You can think this through a few ways. One is that they see finance jobs as desirable jobs, focus their whole lives up to that point on getting the job, get it - and find it's horrible. What do you do then? Do you go back to all the people who were really proud at your achievements and tell them you're a failure?
Another is that they really do think it gets better. If they can just make it through the first four or five years, they can go from 80 to 50 hours, and then if they get to MD, they can get down to 40-50. In the meantime, they're making great money, they can enjoy what exists of their personal lives, if they just get past that first couple years.
Characterizing these folks as "spineless" is perhaps accurate for some, but in the end, reductionist. A better conversation to have would be to ask:
- Are the same number (proportionally) of people committing suicide in finance today the same as 15 years ago?
- If not, why today? What's different about today?
> get it - and find it's horrible. What do you do then?
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
Except, here's a situation that doubles up the tragedy.
You start off your youth, determined that the lack of money is what's stopping you from doing things that you really care about - things you would do in leisure. Pursuits of pleasure - art, music, altruism, atavistic quests (become a farmer?) and even hedonism.
But the sacrifice at the altar isn't entirely possible for everyone - the process demands that you survive a psychosis of sleeplessness, mixed with a caffeine dehydration, in an air-conditioned room, filled with fluorescent light with no hint of a dawn.
And then there's the superficial solidarity of everyone around you surviving this, without even a hint of complaints (furiously "ducking" as they call it).
Breaking out of it demands failure. And failure is hard to swallow for the best of the best, who are hit the hardest. Not having dealt with failure for 20 years makes it even harder to face up to failure & quit.
Attracting the brightest into the fold will naturally push up the numbers of those who'd rather die than fail.
>One is that they see finance jobs as desirable jobs, focus their whole lives up to that point on getting the job, get it - and find it's horrible. What do you do then? Do you go back to all the people who were really proud at your achievements and tell them you're a failure?
Is it a surprise to those on that career path? I work with people applying to law school, and it's widely known that major firm jobs demand an incredible amount of your time.
I think people might, mistakenly, expect "I can handle it, I like a challenge", but the gist of what a job at biglaw requires is pretty well known.
I'd be surprised if finance is different.
I agree spineless isn't the word, though. Motivations for entering that type of job are simply very different from what motivates people who wouldn't even consider it. I can't say exactly what it is, because I'm very far from that type. But the people I know on that path (in law) certainly are quite able to stand up for themselves. They're very confident, capable people.
As someone who knows many who went into this field, some who burned out and some who didn't, it's one thing to describe the challenge of 100 hour weeks, and another to live it.
Biglaw is similar, but the gulf from 80 hours to 100 hours is very large.
This is all about the psychology of pride and envy. You go to Princeton, buy into the whole mindset and at the end of the day, when you figure it out, pride and greed prevent you from making a decision in your interest.
There's a reason why those things were categorized as Cardinal sins in the old days.
> One is that they see finance jobs as desirable jobs, focus their whole lives up to that point on getting the job, get it - and find it's horrible. What do you do then? Do you go back to all the people who were really proud at your achievements and tell them you're a failure?
One would hope that people in finance would understand the concept of sunk costs. Today is always the first day of the rest of your life. It's better to fail fast than to fail later, because you can get back to success and happiness faster.
Another is that they really do think it gets better. If they can just make it through the first four or five years, they can go from 80 to 50 hours, and then if they get to MD, they can get down to 40-50. In the meantime, they're making great money, they can enjoy what exists of their personal lives, if they just get past that first couple years.
Characterizing these folks as "spineless" is perhaps accurate for some, but in the end, reductionist. A better conversation to have would be to ask:
- Are the same number (proportionally) of people committing suicide in finance today the same as 15 years ago?
- If not, why today? What's different about today?
- What's to be done about it?