My record was 3 days...11 is crazy

[NajdorfDefense]

Dealbreaker - 'The Guinness world record for sleep deprivation has been broken and to the complete shock of anyone who's worked in IB, the record breaker is not an analyst. Some random guy from Cornwall (Tony Wright) managed to stay awake for 11 days and nights. His recount, from the BBC:

During the record attempt, Mr Wright noticed his speech becoming incomprehensible at times and colours appearing very bright [now imagine he was trying to use Excel, perform line edits in pitchbooks or re-size bar graphs]. A webcam and CCTV cameras monitored him 24-hours a day [more impartial, less vindictive, than a pregnant staffer]. He argues that parts of the human brain require a different amount of sleep [the part of the brain that spreads industry comparables needs none] and it is possible to stay awake and remain functional for long periods. He said the hardest part was staying in one place - Penzance's Studio Bar [Goldman's London office] - in order to prove that he was not popping out for a sleep.

We think if the record for sleep deprivation isn't held by an analyst, the banks really aren't trying hard enough. I once has the misfortune of witnessing an analyst in my old group pull 3 all-nighters in a row, with only a few hours of sleep several nights prior. You didn't want to be near this guy on Friday afternoon of that week, trust me. My personal worst week was without irony called "Project Pleasure" (because it involved amusement parks - becausee that's somehow Tech, Media, or Telecom related) and involved several nights of going home, taking a one hour nap and showering, with the added bonus of getting yelled at by the staffer for leaving the bank and being unresponsive for 2 hours from 5am-7am.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...ll/6689999.stm

[turnipmonster]

this is an incredibly naive q, but what are all these analysts doing that requires such insane hours? why is it seemingly standard in IBs for ppl to do stuff like this? I know after more than 24 hours of coding quality drops off fairly quickly and it's easy to do dumb stuff.

[BDaws]

What career paths do analysts follow? It would seem to me that the lifestyle cannot be sustained for more than a couple years and not everyone can be promoted, so what do they do?

[ahnuld]

[ QUOTE ]
What career paths do analysts follow? It would seem to me that the lifestyle cannot be sustained for more than a couple years and not everyone can be promoted, so what do they do?

[/ QUOTE ]

burn out or get promoted form what I understand. But after I-Banking, you can work anywhere pretty much and will get hired over anyone.

[turnipmonster]

where exactly is "anywhere"? other finance jobs?

[maxtower]

Yeah, I don't understand what I-bankers do that requires such wild hours. I can get my job done in just a few hours of work a week. I spend the rest of the time on the internet. I wonder what workers did before the internet. Actually I remember it being pretty boring.

What is the sleep deprivation record if required to drink one beer per hour?

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I don't understand what I-bankers do that requires such wild hours. I can get my job done in just a few hours of work a week. I spend the rest of the time on the internet. I wonder what workers did before the internet. Actually I remember it being pretty boring.

What is the sleep deprivation record if required to drink one beer per hour?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's probably safe to say you do a lot less work.

tm,
Finance, consulting, managment, etc. There's a relatively varried group of stuff you get huge preference on coming out of banking.

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I don't understand what I-bankers do that requires such wild hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am curious as well. I was reading a book on software development recently and the author stated something to the effect of, with enough sugar and caffeine I am able to keep coding long past the point where I stop adding value to the project, and start destroying value. that's not really relevant to this discussion but it's an interesting quote nonetheless.

anyways, it's obviously necessary for i-bankers to work these kind of hours, or else there wouldn't be a market for it, but why exactly? what is it about the job function that makes such long hours the standard?

[wmspringer]

I was under the impression going with REM sleep for about a week would kill you.

I think 3 is about my max as well.

[CrushinFelt]

The IB hours are basically completely related to volume and when the projects get assigned. A lot of the time they are at the office but not doing a lot of work from 8am - noon, but then the assignments get handed down and it's time to do the project until it gets done. THe area of the IB that these crazy bastards work for is fee-based and thus the more work that gets done, the better. But of course, it's not brain surgery and thus they just pile an ass=load of work onto the peons.

As for career path. It can basically lead you anywhere. THe hottest sector now is going from IB to private equity.