it's easier if you're getting paid an exorbitant sum of money

no.. a typical analyst does not work those hours everday, if he or she did for two years, they would die

there are certainly weeks/months like that, but the lighter days help you catch up on sleep and whatnot. I don't know if your test is a joke but its its pretty funny, considering it only emulates being tired and crushing red bulls. If you want it to be more realistic...I guess.. stare at a computer screen for long periods of time, constantly type on your keyboard, induce a sense of pressure or stress, have a few buddies to burn the midnight oil with.

there are some analysts on the street in certain groups who get absolutely crushed and work absurd amounts. but for the most part, a typical analyst does not work 6AM - 3AM everyday. Even if they work till 3am often, they will get in at 9:30 to 10:00, leaving them with 5-6 hours of sleep, which is manageable.

#1- You need to go make some friends
#2- 36 hours without sleep is not as brutal as you describe, you're obviously a huge poontang

get a life!

I think you got your 7AM idea from reading S&T stuff. You can't mix and match job descriptions to create the worst typical day ever.

Comparing IT and Ibanking is ridiculous. Not because of relative 'prestige' or anything like that, but because working from home on an IT project is very different from spreading comps at 2am in an office. Furthermore, nobody at an established IT company is forced to work 90 hour weeks. Sure, there can be a crazy week on occasion, but those hours are the norm at some IBs and PE shops.

Do you not study for finals?

Let me tell you a story ....

21st birthday (on the Saturday).
- Woke up Friday 7am. Was during an internship, so arrived at work at 8.30am.
- Worked until 6pm.
- Got home (from client site) at 9pm.
- Went to a house party, got there at 11pm.
- Up all night, drinking and fooling around with this one girl
- Went back to her place at 4am
- Stayed up all night.
- Went home at 10am
- Straight into birthday celebrations with the family and close friends.
- Finished at 6pm
- Went out for pre-evening drinks.
- Got to the club at 11pm
- Left at 4am
- Went back to another girls' place
- Stayed up all night
- Got home at 11am
- Went to see my girlfriend (I was a cheating ass ... sue me, I was 21)
- Had lunch with her and spent the afternoon early/evening
- Got home at 7pm
- Back on the train (back to client site) had to do some work for the Monday morning.
- Got back to the hotel at 11pm
- Finally slept at 1am on the Monday

I was awake for 66 straight hours. I'm not gonna lie, towards the end, I was hearing stuff and felt like I was starting to lose my mind. I wouldn't ever do it again (I came close in Rio over Carnaval - 50 straight hours of partying), but I'm glad I did it.
36 hours is nothing to brag about.

For the OP,

You can't simulate and model life. Life is dynamic and even though you were studying stochastics, your thought process is very linear...dare I say, robotic.

Reality and the pressures of situations determine your body's reaction, not some "plan". No matter how motivated you are there's no way your body can be stimulated to meet the pressures of a deadline, paying the bills, having three crying kids at home, etc...

In addition, all that Red Bull, Rockstar, Crack Rock shit is only going to fuck you up more. The combo of sleep deprivation and all that caffeine is a perfect recipe for a heart attack. Take a multi vitamin, eat real food, step outside of the box (go for a walk, play a video game, some shit to break the mental monotony) and most importantly, respect life and don't be an everything planning robot.

You're a kid, you're motivated, that's plenty for now. Take it easy and if you really need to prove to yourself that you can cut the long hours. Build up to it slowly like anything else, start with 24 and then work your way up. If you're in it for the right reasons, you'll have no problem doing the time when the situation calls for it.

Good luck.

I'm sorry but this is the most ridiculously pathetic thing I've read on this site.

you are my hero

also PLEASE tell this during an interview, it will make for a great story

IConsult...how much cocaine were you on while partying?

IBD comes to work around 9:30 ~ 10:00 and leaves around 12~2 a.m.
Its really on a few occasions when they do 3-straight-all-nighters.

This would definitely be a fun story to tell on interviews, though. Nice Job.

Over the course of my two years, I only pulled back-to-back all-nighters twice, and I worked harder than probably any analyst in my class. I typically worked 9am to 2am when I was busy, with a random all-nighter thrown in every week or so to meet a deadline. On weekends you can typically get a full night sleep (~7 hrs) unless your associate is in the office with you, which sucks.

