In recent years, the topic of "996" has become increasingly popular, or the topic of 996 has become increasingly popular among the circle of "Internet practitioners". However, every time, I feel that this topic "has nothing to do with me" because I have really been 965 for seven years. Someone once said to me: "You don't even look like a programmer. How can a programmer get off work so early?" Yes, I am really not like a "mainstream programmer", that is, I don't have a 996, nor do I have a "black backpack" or a "plaid shirt" as described by the media.
I am not a person who likes to ride on popularity. In fact, I hardly care much about hot topics that everyone is hotly discussing. I am a person who is "selfish" and "rational" to the point that only cares about "topics that I care about." I am there quietly, as if it is harmless to the whole world. I just want to review at this point in time how I have been through 965 in the past seven years. Compared with 996, what have I lost? What did you get?
Let's first review my general experience in the past seven years
first company
I graduated in 2013 and joined a company in July in Wudaokou, Beijing. I left my job three months after becoming a regular employee. When I left my job, the department manager talked to me and said,"I'm so sorry. You've been here for three months. I didn't know that we were fellow villagers until I left today"(he is from Zhumadian, and I am from Xinyang). In a company with no more than 20 people in the technical department, the department manager should really be "embarrassed" if he doesn't know the people under him. The reason why I left was that they just recruited me in and didn't let me work (too little work), and the salary was too slow. So, the first three-month 955 job ended.
the second company
The week after leaving, I joined a startup company (introduced by a friend). This startup company has a good atmosphere and a very powerful CTO. In this team, I only spent a month-long 995 life because of one "surprise mission", and the rest of the time was 965. Working in this company is really great. The CTO has super abilities. Even if the product is also a technical architecture, he also manages the division of tasks and determines the schedule of projects. Each of us is very certain about our work and our goals. He builds a task list for everyone in trello. Those of us who work are like playing a game of "entertainment", writing every task to be completed and dragging it to the completed list. Many tasks can be eliminated every day. Everyone has a great sense of accomplishment when they see that this daily goal is achieved more and more. They leave work together on time every day, making them extremely happy and fulfilling. Here, there is no time wasted, it is very funny, and there is no need for 996.
However, a year and a half later, the company's financing was not in place, and despite the efforts of several founders, we were still unable to save the day. We left with N +1 regretfully. On the day we left, our colleagues ate and chatted at Wudaokou for a long time, and were very reluctant to part with them.
a third company
After my second company left, I was stunned for two days. I think our products are very good, we work very hard, and I also like the colleagues in that company and the company's atmosphere very much. Why did you suddenly want to "break up"? At the age of 23, I was emotionally unacceptable, so I wasn't eager to find my next job. However, the third company approached me. It was a large company with its own office park. There were several companies under the group. I prepared carefully before the interview. The CTO thought I was a motivated young man. I also felt that it was quite good to follow this uncle. I also visited the office environment and consulted all aspects of the company. I felt very satisfied and wanted to go. A few days later, I got the offer and successfully joined the job. Facts have proved that my judgment this time is very accurate. The company atmosphere is really super good, and the CTO is really super good. I spent the happiest, most fulfilling and most meaningful two years of my career here. While working in this company, I was one of the "capable people" of the CTO. As long as there were any task requirements, the CTO basically thought of letting me participate in the task and@me in the group. I worked very hard, and I also got a positive employee early, and also won a passive salary increase ("passive salary increase "means that I didn't mention it, but the CTO took the initiative to give me a salary increase). Here I feel that I have received great recognition, I have received great delegation of power, and my limited abilities have been fully exerted. It's still 965 here, and I occasionally deal with some problems at home on weekends. It's my own accord and my pleasure.
Fourth company
The last company liked it so much and was so good, why did it leave? Because after the CTO left due to abnormal reasons, I also suffered from the new CTO's office politics and other reasons, so I had no choice but to resign voluntarily. Then I came to the fourth company and worked for three and a half years. This company is the "most outrageous" company I have ever worked for. How outrageous is it? -- After work at 6 o'clock, someone checked in at 6:00 (you can hear the sound of check-in machines in the corridor) At 6:05, half of the people left, and only a few people were left at 6:20. Those who didn't leave at 6:30 were going online. This company has no PUA at all, not at all. Everything relies on initiative. I think the philosophy of this company is that "the boss believes that you will do the work at hand on your own." Therefore, there are not so many mandatory requirements. There is no such thing as who gets off work early and who doesn't fit in, and who leaves earlier than the leader will suffer. In fact, in this company, in addition to meeting my own product needs, I also spontaneously made a lot of optimizations. I still haven't worked overtime, but there are only three or five times a year when older launches are late. Other times are outrageous until "leaving work at 6:00". In Beijing, it is really sunny and hot to get off work at 6:00 in summer. I never work overtime on weekends, and I pay for overtime. I pay three times the salary for overtime on statutory holidays. In the Internet industry where 996 is prevalent, this is simply "outrageous"! It was outrageous to the extreme!
