"The Drugs Young Bankers Use to Get Through the Day—and Night"
https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/young-banker-finance-adhd-medication-adderall-d578a16f?st=B8SpTz&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Banking hours (80+ is par for course) are insane. Folks working from 4am and 2am and here I am complaining about 60 hour weeks.
What's the most hours you have pulled in a week? What's does your average week look like? Also, how prevalent is Adderall in consulting?
The primary source in this article - Mark Moran - was a bottom-bucket analyst in one of the weakest groups on Wall Street.
If he or anyone needed performance enhancing drugs to get through the week, I don’t know how he got through high school.
Lazard HC was not a strong group in 2018 which is when Mark worked there. Did nothing but fairness opinions. Maybe they have recruited more MDs since then.
CV’s performance has been incredible and their model seems to be a winner, but that firm was also much smaller in 2019 and would have been considered a step down in brand / career opportunity for someone at the Associate level.
Neither firm was topic choice for Associates at that time.
Also, Mark was allergic to getting work done.
Just clarification for people who don't understand the drugs and their affects. For ADHD people, high-stress (usually at damaging levels) is sufficient keep them focus on the task but usually bodies accumulate enough damage in a few decades that they can't keep up anymore.
Drugs like Adderall and Vyvanse reduces the overall damage to the body while preserving productivity for people who needs it. Most only recognise that once their body starts to collapse under decades of pressure.
Secondly, any job that needs drugs or require you to sleep at work or work very large number of hours, has a bigger problem than drug use. Volunteery self destructive death march shouldn't be looked at as badge of honor but a failure of management or the industry. Drugs shouldn't be used to promote self-destructive work environment or as an offset for the damages that the environment causes.
PS: Personally, I was able to work sometimes up to 26 hours without sleep and sustained 70 hours week hours for a few months before 25. After 33, the damage accumulated enough that my body and mind started to actively resist and self-sabotage beyond my control. Working late and pushing your body is like a credit. When you're young, your limit is high and you don't care too much for interest rates. When you get older, you need to pay off the credit with interest and your intrest rate increases with age.
Everything works out well until you reach your credit limit. Then you need to make drastic changes to keep your performance while paying off your debt. If you need to work in high stress work, try to diagnose if you have high-functioning ADHD or Autism early as that will reduce long term damage significantly if you're aware of strengths and weaknesses early.
Chief
4x in my career, each time being a year, I billed over 4000 hours. I was in my 20s in big law. We didn't take drugs. We just worked. Slept in our offices, showered in the office gym, and ate in the five star restaurant in the building.
Yep. And no sleep outside the office. And no drugs. Sure
I would go with modafanil over adderall
Adderall abuse is a real problem among so many people I know in banking. Glad someone is calling this out
Not saying that is not like that, but this industry is famous to exaggerate the hours and wear it as a badge. Bankers have a lot of downtime during the day, all those hours are not working hours
Started staking Adderall at 39. Been through my share of high stress/100-hr weeks in my youth and never needed it. Wasn’t aware it was even a thing.
Taking it now, it’s more the ability to focus; especially with lots of competing demands on my time (e.g., young kids).
Yeah, that's pretty common for people overworked for years or even decades, unfortunately.
It’s called covfefe