[robgering]

I'm genuinely curious -- what do these recruits actually do while working these massive hours? Is there really 80-120 hours of desk-based work to be done, or does office politics or fraternizing play a role in those hourly figures?

[JackFr]

I've worked for banks to 15 years or so, but always on the sales and trading side, rather than the investment banking side. In general, I like the industry. However, I've come to believe that the 90 hour analyst work week is hazing, pure and simple. It doesn't really matter what they're doing. Being a banker is a pretty plum job and it simply weeds out people who don't really want the job that badly. The other aspect is to gauge your personality & fit under adverse conditions, though the adverse conditions are artificial and arbitrary.

On trading desk the analyst/junior guys typically will work like 6:30 through 7:30, which is not that much more than anyone else. They will be required to get lunches, coffee and other assorted errands. Again, this too is a form of hazing.

[ceras]

My friends in finance definitely make it sound like hazing to me, just like you said. I have a friend whose boss had to talk to him about going too easy on the new analyst, so he had to toughen up and make the analyst's life harder just because.

[mercer]

In some ways it baffles me that anyone would voluntarily choose such a lifestyle for a payoff that doesn't seem worth losing so much of your youth over.

On the other hand, it amazes me how humans can do things that other humans consider insane. We're a flexible species, which I guess can be both good and bad!

[zmitri]

A lot of data analysis, generating and printing out statements, research, using excel to analyze portfolio positions and build models etc.

There are various markets around the world that people trade in, and you are bound by the hours they are open -- unlike most coding activities. For example, someone where I worked had to stay up until 3am to participate in Japanese sovereign bond auctions.

[james1071]

The name of the game is to have an army of grunts who will produce all sorts of stuff in order to impress the clients and win their business.