Big 4 Firm - Working Late

ferike1

Yeah you are taxed a hell of a lot more

Chazz Michael Michaels

Cyrus wrote: »

theres a balance alright, totally agree, but there is a big difference between earning 25 and 50 k

Not as big as losing every second of Mon - Fri for your 20s. You never get those years back. I'd take the 25k any day.

Cyrus

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

Not as big as losing every second of Mon - Fri for your 20s. You never get those years back. I'd take the 25k any day.

Great for you, i aspire to earn more than that personally.

Chazz Michael Michaels

Cyrus wrote: »

Great for you, i aspire to earn more than that personally.

Why do you value your leisure time so low? I was reading something in The Guardian recently about regrets that dying people have and on of the top ones what "working too much". Seems that may be your regret.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

You will note the absence of "I wish I earned more money".

Money is cheap, imo. Life is priceless.

Cyrus

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

Why do you value your leisure time so low? I was reading something in The Guardian recently about regrets that dying people have and on of the top ones what "working too much". Seems that may be your regret.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

You will note the absence of "I wish I earned more money".

Money is cheap, imo. Life is priceless.

You are making some incorrect assumptions their chief, wildly incorrect.

I dont value my leisure time lowly, i have a great work life balance.

I put in a few hard years in my training, but since then i generally get home by 6.30 every evening and cant recall working a weekend since i left practice.

I have a massive appreciation for whats really important in life and trust me, work features way down, but i do have the cop on to know where an investment of my time will yield dividends.

I also aspire to certain lifestyle, and €25k a year isnt enough for me to buy the things and go the places that i want to. €50k a year isnt either for that matter but thats a seperate discussion

It was once said, the best things in life are free, the second best things however, cost a lot of money

Do you mind me asking, are you currently working as a trainee accountant?

Chazz Michael Michaels

Cyrus wrote: »

You are making some incorrect assumptions their chief, wildly incorrect.

I dont value my leisure time lowly, i have a great work life balance.

I put in a few hard years in my training, but since then i generally get home by 6.30 every evening and cant recall working a weekend since i left practice.

I have a massive appreciation for whats really important in life and trust me, work features way down, but i do have the cop on to know where an investment of my time will yield dividends.

I also aspire to certain lifestyle, and €25k a year isnt enough for me to buy the things and go the places that i want to. €50k a year isnt either for that matter but thats a seperate discussion

It was once said, the best things in life are free, the second best things however, cost a lot of money

Do you mind me asking, are you currently working as a trainee accountant?

Oh no, I just wandered into this thread. I am an economist. I could make more money by working in investment banking, but I would have no life, so I choose to earn less money (more than 25k) and have more time to enjoy life and relax.

krd

Cyrus wrote: »

It was once said, the best things in life are free, the second best things however, cost a lot of money

Something tells me, you're one of those 'second best things'.



I don't mind...I'll be your friend...but'll cost yah....Tuesday nights, hundred and fifty quid, will buy you close to an hour of smiling and nodding.

kippy

Cyrus wrote: »

You are making some incorrect assumptions their chief, wildly incorrect.

I dont value my leisure time lowly, i have a great work life balance.

I put in a few hard years in my training, but since then i generally get home by 6.30 every evening and cant recall working a weekend since i left practice.

I have a massive appreciation for whats really important in life and trust me, work features way down, but i do have the cop on to know where an investment of my time will yield dividends.

I also aspire to certain lifestyle, and €25k a year isnt enough for me to buy the things and go the places that i want to. €50k a year isnt either for that matter but thats a seperate discussion

It was once said, the best things in life are free, the second best things however, cost a lot of money

Do you mind me asking, are you currently working as a trainee accountant?

6.30, and when do you go in?
Investment of time does not always (actually rarely) does it achieve dividends.
The points I am/were making above were that for every one person who made some good money after 7/8 years of working long hours, there are tens (at least) more who don't end up doing anywhere near as well. They pyramid isn't that big.
You'll often find that there are other factors at work in the promotional prospects of individuals rather than the time they've worked.

