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Some Tier 1 teams glorify it using words like hard work dedication t make associates work extreme hours, where they are only sleeping 2-3 hours per night. This maybe during phases, or throughout the year, but with breaks. Either of these scenarios is the worst of human exploitation (unless you’re the equity partner or you somehow feel strong sense of ownership doing clerical work). This I frankly not physically bearable after a point and you lose touch with the outside world.
I used to think people working till 4-5 am in the morning was exaggeration till it happened to me. So yes, this does happen, and it sucks your soul out. Most people in those teams are either too scared or brainwashed to say anything.
Other firms have 12 hour workdays, but even though you get to sleep on time, these hours are extremely intense as you keep switching from one project to another without any breathers in between.
This isn’t great either, but much better than the above scenario.
There are some teams which do care about their teams and try to give them breathers between projects, but you need to research and speak to reliable people to figure these out.
Remember- brainwashed people in toxic teams, and people in good team sometimes use similar phrase to describe their teams, so please vet from multiple sources.