So this really happened…
Kid pulls three all-nighters in a row and then is found dead in his shower. And people think the CFA is hard?
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/08/20/bank-of-america-intern-dies-suddenly/
May the victim rest in peace.
BAML is going to get slammed for this, either rightly or wrongly. I have to wonder what the real “facts” are – was it really because the intern was working for some demanding people that basically drove him to the ground, or did the intern’s own competitive drive to out-work the other interns and boost his chances of getting a full-time offer eventually lead to his demise? I wonder if we’ll ever know.
I’ve been reading some of the comments on other sites that have broadcasted the news, and while people seem quick to bash BAML and the overall “banking culture,” I also feel for the people that were working with him. There’s no doubt the outside world is likely to quickly blame them, and if in fact his colleagues were truly being reasonable and fair, then they will likely to be “victims” in this case too.
I think there are a lot of facts and information here that still need to be surfaced.
That is unfortunate. This has happened before - for instance, last year some law firm associate died under similar circumstances. The firm got a bad name among recruiting circles, because who wants to work for the company where people die from working too hard? However, I don’t think anyone went to jail and business damage was limited.
The Hacksaw Approves
Very sad. RIP. You work to live, you don’t live to work.
Wonder if there were performance enhancing drugs involved. Usually one doesn’t die from exhaustion alone. Either way, a sad story that reflects poorly on the bank.
In my opinion, that’s just a different way of phrasing the first half of your sentence - “working for some demanding people that basically drove him to the ground.” That competitive drive is not a genetic trait for sure, it is a social norm that is cultivated by the work environment. Of course nobody in particular is to blame, but everyone is a little guilty.
^ I think there’s a difference – the first is reactive (doing something against what you think is your “free will”) and the second is proactive (working hard because you really want to and see it as a means to a better future). Neither changes the outcome (loss of life) but I think the sequence of events can define who is to blame…though you’re probably right, everyone is a little guilty.
Personally, I tend to work well when I’m proactive and not perform as well when I’m being reactive. For example, if I’m interviewing for a job or competing for a full-time offer, then I’m willing to bust my a$$ to get things done. But if someone is cracking the whip and telling me what to do, usually I tend to respect them less (because I think most people that are inherently self-motivated don’t like being micro-managed) and start hitting the job market within six months.
most likely, the story isn’t as clear cut as: work too hard -> died
it’s certainly some combination of: pushed too hard by others, pushed self too hard, mixed with some substance or medical condition (possibly adderall/caffeine overload/corony condition) -> died
the company won’t have any liability at the end or will simply deny it, and there’s absolutely no shortage of people wanting to do IB, although it may put off the top candidates that are choosing between BofA vs other offers.
Not that BofA is a “top choice” anyway… but you get my point
People don’t die from being overworked and sleep deprived. This guy had epilepsy and most likely other conditions that weren’t mentioned in the article. In other times in history 15 days were normal and that was actually doing physical labor not creating spreadsheet for bankers.
The guy had poor health first of all. Coupled with some pressure and lack of sleep, he collapsed. Nothing really spectacular. Just another lesson that you should treat your body like a temple.
They say, the flesh is dumb. It’s extremely wrong. The mind is dumb. In pursuit of money, good feelings, pleasure and endorphines the mind will rape the body to extract those in umlimited quantities. Eg fapping. To get another ‘fix’, you will show the miacles of sexual endurance just to please your ill mind.
Whereas your body never lies. If your body is tired, you want to sleep or you get ill.
It is the ill and wicked mind that drives you to the tomb.
Did any of you go the IB path? Probably like all of you, it was my ambition in college to become the prestigious IB until i realized the hours. I’ve seen family and friends devote every waking minute to their businesses but that is something of self creation. I’ve never understood how people can commit so much of their precious time towards something that ultimately will not be theirs.
Ivan, respect.
They do get paid money, which becomes theirs. The compensation per hour is perhaps another matter though.
I don’t doubt that he had a medical condition which was an underlying cause for his death, but his work environment was a strong catalyst and that matters. If we didn’t have a medical condition, he would be just like his peer interns - alive and overworked, overexhausted, sleep-deprived, pushed to his physical boundaries, emotionally drained and with a good shot at getting a full time offer. Sounds pretty sweet for 21-year old and for what?
Numi’s distinction between pushing yourself in a proactive manner vs. reactively overstretching in response to a heavy workload is key, but how many 21-year old i-banking interns have the work freedom that allows them to be proactively engaged?
Maybe because they see it as a means to an end? If their goal is to one day have their own thing and this is a stepping stone, then the work reaquired to get from point A to point B is a natural extension of point B. I personally couldn’t get excited about formatting pitchbooks 120 hours a week no matter what my goals were, but to each their own. That’s why I did it, but I never worked in investment banking, just put in a lot of time on the buyside (which requires fewer hours but is probably more exhausting overall).
the overwhelming majority of people who do IB see it as a stone to something else more later on. Few get into IB thinking it’s going to be the rest of their career.
I was reading about how some guy pulled a 2-3 nighter and his some vessles in his eyeballs exploded and now he’s blind.
Im pickin up what your putting down son, thats some metaphysical type shit, I feel it.
Never confuse sex with a fix. Like Mario Puzo wrote (paraphrasing), “you can drink to death, you can smoke to death, you can even eat to death but the one thing you cannot do is fudge to death and yet that’s where they put all the restrictions.” Unlimited sex has no bad consequences on your body, alright? Enough with the no fap crap.