Banker-bashing is in fashion. After all, the excesses and collapses of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and RBS crystallised the subprime crisis in the US and Britain. Blaming well-paid banking executives for the woes of a long-suffering majority with'real jobs' is a message that resonates well with US voters in an election year.
Many people would like to get a piece of the wealth and power that investment bankers seem to personify. But few would survive the brutal, Stakhanovite work ethic, or the aggressive environment in which they operate.
True to form, i-bankers work long hours. For those in equity capital markets departments, the day often starts at 7.30am, attending briefings for equity sales teams that are used to take the pulse of the market ahead of trading. The day often ends very late. One or more all-nighters a week are common, especially for junior staff. Weekends as such rarely exist.
Then there's the constant flow of calls and e-mails, with stacks of documents to write and review, all with impossibly short deadlines. But that's only part of the job.
Much of the rest is about travelling and visiting existing or prospective clients. It's fun at the outset, but tiring and repetitive after a while. Waking up at dawn and returning home well past midnight two or three times a week is no fun. There's the non-stop pressure to pitch for, and win, new business, especially among the senior ranks.
The multimillion US dollar fees that are charged to clients, as well as the highly competitive environment - both externally and internally - mean there's a never-ending race to secure new deals and see them through to closing. Investment banks generally are paid only on a success basis. No one is rewarded for a deal that ultimately collapses, no matter who is to blame.