sujith wrote:
I agree with you pelihu, having lived in manhattan for the past 9 years its easy to see that personal lives are expected to take a back seat to work priorities, no matter what sector. its a bit cliched but the line between the 2 is more than blurred, it doesn't exist.
There is a line. On one side is work, on the other is life. You stay on one side.
I had a pillow underneath my desk at Goldman. I showered at a local gym. I didn't even work out. I bought cheap underwear, wore it, and threw it out because I didn't have time to do laundry. I knew a guy who paid the maintenance staff to put a tiny bed in a utility closet. He basically lived there. On days where I showed up after 7am, I usually got a tongue lashing. Sometimes it was good natured "What are you working banking hours now?" other days it was not so polite. Dinners out were usually excruitiating, as your "rank" in the firm was largely determined by how profitable your division had been the last quarter. If your division had not done well (and to give you an idea of how much they look at this - they actually list divisions on pamphlets - not alphabetically, but by profit. I don't know if they still do, but hey, you have to be a bit insane to reprint stuff just because some group had an extra $10MM over another) it wasn't uncommon for people to publicly trash you. I remember one dinner in particular, where a VP went around the table asking for people's opinions, and when he got to me he stopped and said "You don't matter, we'll skip you." That's goldman for you. Step on everyone you can, smash your coworkers into submission and claw your way to the top.
Over the last few years, I've come to realize a few things:
1) I want to make enough money to enjoy life and travel and life comfortably, but I don't need to be rich to have a good time.
2) I'd rather make less and be happy and have time to do things, especially while I'm still in my 20s, than work long hours and make more money. Whats the point of making money if you dont have time to spend it?
3) I like working for myself the most. It's scary and exciting, and it's also, usually, the most lucrative choice.