The fifth company
Compared with previous companies, the current company is much more nervous. There are many tasks, urgent needs, and often parallel tasks. This task is still under development, and the next two requirements documents have been sent here, allowing you to evaluate requirements, evaluate construction periods, and arrange resource schedules every day. It's really overwhelming. However, what you don't expect is that there is no such thing as mandatory overtime here. Work at 10 o'clock and get off at 19 o'clock (if you push it forward an hour, it's 965). There is so much work. If you can arrange the construction period and resources well, you can carry out 965 at full capacity without having to work overtime. If you really haven't evaluated the time schedule well, you can only work overtime. Because many projects cannot be changed after they are scheduled and filmed, because there are too many resources involved and too many matters involved. If all parties are scheduled, you will have to delay other teams, and the overall loss will be serious.
I admit that I am really busy here, but I found that as long as I am serious and attentive enough to analyze and design the project schedule, and make full use of my workday time, and don't play with my mobile phone or paddle halfway, 965 is completely fine. In fact, most of the time I get off work around 19:10, and a small part of the time I get off work at 20:00. Overall, it is also approximately equal to 965. Even if it cannot be equal to 965, it is already very close.
Why are all the companies I worked for 965?
I once thought,"Why are all the companies I chose 965?" In fact, I didn't fully summarize the reason. After all,"those involved are confused." I think part of the reason is "personal character". I am not the kind of person who likes to "work hard" very much, I am not a person who is particularly "hard-working", I am a person with the mentality of "just pointing it out", and I am a person who is "not very diligent". I don't really agree with "overtime" to catch up with tasks. I think programming is a mental hole that requires repeated thinking and sorting. It cannot be rushed. Instead of scribbling out a bunch of bugs, it's better to write a little less quickly. A more robust application. I also think that we should cut demand instead of blindly making a pair of useless demands and being busy to death all day long. In fact, it is "worthless" busyness. I don't recognize the working model of everyone working together to "create results and cheat the boss of money".
Perhaps this "guiding ideology" has subtly influenced my focus and mentality when looking for a job. I didn't even bother to find companies that didn't need 996.
I didn't encounter 996. In fact, there is another reason-I have never been to a first-line factory. Putting aside whether I am capable enough to go to a big factory, the strange thing is that I have never thought of going to a big factory. The big factory seems not attractive to me, and I don't seem to be so interested in going. Maybe I have no "ambition" or "ambition"!
What did I lose without 996?
Is it too much to say that 996 is synonymous with a big factory? -- It's not too much at all. After all, almost all major factories nowadays have 996, while small companies do not have demand for 996. Since 996 can be synonymous with a big factory, then "I don't have a 996" means that I didn't work in a big factory. What does it mean to not work in a big factory? It means that I have earned a lot of money less. For example, yesterday I saw a programmer from a large factory in the anonymous area saying,"I have a year-end bonus of 340,000 yuan. I feel that working overtime is hard, but the money is delicious and worth it!"
If it were me, I would also think it was worth it. Overtime a year can add 340,000 yuan to myself. As a member of the 90% group that accounts for 10% of social wealth, this 340,000 yuan is extremely fragrant for more than a year. Of course, there is no need to question the authenticity of this 340,000 yuan. I once chatted with employees of a big factory (because of work cooperation, I worked together for a few days), and the other person roughly talked about the worst number of months for year-end bonuses at all levels and what I know is a few months. Therefore, I don't think the information of 340,000 does not need to be questioned.
What else have I lost? I lost the potential ability improvement track of the 996 factory, the potential high-quality network track, the opportunity to make more money, the possibility of finding an excellent wife in the factory, and the opportunity to combine with a big factory wife and the two "join forces" to buy tens of millions of houses in first-tier cities.
