Extreme Jobs

I was listening to a podcast a few weeks ago ( the HBR Ideacast from Harvard Business Review) on the "danderous allure " of extreme jobs. It was an interesting podcast and I went and read the entire article ( I can't remember the issue but within the last 6 months).

It sure was interesting and described how some jobs are just so extreme that some employees ( who have these jobs) wear their dedication like a badge of honor. I certainly see their point about having some job that is so tremendously exciting ( not rock stars here) but demanding. They described the concept as jobs that demand 24/7 access, high pressure jobs like full commission sales or investment banking, consultancy work and jobs that require someone to spread out over APAC, EMEA and Americas region time zones.

It was a very interesting article and I would expect these workers receive above-average salaries. Unfortunately you can't have much of a life when you work 90 hours every week for 20 years. In fact, I would expect a family life would suffer dramatically as would your health.

I believe in working hard but there has to be some payback in the end ( family time and your sanity)!