Recently, a post on a workplace social media platform caused a lot of discussion. The poster said he was an employee of Tencent, with an annual salary of 750,000 yuan, but recently decided to give up and choose to return to his hometown as a civil servant. After mentioning leaving the job, he was given a life education by the leader: “You escape, your future children will have to walk your path all over again. “
Some netizens agreed with the posters, the Internet midlife unemployment crisis is a wake-up call, rather than taking the risk that may be replaced at any time, it is better to find a good way out before it’s too late. Another netizen calculated an account, assuming that after 30 years old can take 750,000 annual salary, remove the five insurance and other consumption, dry to 35 years old was dismissed up to save 2.5 million, and this amount of savings may not be small enough to buy a 50 flat single room in Shenzhen, Nanshan District, near the down payment of the Science Park.
There are also netizens who believe that civil servants in the system are too mythical. Under the pressure of the task, the degree of hard work of civil servants is not low, and can even be compared with the big factory programmer shoulder, but the salary is far different.
The post has been deleted from the platform, the authenticity can not be verified, but the controversy behind the presentation is the anxiety that has been circulating for a long time: under the mid-life crisis, is the choice to take advantage of the early “into the system” for a stable, or to bite the bullet and continue to struggle to earn a suite for future children, who do not know which path is the right choice.
The fierce competition outside the system, may be replaced at any time.
Yang Zibin has been 29 years old this year, soon to be the age of his choice to resign from the subsidiary of Tencent’s operations post, to enter a state-owned enterprises to work, for him, the Internet job does not see the potential for development.
“Three months of study and three years of study is actually the same meaning, nothing profound. “Yang Zibin told reporters that if you don’t get promoted by the age stage, then you will face the potential rule of being optimized.
“Under the potential rules, if you are 35 years old, either you have made it to the P6 level or up, take the annual salary of a million; or the team all replaced by young people, suffering also cheap. “Yang Zibin said.
Age is particularly cruel in the Internet industry. According to reporters, the average age of employees of global Internet companies is generally low. U.S. research institutions PayScale data show that the average age of Apple employees in 2018 is 31 years old, Google is 30 years old, Facebook and LinkedIn is 29 years old, and in China, the situation is also similar.
According to the “Internet Talent Mobility Report 2020” (hereinafter referred to as “the report”) released by Pulse Data Research Institute, the talent of the 19 Internet companies that participated in the survey is as follows The average age of employees is 29.6 years old, with the lowest average age of 27 years old for Byte Ticker and Sparto, and the highest for Didi Chuxing, but also under 35 years old.
In addition, the report reveals that Yang Zibin’s previous job in operations was the most competitive and highest turnover position in the Internet industry in 2019. Employees in social operations, content operations, and user operations have the top three turnover rates.
These positions usually do not require technical content and have low barriers to entry, so once you don’t find your core competencies, you are likely to be “eliminated”. Even for programmers with high technical content, they can only keep their jobs if they keep learning and updating their skills. According to statistics, every year there are more than 100,000 computer graduates in China waiting for a replacement at any time.
Yang Zibin thought of changing jobs to another large factory or other small Internet company, which is one of the ways that many employees of large factories try to reverse their mid-life crisis, but he found that it was not easy to do so, and he had no chance.
Yang Zibin’s education was not very good, and he did not work for Tencent’s parent company before. According to him, big companies like Byte Jump, Alibaba, Baidu, etc. prefer young people with a blank sheet of paper, who can be trained quickly, rather than “old fogies” who have been in small companies for a long time but know nothing about the world. “.
“For example, I have worked in Jingdong, jumped to the unknown Internet company, from the second to the third tier, you can survive the midlife crisis through salary increases and promotions. “Yang Zibin said, “but in unknown small companies, small teams that can not withstand any storm do not have this kind of channel, only purely to 35 years old is the midlife crisis, which There is no way to compare. “
An HR person from an Internet company previously said in a media interview that people who have been working in the big Internet industry for a long time will still face the test of a new work pattern after moving to a small company. After all, large companies have a clearer division of labor and each has their own responsibilities, while small companies may have one person playing multiple roles with no less overtime than large companies.
The HR person also said that his company prefers to hire inexperienced young people than older and experienced programmers. Because the Internet technology is changing rapidly, older programmers may not be able to use their previous experience after changing to a new job, while newcomers can get started with a short training, and the labor cost is lower than the salary of experienced staff.
In addition, the “work 996, sick ICU” overtime atmosphere of the Internet also makes many people to middle-aged Internet employees to consider the health condition and leave.
The reporter found that many large factory employees complained on social media platforms about fatty liver, cervical spondylosis, heart palpitations and other physical problems caused by long-term overtime work. This is because the sudden death of a colleague has touched her so much that she finally chose to leave the Internet industry.