Your experiment lacks in a few ways. Something I think almost no one understands is how your body rapidly becomes accustomed to your lifestyle. When I was busy for an extended period of time, a 4am night wouldn't phase me. I'd still be at the top of my game. However, if you come back from xmas break and immediately have to pull an all-nighter, you'll be toast easily because your body resets. I had to pull an all-nighters the Sunday after Christmas last year and it absolutely sucked. I had a ton of sleep, but because I hadn't worked much for a couple of days, I was dying come 3am.

Another key thing that is lacking is what your motivation is for staying up late. The key difference between staying up all night studying for finals and staying up all night working, is when studying for finals, you can call it quits whenever you want. If you get exhausted, you can give up and go to bed and just wing the test the next day. Your grades may suffer, but no one is standing over you expecting you to do it. In banking, you've got an entire team standing over you (not physically), pressuring you to make sure you get it done, and get it done flawlessly. You can't just "go-to-bed" and take the lower grade, and not having that choice makes a difference.

I see where you're coming from, but I posit that it isn't difficult to stay up for 36 hours for something inane like debugging 2000 lines of C++ code (I was a CS major) or coding in Haskell.
I've done both and lived to tell the tale. Not pretty, but certainly not as difficult as staying awake for 66 hours.

None. I naturally don't sleep many hours (4hrs is enough, more than 5hrs is too much)

i did something similar once, towards the end i cannot hold tweezer plucking my eyebrow. it was so scary since i feel i cannot control my hand. i lost so much weight that week tho, straight drinking+no sleeping=rapid weight loss,which should be a bonus for a girl. lol.

Humorous post. Ignore most of the criticisms. IB is overrated. There are easier ways to make money.

I worked an a major firm (GS/MS/JPM) and switched to subprime mortgage lending before the massive bubble. I went from stimulating conversations among very bright and ambitious co-workers to working alongside dropouts selling to people who couldn't speak English. I made significantly more money and didn't work hard. Enough to go on and earn a PhD from a top school afterwards.

Now I'm back working in a different industry and am getting ready to start my own business. With all the intelligence on this board, the vast majority of you shouldn't have a problem earning well into the six-figures. No need to worry.

IB is no different than accounting. You learn basic skills, but you should really develop better operational skills, unless you are the type who can make it to MD or happen to live in a more affordable city. I never was. I wasn't good enough to make it that far in that type of system only to buy a tiny apartment in a cold city.

I have several friends in IB at the VP/Director level. They still have less than 100k of net worth. Hardly impressive. My friends that own Dry Cleaners and Beauty Supply shops in the ghetto have more money and better cash flow.

Banking is overrated. MBA's are joke degrees and the vast majority of bankers below the MD level aren't exactly wealthy. Mr. Braverman writes some very incisive commentary and my journey is similar--though less interesting and successful--than his. Don't stress out about applying to become a whore unless you see it as a good opportunity to learn basic skills. That's all it is for most people.

Do many of you know people in IB that have a relatively substantial net worth under the age of 30? I don't, but I would be interested to see if my friends are abnormal. Money from mom doesn't count.

FYI: In IB you work 60-70 hours but talk about working 80-90. The hours aren't as bad as people say.

You should read "Work smart not hard" post over at Mergers and Inquisitions. It will help you a lot and give you some ideas how to manage your day.

What a humurous post. Thanks for the laughs. I couldn't stop cracking up (no sarcasm).

Don't take some of these tight wads so seriously. Take a look at the WSO poll. Seems as a lot of us are looking for some more funny content. =)

1styearBanker: What are you worth? And how much of it did you earn?

LOL

HAHAHA I loved this thread.

I managed 4 weaks non-stop working with no regular time of sleep. I always tried to decide on whether to use 1, 2 or 3 REM phases (90 minutes each) and distributed them throughout the day.

So I crashed not before the 4th week was over. So I guess it is possible. But your ability to work creatively and inspiredly really requires a huge amount of money and I doubt you can keep on working effectively for 4 weeks. Maybe if it is the project of your life. But truly not regulalry.

I didn't move though. No drive to work. I jsut sat at the desk and did thoughtwork. Maybe that's the difference to your experience. I suppose, to work so effective in a bank, one needs a bed under the desk, or at least some comfortable place next to it.
And having a dog to sleep with you certainly increases your performance again, so you migh only need one REM Phase each day. Given tha you are not learning anything after the 3rd week pitching as an analyst, you might even need only one REM phase ever 3rd day occasionaly.

But, then you don't learn how to pick up girls after hhour, so I guess you need 4 REMs every day, unless you want to be a social inapt freakazoid like that Mega Mind guy from Disney.

... ok it wasn't funny. Nvermind.