Anonymous wrote:This is OP .

I'm working at a fast-paced AI company where the development team puts in 12 to 14 hours a day, not including the commute. We're required to be in the office four days a week. There are ten of us on the team, all between 23 and 29 years old. My team lead practically lives at the office. Seven out of ten of us are overweight now—including me—and the stress is taking a serious toll. While the pay and stock options are great, it's hard to enjoy any of it. The company is aiming to be acquired by another AI company in the next two years, so everyone is hanging on in the hope of a big payout. One colleague already quit because he couldn’t handle the stress, and I feel like I’m not far behind. I'm completely drained by the time I get home. My typical day starts at 6:30 a.m. and doesn’t end until 9 p.m., followed by a 30-minute commute, dinner, and checking emails from the team. I’m in bed by 11:30 p.m., up again at 5:45 a.m., and out the door by 6. Every day feels like Groundhog Day.

Anonymous wrote:Life is also much more than playing pickleball, piano, and guitar, and working out. You need $ in order to afford a certain quality of life. Most people realize that maximizing employment potential early on in a career is key to achieving a higher income and more job satisfaction sooner rather than later. Applying the brakes early will give you more free time, and a permanently impaired earning capacity, which will impact you for the rest of your life.

Maybe you're a person who can be content with little $; I'm told they exist. Most people, however, prefer more $ to less, and find a way to balance the requirements of a demanding professional life against a reasonable amount of leisure.

Early on, leisure should take a back seat in that juggling act, but should still be there even if at a modest level. Over time, as you become wealthier and more financially secure, you can slowly change the relative balance of work to leisure, and your leisure time will be enhanced by your greater wealth - you can have nicer possessions, nicer vacations, and more financial security. That last consideration is arguably the most important of all. It may enable you to retire earlier than would otherwise have been possible, at which point your quality of life could potentially increase exponentially when compared to needing to work many more years because you took a professional off-ramp early on and were permanently relegated to a lower level of income and, probably, job satisfaction. I certainly was happier at work the higher i rose in the organization - money, respect, power, flexibility, all come with professional achievement. You can tell other people what to do, instead of always being on the receiving end.

Anonymous wrote:Don't sacrifice your mental or physical health for dollars. It's not worth it.

That said, you can work long hours and still be mentally and physically fit. Previous posters have given advice on how - money makes it easier to do so. Maximize the value of your time away from work. That means don't spend it doing laundry or cleaning your apartment. Outsource.

Most importantly, you need to determine if this level of labor is actually necessary. Is everybody clocking 12 hour days every day? Or is it just you / a few of you / your team? I see lots of people work under assumptions they've made without confirmation only to find out they made the cage they're living in.

Either way, try to stick with it for a few years and then pivot. I'm a CISO at a tech company and I'd gladly hire an early career dev with AI experience. I don't know if I'll match your comp, but I'll sure as hell beat your current work/life balance.

Anonymous wrote:Reach out to your parents for help if possible.

I would visit my DS/DS, once every 2-3 weeks to sort out cleaning, laundry, freeze ready to eat meals and generally make things easier for my adult kids.

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a baby . Eat grapefruit and run up and down stairs every hour on the hour

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a baby . Eat grapefruit and run up and down stairs every hour on the hour

Anonymous wrote:How much do you get paid? Are you making at least $300k and/or a lot of equity in a promising AI company? Then stick it out for a couple more years, otherwise change jobs asap. You need to think of your career as a marathon. If you get burned out and shocked by 14 hour days at 26 you impact your earning trajectory for the rest of your career. In the early years you want to stretch yourself, not traumatize yourself. No clue how someone can do intellectual work for 12-14 hours a day, 4-5 max, anything beyond that is useless work.