Overtime, Overtime, Lick the Deck

This morning I read the news. Another guy from Huawei collapsed from exhaustion. I don’t know which number this is. NetEase’s CTO, a young Tsinghua teacher, now Huawei — this isn’t the first, certainly won’t be the last. Who’s next? Prize quiz: mobile users send SMS to 5198 (I want overtime), Unicom users send to 59198 (I just want overtime). Lucky winner gets a premium overtime floor mattress set, a box of refreshing coffee and cigarettes, and a bucket of Kang-shifu instant noodles for hunger…

IT, IT. Getting hit and kicked. Taking pitifully low salaries (sadly, many think they’re well-paid), living like dogs. In the old society it was called indentured labor; now it’s rebranded as “corporate culture.” Overtime is called responsibility and ownership spirit.

Can’t help thinking about the purpose of work. I think a basic principle of work is to make life better, not to burden it. Without work, no money for food and clothes. With work, you can eat junk food McDonald’s and wear junk brand Manas — life is better! Without work, no place to live. With work, you can rent an apartment with others — life is better! Without work, you can’t brag about your career. With work, you can proudly say “I work for Xsoft or Xwei” — life is better! But what do you pay for these improvements? Endless overtime? Health? Energy?

This environment can’t be changed by one person. But its formation isn’t one person’s fault either. The vicious cycle: China lacks core technology, so most work is outsourcing and enterprise solutions. Second, China is far from moderately prosperous. Many fresh graduates just want to survive. After graduation, they look where the money is — foreign companies doing outsourcing. But why do foreign companies open factories in China? For profit. They come for China’s cheap labor! I remember a VP of some company said at a Peking University lecture, “I have hundreds of people in Shanghai doing software — they are cheaper…” Of course, they wouldn’t say this to their employees. The vicious cycle: working for the devils doing outsourcing, making money, China still without core technology, and graduates can only do outsourcing.

One person can’t change it. So we still work for the devils. Speaking of which, I just received an email from someone driven crazy by the devils, confirming my view.

(Content hidden — I’m complying with a certain company’s notice not to report or转载 related news)

Who’s next?