996 & wolf mentality- the secret life of China’s tech industry
Late last year, while working as the lead strategist at a media company, I received an invitation to interview with ByteDance- the tech giant that owns both TikTok and Douyin. When a date was finally set to accommodate my interviewer’s (also potentially my future boss) busy schedule, I was a little surprised to find that he’d have to be in the office at 5 AM to set up for this interview.
I dialled in for my video call, fully confident that I’d get through the first round without any hiccups with my well-honed interview skills. Instead, I found myself sweating profusely after just a few minutes, being struck by technical questions that only a company insider (or a close competitor) would know the answers to.
‘You don’t seem prepared for a job opportunity you claim to take seriously.’ He told me when I failed to answer his questions to his satisfaction. I ‘protested’ that some of the insider questions required knowledge that’s not in the public domain, he quickly Googled ByteDance’s website and challenged why I didn’t read a particular blog post that explained just how advertising unit X worked… Looking back, the only thing that stopped me from leaving the most humiliating interview of my life halfway was the decision not to turn this experience into a total failure in my memory.
I asked myself after that first interview: is this the type of company that I want to work for? Before the interview, I had accepted that I might have to work gruelling hours, but it was the level of aggression that caught me off guard.
A few months later, a friend of mine returned to China after five years and started applying for jobs. She was excited to be shortlisted by Alibaba but complained to me of their ‘unprofessional behaviour’ after two interviews. As it turned out, my humiliating experience with ByteDance was far from an isolated incident. Unscheduled interview calls at 9 PM? Check. Unreasonable interview questions that were borderline rude? Check again.
It seems that China’s tech giants are possessed. But by what? I discussed the experience with my cousin that worked in Beijing, who wasn’t a bit surprised. ‘Wolf mentality’ was the phrase she used to describe the cultural norm permeating China’s tech circle. ‘If you work for one of these firms, you are expected to act like a hungry wolf.’
Be tough, be strong, always demand more, know exactly what you want and go on the attack. These qualities, which were once discouraged in China’s collective culture, have quietly replaced Confucius’ ‘doctrine of the mean’, which calls for ‘moderation and rectitude’.
And just like wolves, China’s leading tech giants run in packs. When Jack Ma famously coined the phrase 996 and proclaimed that anyone should feel lucky to have the opportunity to work a 9–9–6 schedule, I could almost hear the synchronised agreeing nods from the other tech companies. Alibaba has come out of the 996 closet- and when the closet door swung open, people saw all his tech friends that have been there with him all along. One of the reasons why the gruelling 996 timetable is so hard to escape in China is because the choice seems to be binary- you are either in or out.
And there are plenty of good reasons to be ‘in’.
As one of China’s most innovative and fastest-growing sectors, the tech industry offers the promise of great career outlooks, the chance to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful, and not to mention fat paychecks (if you can stick it out for long enough, that is). Considering how ultra-competitive China’s labour market is, Jack Ma wasn’t wrong when he said it was only the lucky ones that could get a piece of this action. China’s tech industry is selling like hotcakes. Even 996 cannot deter those eager job seekers who are beating a path to Alibaba’s door.
However, it is naive to assume that the lack of choice is the only reason why some of China’s brightest are flocking to companies like Alibaba. Even though the idea of 996 almost received criticisms exclusively outside of China, its reception in China is more of a mixed bag.
My friend AL, an accomplished copywriter that once worked at Ogilvy and Wunderman, joined Alibaba’s marketing team a couple of years ago. One day, she complained to me how Alibaba has ruined her career. I thought she was referring to her frequent business trips and overtimes that sometimes run until 2–3 AM, but she said that’s not it.
“I understand that this way of life is not sustainable. But I also know I’ll never find a job as rewarding. So where am I going to go after Alibaba?”
AL said that within a few months of joining the company, she had been exposed to more opportunities than she had been for all previous years combined. She mingled with the rich and powerful at company workshops, she learnt about the most advanced tech available in the market, and she started doing global projects. But more importantly, she found real meaning in her work that none of her previous ‘prestigious’ positions could parallel. She can see the critical changes that she’s helping to bring about, from transforming the lives of remote villagers making a great living selling on Taobao, to helping millions of families making through the coronavirus outbreak safely by promoting Alibaba’s no-contact delivery services. She’s also at the frontline witnessing the future being moulded with the help of technology, from tech-enabled crowd-sourcing charity initiatives to the development of futuristic hotels that can forever change the way people travel.
Simon Sinek asked leaders of the world to ‘start with why’, and Alibaba is a living example of how ‘starting with why’ is paying off. For a lot of China’s young working professionals who already live in material comfort, their bigger challenge is a hunger for meaning. While Alibaba might not win Glassdoor’s Best Employer Of The Year Award, it seems to be delivering on the much-needed ‘why’ for those who seek it.
A few years ago, Jack Ma talked about his conviction in the significance of e-commerce in creating a ‘digital democracy’ in a diverse country that still suffers from high levels of income disparity. There are millions of people who are yet to reach the lifestyle standard enjoyed by residents in larger cities. In that sense, there’s still substantial un-tapped potentials for companies like Alibaba, for whom the race to establish their dominance across this massive country is far from over.
When I asked my friend AL if she was frustrated that Alibaba didn’t hire more staff to ease her workload, she replied, “We are growing at an exponential rate. Hiring more people would mean diminished competitiveness. To win, we have to stay lean.” It seems that she’s already been ‘wolfified’.
I’m still not convinced that I can fully get behind ‘996’ or the ‘wolf mentality’, but I do understand that neither can survive in a vacuum. There’s fertile ground for both to exist in China’s tech industry today. The current working condition might be far from perfect and begs for much improvement, but for now, China’s young workforce is voting with their feet.