Is that so? No, this is all fantasy. Although we can infer and analyze and predict according to certain rules. However, the road to life is not that simple. Even if you plan well, you may not be able to achieve your goals. Even if you work very hard, you may not be able to achieve the expected results 100%.
However, I made less money, which is true, because on average, the salary of a large factory of the same level and level is much higher. So, in the past seven years, without 996, I may have really earned 2 million less.
What did I get without 996?
Without 996, I look still young, but I feel 1 year younger than my actual age (maybe people with 996 are also young), and my hair volume is well maintained (maybe people with 996 are also abundant). In the past few years, I have been coming home from work to eat dinner made by my wife. After dinner, I went downstairs with my wife to throw garbage and take a walk. On weekends, I went outside and took some photos with my mobile phone. Compensation for children's play and bath children. At the same time, I also used my spare time to read some technical books, and I also read a series of idle books (not related to technology).
This is all my own time. Although I haven't used it to create great value, this is time that I can control and waste myself. I didn't go for overtime meals at 7:30 p.m., or taste midnight snacks at 9:00, or take a free taxi at 10:00. As a very ordinary person, I am just free to waste my time in my own way.
If I had to say what I got, I really couldn't quantify it to you (this point is not as intuitive as getting 340,000 yuan for overtime).
What do I think of 996
From the perspective of the Internet employment environment, there are indeed many 996 companies, so that in terms of probability, we can meet 996 companies to a large extent. Every time a tragic incident about 996 breaks out online, one group of people says,"996 is the source of all evil" and we must resist it; another group of people says that in fact, everyone can have their own choices.
First of all, I would like to talk about the question of "everyone has a choice". I would like to ask: Do you think there is really a choice? Do you have choices in everything? Subjectively speaking, we do have our own choices, but objectively speaking, we may not necessarily "really have self-choices." For example: Do you have the right to choose your mobile phone? I don't think I have it. What I need is a mobile phone with a screen size of about 4 inches, because my hands are not big and I really don't like to hold it with both hands to use a mobile phone. I don't need such a high pixel. I just take simple photos and the extra configuration is just to pay a lot more money. Based on my needs, can I buy a corresponding mobile phone on the market? I can't buy it! I had no choice, I had to choose from a bunch of large-screen phones. I have the right to choose my own mobile phone, but the objects I choose are those. If I don't choose, I can't use it unless I tailor a mobile phone for myself. Or I can accept this fact and settle for the next best thing to buy a senior citizen machine.
The same is true for jobs. We can choose those jobs that do not work overtime, choose jobs that are close to home, and choose jobs that are less stressful. But if all companies are high-intensity and high-pressure, do you have a choice? There is no choice. 996 and non-996 companies are severely divided in terms of treatment, technical atmosphere, competitiveness, and development prospects. It is bound to make those people "who cannot succeed at the top but can only choose to be raped in a favorable place."
Besides, the questions of "whether 996 is the source of all evil" and "whether 996 should be resisted" are too complex, and my knowledge cannot give a complete scientific explanation. I am an employee now, all I can see is the work at hand, I don't want 996. If I were the boss and I owned a company, would I turn it into a 996 company? Will I become a person who crazily squeezes surplus value? I'm not sure, I can say "I'm not that kind of person" now, but what if I change after I enter? It's hard to say, people are uncertain, and the future is also uncertain.
However, those who want to "oppose 996 with personal strength","resign to show that I am irreconcilable with 996", and "start with me to change society" may in fact be "futile". If you don't go, someone will go, you can't do it, and someone can do it. This is not something that can be changed by just three or two people. The causes and consequences of this matter are extremely complex, and your resistance and approval may be superficial. For those colleagues who lost their lives due to the root causes of 996, or suffered serious mental losses, or suffered serious losses in physical health. Which young life is not heartbreaking? For these people's situation, the one who suffers the most is himself, and the one who hurts the most is his relatives.
summary
So, to sum up: my opinion on 996 is: I have no opinions, no suggestions, no approval, no objection, this issue is too complicated and I really can't explain clearly. If it were my good friend, people around me would ask me: Should I go to that 996 company? Should I continue with 996? I will say: do it if you can, don't if you can't, do it if you want to, don't if you don't have anything to do, make your own choices based on your own situation and make your own decisions.
In fact, everyone has the answer in their hearts. Especially if you are seeking opinions from others...