7. Late Nights

7. Late Nights

Nothing shows your worth as a banker like pulling an all-nighter. Investment banking may be the only job where you are made to feel guilty if you leave after less than 12 hours. When I interviewed for an analyst investment banking position I was told to expect 100 hour work weeks, which means late nights and weekends. My roommate has the record in my apartment for work over 120 hours in a week. You are probably thinking, “Are there even that many hours in a week?” This is 3 weeks worth of work for most people, but my roommate managed these hours in a measly seven hours. Piece of cake. At least that’s what he’s supposed to say among his coworkers, because complaining about hours in investment banking is a sign of weakness.

What was my roommate’s prize for working over 120 hours in a week? Working 100 hours the next week. Higher ups will tell you a number of things when the going gets tough:

“You should be grateful with the number of people who want your job and are losing theirs.”

While this is very true and I am very happy to have a job that pays me well, it still doesn’t make me any less sleep deprived. I bet those people would be bitching just as much if they were in my position, and would become just as bitter.

“I’ll remember this come bonus time.”

Sure you will. A number of people fill out evaluations and the odds of one remembering that I busted my balls a few weeks for him months ago and having this play a large role in my bonus is slim. What else do you have for me?

And one that is more from my mom than higher ups:
“You knew what you were getting into when you signed up.”

This is the point I don’t really have a comeback for because it is more than the truth. When I went into interviews I said I knew that 100-hour weeks were a part of the job and I was prepared for it. Hell, I’ve never been one to sleep much anyways. This is an example of people talking out of their ass. Sure I said this, as did hundreds of other kids in interviews, but I had no clue what I meant to work a 100 hour week. I’d never done it before, and 100 was just a number when I was going through interviews.

Anyways, investment bankers see no problem in keeping analysts there late and see it as a rite of passage. One of my bosses who has been in the business a while still works more hours than analysts during some weeks. He may actually be a machine, the results are still out on that one. I once got an email at 1am from one of my bosses with comments on a presentation I had worked on for him, asking me if I could make the changes and leave a copy on his chair. Obviously I want to say no, I’m going to work out and sleep, but I have to write the typical response, “Will do, thanks.” (Gun to head)

To make things worse for myself I feel the need to workout almost every day so I joined a 24/7 gym so that I could workout after work. So far the latest I’ve begun a workout is 2am, ending after 3am. The good thing about the workouts is that I can brag about them at work and gain great respect amongst my peers for having the work ethic to be in the office until 1, go to the gym, and then still be in at 1. King of the castle, king of the castle.