Full-time student and analyst - should I quit my job?

Evening all,

While a majority of the posts here at WSO are concerned with the struggle of breaking into banking/private equity, lately I've been dealing with a closely related but different topic of "should I quit my job?".

Be warned that this entire post mainly serves as an outlet for my frustration. That said, I am most interested in your thoughts on my current situation which I have described below.

Background: I am in my early twentities and currently an analyst in a European infrastructure private equity fund; this is my first job ever and I've been in this position for less than a year. I am also attending university for a Master's degree (self-study, it would be impossible to attend classes).

At present, I've been working about 80-110 hours/week for the past several months with an average around 90. Over the last 14 days I've had 5 all-nighters at the office. I'm incredibly behind on my study plan for my university courses.

Despite my complaints, these conditions are considered excellent (90 hour average, mostly exciting/difficult work etc.) in the realm of IB/PE. This seems absolutely crazy to me. The most attractive jobs being pursued by the top performers are - even in the best case scenario - not that great. Why is this the case?

I'm starting to reach the point where I've lost all passion for anything at all - and what bothers me the most is that I've come to terms with this and accepted it as part of the job. I was nothing like this a year ago.

I hope a few of your would share your experience going through your early career in IB/PE and perhaps provide some advice on how to best deal with my current situation.

 

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