Taking Back Ownership of My Life

ANL 1 here:

Decided this job is retarded and I’m focusing on myself l.

Have began leaving work at 5:00pm everyday No longer respond to emails or check teams once I leave Do not answer on weekends

This is a job, and I will work my 40 hour work week per my contract.

Been doing this the past 2 weeks now, have not heard any feedback.

Will continue to do so until I get fired. I refuse to work until 3:00am every day and pull 100 hours a week

20 Comments
 

No problem with that, especially since you're aware of the consequences!

Just a word of perspective, for whatever it is worth: there is a world of opportunity between a 9-5 job and one requiring 100 hour weeks.  I say that because you clearly have a level of drive/ambition to even get into the seat you're in and you don't need to throw that away entirely to get back some ownership in your life. 

My actual point... get away from banking hours/culture but don't throw in the towel on your career before you've even started!

 

For sure. I understand his sentiments, though imo, it’s seems a bit impulsive and parochial to write off the entire industry due to one sweatshop. It’s worth the effort to take another crack at it before throwing in the towel, quite possible that he finds something that’s sufficiently compensated and not soul sucking.

 
Most Helpful

So based. I hate this job. I was thinking today about how fucking unhealthy this is, notwithstanding it’s awful in every other way.

I was reading that men in their 20s in 2024 have testosterone levels comparable to that of a 65 year old man in 2000. Very shitty. Now think about how a banking or PE lifestyle would further exacerbate this: we sit inside staring at a screen for 16 hours a day without moving, eat shitty seamless food, get horrible sleep for nowhere near the amount of hours that we need, are constantly stressed over the dumbest shit, probably don’t exercise nearly enough, and ultimately (sometimes) are granted a one day recess from banking prison called Saturday where we can catch up on all the general life shit we didn’t do during the week.

What a sad life to live. We are low testosterone corporate slaves toiling away what is supposed to be our peak years. And for what? A few extra dollars? Comp ain’t even that good anymore - regulation and inflation have put us well past the glory days of this industry.

Fuck banking. Fuck PE. This job is so retarded

 

I do speak for myself, and many others - that’s why I said it.

I got my test levels checked last year and they were unsurprisingly pretty shitty (mid 400s free). I’ve put in a lot of effort towards optimizing since then - eating clean every day, trying to get in at least 2-3 workouts a week, sleep on Saturday and Sunday - but dude it’s just nowhere near enough. The consistent sleep deprivation for months on end, relatively high levels of stress, and extremely sedentary lifestyle are undoubtedly not healthy at all.

Ask yourself this - how many guys in your group can do the following:
- bench 1x body weight
- squat 1.5x body weight
- run sub 8 minute mile
- 5 pull ups
- sub 20% body fat

In my PE group of like ~50 guys, literally 0. And this is like bare minimum shit tbh.

Working for 16 hours a day every single day of the week is the stupidest fucking thing. Tell any random person on the street you work that much and they’d be appalled. We become so desensitized to it, but what this job demands is absurd.

Inb4 “the exit opportunities are endless” and “what job pays more at the junior level”. For every 1 MD with a Hamptons house, I’ll show you 50 living an upper middle class lifestyle where if they missed a paycheck, they’d probably be in a cash crunch.

More people should be like OP

 

We had a few guys in my group do this basically day 1. Kept their jobs the whole two years since it’s a big beaurcratic bank. Still even got bonuses! We estimated that on a $/ hour basis, they prolly made more than the group heads lol.

keep us updated OP

 

In before the VP+ bootlicker types come in to cry about how you're being a jerk to the team or whatever. 

Kids are making thousands everyday off shitcoins in their pajamas. No one is going to work 80+ hours for mid-pay. They will say it's a bubble. It is, the difference is we ride the wave and then chill out for the next wave. Cope harder loser bootlickers.

 

Did my time in this industry and let me just say, I agree, so many aspects make it shitty. Visit my Q&A to get the scoop.

But I think you still owe it to your colleagues to be professional about it, otherwise just tender your resignation.

This job sucks but the good news is there are so many great opportunities out there today. Plan your next move and execute.

 

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