Cyrus

kippy wrote: »

6.30, and when do you go in?
Investment of time does not always (actually rarely) does it achieve dividends.
The points I am/were making above were that for every one person who made some good money after 7/8 years of working long hours, there are tens (at least) more who don't end up doing anywhere near as well. They pyramid isn't that big.
You'll often find that there are other factors at work in the promotional prospects of individuals rather than the time they've worked.

8-8.30

I dont think you have read my previous posts (it may have been in the other trainee moaning thread ), the investment in time that im talking about is in your training contract, it reaps dividends on your cv and the types of references that you can provide, i left big 4 once my contract ended as i didnt fancy a career in audit. However i worked hard when i was there and made the most it, hence i got the better work, can still count on great references, and have a good cv. The world is your oyster once you leave, and because most people do leave, if you choose to stay and are good, there are decent career prospects withing aswell.

Of course there are other factors to getting promoted, how you get on with staff, clients, manage work load, play the political game etc etc. But again, thats the same everywhere.

lads and ladies, all of you moaning about the hours you are working and the work you are doing, unable to see the benefits that can accrue and the opportunity that you have been afforded, WTF did you think you were getting into?

There are loads of careers out there that suit your requirments.

A teacher for one:

Challenging - certainly, at least if you want it to be
Varied - new classes every year
W/L balance - great, finish at 4 every evening, loads of holidays, pay per hour has to be better than most jobs
Pay - people are suggesting money isnt that important to them and 25k a year is plenty if you have a good w/l balance, despite recent cuts teachers still start on 27k i believe

Why arent you all trying to get into jobs like this?

Where you work in in finance in ireland there will be periods of extended working hours and some tedious work. You will be paid well but most of you dont seem to care?

krd

Cyrus wrote: »

Of course there are other factors to getting promoted, how you get on with staff, clients, manage work load, play the political game etc etc. But again, thats the same everywhere.

No, it's not the same everywhere. And it's typically when people are defending some place that's really awful they'll pull the 'it's the same everywhere'.

Never work with people who think there's a "game".

Cyrus

krd wrote: »

Cyrus wrote: »

Of course there are other factors to getting promoted, how you get on with staff, clients, manage work load, play the political game etc etc. But again, thats the same everywhere.

No, it's not the same everywhere. And it's typically when people are defending some place that's really awful they'll pull the 'it's the same everywhere'.

Never work with people who think there's a "game".

No matter where you work there is a political game, it will be of a different type but don't kid yourself that it's not there

JoePie

I was with one of the big consultancy firms (left a few months ago), and went in at an entry level position. During my time there, I'd say I left bang on 5.30 in the evening, 95% of the time, if not more. If it was my own fault my work wasn't done, or we were close to a deadline, I'd hang back and get it done. Never showed up earlier than 9. I worked a few hours on a Saturday because people on various types of leave put us behind schedule. Fair enough.

Don't buy into this hanging back until the boss leaves stuff, or you don't want to be the first to leave, etc. If I'm done, I'm done. or it'll be something small that can definitely be left until tomorrow.

There were plenty of people in the office that did the 12 hour day thing, and I could just never understand it.

From what I could gather, a lot of overtime in there seemed to come down overly-ambitious project planning, which I was not afraid to call them out on, even if it wasn't my place. I'd rather please the client by doing the work right, in a timely manner, rather than trying to cram too many deliverables into a shortened period of time, just to try and prove something. On the other hand, once you set the bar higher, that's the new bar and it only goes up from there.

We didn't get overtime or time in lieu, and I'm fine with that when it's absolutely necessary to stay late. However, if I've done my work and it's time to clock out, I'm gone. I'm not a charity. I don't work for free.

gara

This boils down to a basic supply and demand principle -giving your time and skills freely does nothing but devalue them. People with apparently worthless skills are not promoted. Assets are only assets by virtue of being worth something