IB work ethic in other career paths

Have been working at a boutique this summer and have been putting in modest hours (65-75 a week on average.) I hear about some students who put in much more.

I'm wondering what the result would be if you put in that work ethic in other career paths?

Would you just blow everyone out of the water and push through the ranks and make a lot of money?

Can just be brainstorming or anecdotes.

 

I've always wondered this too, like if I chose to be a plumber, could I become the most successful plumber out there given that the normal group of people that go into plumbing are along the lines of high school grad (just an example)? I dont know

Also I see my friends working "regular" jobs and internships and often times there just isn't more than 30 hours of work that can be done each week. At a point, if you finish all your tasks, it will create more immediate work for those above you to find more work to give you. My friend works like 4 hours a day at an internship (paid for 8) and everyone acknowledges that that's just how the position works. 

 

Yeah makes sense. I've got a friend who literally works like 3 hours a day at his current internship and just plays games the rest of the time. Obviously, there are some days where he works a normal 8-6 but those seem to be rare. I figure that if I were in his shoes, I'd be constantly asking for more stuff to do and I wonder whether they would be like: "Oh shit, this kid can work" and then fast track your promotion and comp.

 
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I mean, good work ethic is valuable everywhere. You seem to put a lot of weight on hours which isn't really the same thing. Most corporate or finance career paths you will run out of work to do very quickly. People will also get annoyed if you're constantly asking for more work, part of being in a corporate environment is learning to entertain yourself when things are slow. I'd estimate the average finance corporate worker (ex IB/PE) only has 25-30 hours of actual work a week. Also, promotions tend to be heavily "years" based (true even in IB/PE), bonuses are pretty set to a target #, you might skip a year here or there but no one is flying up the ranks just because they work hard.

Blowing people out of the water also isn't a great thing in other career paths - people will seriously look at you sideways if you're working 80 hour weeks at a 9-5 job, and would have a negative impact on your culture fit and thus overall performance reviews. IB is uniquely strivey where people flex about working the most hours and the hardest. In corporate it's more like who can get out earliest on a Friday.

If you're an entrepreneur, at a startup where things are super lean/flat, or in sales, sure - but for most career paths working crazy hours won't do much for you

 

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