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&lt;p&gt;It&#39;s widely known that junior investment bankers -- analysts and associates -- work more hours per week than just about any other young professionals. It&#39;s common for analysts to log between 80 and 90 hours per week, and for associates to log between 70 and 80. And if you&#39;re not one of them, or don&#39;t know one of them, you might think, That sucks. You might also think, They must be miserable. Perhaps, in addition, you might think, They have no life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In all cases you would be wrong.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact, young bankers are overwhelmingly satisfied with the hours they put in week in and week out (and weekend in and weekend out). And it&#39;s not due to what you might think -- that they&#39;re satisfied because they&#39;re paid well for their time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While true that young bankers make a lot of dough, much more than your Average Joe, it&#39;s not their paychecks that keep them returning to their cubes, but something more rewarding.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In Vault&#39;s latest Banking Survey, being administered now to the top investment banks in North America, respondents at the analyst and associate level have overwhelmingly told us that they&#39;re incredibly satisfied with their positions, and that they don&#39;t mind the hours they spend in the office -- which can near triple digits (that is, 100) per week.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of those surveyed so far, 70 percent have rated their overall job satisfaction an 8, 9 or 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is extremely dissatisfied and 10 is extremely satisfied). And just 3 percent have given their satisfaction a 1, 2 or 3.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I&#39;m constantly challenged and excited to come to work everyday,&quot; says one analyst who took the survey. &quot;While the hours are very long, and the projects very intense, the people on our teams and the work we&#39;re doing make it a very rewarding experience.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An associate says, &quot;Everyday is different from the last. Some days are action-packed and full of high-pressure situations -- when I&#39;m working on transactions. Other days are focused on managing client relationships and improving the skill set of teammates.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Other reasons cited for feeling satisfied include &quot;interesting work,&quot; &quot;intellectually stimulating work,&quot; &quot;deal experience,&quot; &quot;exposure to senior MDs,&quot; &quot;great exit opportunities,&quot; &quot;the ability to make an impact on projects,&quot; &quot;high level of responsibility,&quot; and &quot;the opportunity to meet with some of the most famous investors in the world -- and to present your analysis to them.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still, the hours aren&#39;t easy, and can grind a young banker down.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Of course there are days when I wish I could work 40 hours in a week and that would be it,&quot; says one analyst, &quot;but overall, I find my work challenging and interesting so I&#39;m excited to be here. As long as you plan in advance, managers are accommodating and will work with you to create a schedule that works best for you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And although another banker admits that &quot;you can find yourself working multiple 120-hour weeks,&quot; he says that &quot;face time is non-existent -- if you have nothing else to do for the night, you can leave at 5.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s 5 &lt;em&gt;p.m.&lt;/em&gt;, I assume.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the bottom line seems to be &lt;span&gt;this: &quot;Hours can be long, but the high-quality work and noteworthy deals justify them.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Vault: 2010 Banking Rankings: Overall Satisfaction)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Related: Cube Life Is Killing Me)&lt;/p&gt;

Derek Loosvelt

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