it any less wrong.

You said: "You can't have your health back and you wasted years of your life chasing a dream."

Your health is unlikely to suffer in any appreciable long-term way working banking hours for a few years in your 20's. And at the end it's not like you're some factory worker that has sacrificed your body and is spit out with nothing to show for it. You've got a credential that is tremendously valuable in corporate America and ideally a bunch of money saved up.

For the majority of people who aren't looking to be career bankers, it wasn't "chasing a dream" but rather using a job as a stepping stone.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#73

Post by yogo »

consultant23522 wrote: post #63
yogo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naively when I see a job ad asking for a rockstar programmer I assume there will be a supply of coke :P. Asking for a ninja... well that doesn't seem as much fun.

I had a gig once where the manager pulled us into a meeting and with a straight face told that in order to finish this project on time (really a week early) we were expected to work 12 hour days and be on call. If we got a call and had to respond we were still expected to come in and work the 12 hour shift. I politely raised my hand and with a straight face asked if the company health benefits would include meth-amph…

Hahaha, that's the thing, companies expect employees to do whatever they have to for results. In many ways I feel like professional athletes that do the same by doping should get a pass. It's not an even playing field but at the end of the day everyone wants results.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#74

Post by enraged_camel »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #46
rayiner wrote: post #14

People like to dramatize this a bit, I think. First, I'll quibble with the definition of all-nighter: "I ended up doing an all-nighter in my first week as an intern, which is when you start work at nine, you stay until five or six the next morning, you go home, have a quick shower and then head back into the office and continue working." If you leave work at 5 and start at 9, and are sensible and live within 20 minut…

* Three hours of sleep - if that - is far, far too little for any normal human being to function normally. Also yes, working until 6 AM is an all-nighter, it's dawn then. > Second, how many times did you pull a few all-nighters in a row during college? I can't even count. I certainly didn't die. Never. I don't get why people do it either, it's not like it makes you a better student. If anything, having to pull all-ni…

College students who pull all-nighters do so two reasons:

1. They tend to be terrible at time management and prioritization. They procrastinate until the last minute and then have no choice but to cram.

2. They do it to create a narrative that can protect both their ego and their image. "I failed the exam despite pulling an all-nighter - it was just crazy hard!" sounds a lot better than "I failed the exam because I'm dumb" or "I failed the exam because I didn't start studying until the last minute."

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#75

Post by obstacle1 »

ajmurmann wrote: post #54
jackgavigan wrote: post #48

When Google was a young company, she worked 130 hours per week and often slept at her desk. "For my first five years at Google, I pulled an all-nighter every week," Mayer said in a recent talk at New York's 92Y cultural center. "It was a lot of hard work." Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/223723

What makes this comparison not applicable is that the interviewed intern said that they were really just adding warm bodies. I am sure Mayer added far more than that.

>I am sure Mayer added far more than that.

Eh, depends on who you ask.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#76

Post by ceras »

jetti wrote: post #55
rayiner wrote: post #14

People like to dramatize this a bit, I think. First, I'll quibble with the definition of all-nighter: "I ended up doing an all-nighter in my first week as an intern, which is when you start work at nine, you stay until five or six the next morning, you go home, have a quick shower and then head back into the office and continue working." If you leave work at 5 and start at 9, and are sensible and live within 20 minut…

"If you leave work at 5 and start at 9, and are sensible and live within 20 minutes of work (which you can on a banker's salary, at least in NYC), that's like 3 whole hours of sleep." First, as stated, these are interns, which wouldn't have the money to live in NYC. Second, three hours of sleep may help but in the long run it is just as unhealthy. This is shown by the answer to myth #3 on WebMD's "7 Myths About Sleep…

I've had several friends intern as investment bankers and management consultants in the past couple years. The going rate in NYC is about $60k-80k prorated, I believe -- more than enough for a room in Manhattan (which is where they all lived). Even if that weren't the case, most in that career track come from relatively well-off families anyway.

I still agree it's an insanely unhealthy and stressful lifestyle, which is why I never even considered it, but these interns are certainly able to make it home rather quickly from the office. And judging from Facebook statuses and casual conversation, they often take pride in all the hours they put in. This is a very ambitious crowd.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#77

Post by [deleted] »

w1ntermute wrote: post #57
Mikeb85 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that industry bonuses will increase your salary by double or more... Junior analysts in a big bank/hedge fund can expect to make as much (or slightly more) than a senior programmer in Silicon Valley.

According to people working in the industry in NYC that I talked to, a lot of the bonuses dried up after the financial crisis. Nowadays, the income for someone starting out (not an intern, but as a full time job after college) is only $80-90k.

[deleted]

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#78

Post by mason240 »

>I ended up doing an all-nighter in my first week as an intern, which is when you start work at nine, you stay until five or six the next morning, you go home, have a quick shower and then head back into the office and continue working.

That really doesn't sound any different from doing field operations the military. Except without the shower.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#79

Post by PeterisP »

Cakez0r wrote: post #41
parasight wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is rather a matter of missing regulations.

There are regulations (European working time directive). The problem is that employers will ask you to waive the rights afforded to you by that directive...

In continental EU legislation (AFAIK unlike USA), no contract can waive rights provided by legislation.

If a job contract includes provisions that explicitly give up some of basic job limits (say, no vacation, unpaid overtime, limits of shift/week length, etc) - then, barring very few exceptions (listed in the same legislation), those parts of agreement are null and void. It's the same as it's everywhere for minimal wage - even if you sign a contract that you'll work for $0.05/hour, then that provision anyway means $[minwage]/hour.

Re: Pushed to the limit as a banking intern

#80

Post by 31reasons »

Computers have increased people's productivity through the roof and still we see people working more than 100 hour/week. Are they working on something that can't be automated or they don't want to automate ? Are they doing something that can't be done by two people instead of one ? Something is not right.
Post reply on HN