When Li Mianmian first joined the company, she enjoyed the culture of the Internet company and worked overtime without any problems. When I was young and in good health, I felt that I was far away from any injury or illness, and after working overnight, I could still go out the next day to eat, drink and be merry, and no one would have thought that illness or even death would befall me. I’ve never met death, but I’ve seen it, and this has been the biggest change in mindset. “
According to her, one of her colleagues often worked the night shift, but one day he stopped coming to work, and only after the company made an announcement did she learn that he had died of an illness, but Li Mianmian believed that it was actually sudden death. Another colleague of hers also came home from work one day and suffered a brain hemorrhage in the middle of the night, and is still in a vegetative state.
“In the system, the attribute of ‘human’ is a bit higher, but in an Internet company, I feel more like a A ‘tool’ with a high salary is a highly paid ‘tool man’. “Li Mianmian said.
Liu Yan also felt the same way. After her internship in FMCG, she unhesitatingly plunged into the public examination army. For her, the work on the Internet is too tiring, neither her own life, nor the sense of accomplishment of work. “It just felt like a tool on an assembly line. “
Stable and decent system, but the work is exhausting.
“Stability” is the reason why Yang Zibin chose a state-owned enterprise. Here, he doesn’t have to be anxious every day about performance appraisals, heavy tasks, unknown prospects and fast-changing industries, although the salary is not high, but leisurely and can have his own life.
“A small cup of tea is served up, no pressure. ” said Yang Zibin, “I’ll probably just do a tenth of the work I used to do and get three-fifths of the previous salary. “
Yang Zibin doesn’t need to think too much about his family’s burden. With the help of his family, he bought a house with all the money, and he also bought a car, and his wife can also have a stable job after graduating from her doctorate.
Linfei Wang is also considering leaving the Internet business. She has been working at an online educational institution for more than a month straight, and all of her personal life has been shared with her work, leaving her breathless.
“I think it’s even more excessive than 996, not only do I have to work overtime from Monday to Friday, but I also have to take time out of my weekend to attend classes. “Faye Wang told reporters, “My time is so cut up that I don’t have a full day to get a good night’s rest in bed. “
Online educational institutions were not her first choice for her job, but she expected to enter the system from the beginning. However, due to the restrictions of position, gender and hukou requirements, she was unable to find a suitable SOE. However, she has made up her mind to leave her job.
“Next April, after I get my year-end bonus, I’ll leave. ” she said, “I want to live a normal human life. “
After graduating from the United States, Zhang Liang got job offers from many SOEs and Internet companies, and at his parents’ suggestion, he gave up the Internet company and chose National Grid. He told reporters that he would also consider leaving SOEs and going back to the Internet company to make his way.
“Come to the SOE is not to earn this money to come, it can solve the household registration, provide housing, medical insurance and other benefits. “Zhang Liang said, “and to be an official in a state-owned enterprise, the level of respect he receives is not the same as being a small executive in the Internet. “
Zhang Liang believes that the resources in a SOE will be relatively more extensive. For example, the counterpart of the government or related state-owned enterprises can be familiar with the person in charge in advance to get acquainted, and if only in Internet companies, but lack of resources in this regard.
However, Zhang Liang told reporters that the work in the system is not as easy as most people think, “it is not a retirement career. “
He now works as a project manager with the same intensity, if not more, than when he interned at Jingdong in college. He needs to travel and discuss projects frequently, and sometimes he loses track of time when working overtime.
A civil servant in the system said that he was not under siege and did not know how hard the system was “squeezed”. He has not had a weekend for two weeks in a row, and at the longest he has not had a vacation in three or four months. There’s always something going on,” he said, “and you’re never without your cog. “
Zhang Liang said, “the intensity on the job, is able to really bring results, like some people do not work, there is no good way to learn by staying in the office, the great year of its own competitiveness will be low. “
Yu-Tian Wang believes that there is a difference between the overtime work in the system and the overtime atmosphere promoted by Internet companies. She told reporters that Internet companies put employees’ rest days into their work schedules as a normal practice. In order to avoid the high double pay on their days off, they generally choose the calculation method of low base salary + performance + overtime pay, and even if they work overtime on their days off, the hourly pay is still very low.
“And while in the system there is ‘more overtime for the grassroots and more work for newcomers’ It’s a ‘legend’, but still follows labor law. Even if you work overtime, it won’t be because the boss wants to make more money, but because there are urgent issues that need to be dealt with at the workplace,” said Yu-Tian Wang. There are always busy days and days off throughout the year, unlike some companies that are tense all year round. “
The “Midlife Crisis” Behind the “750,000 Salary” Posts
It is not uncommon to see similar posts on social media platforms, such as “giving up $750,000 annual salary to enter the system”. On Pulse, the topic of “Care Group for Middle-Aged Programmers” has nearly 200,000 followers. Many employees in large factories are under social and physical pressure after they reach a certain age and have to think about their future. “Involutionalization” and “hitting workers The popularity of these terms also reflects the “mid-life crisis” that pervades society today. “In the past, the potential for outward expansion of the Internet has shrunk compared to the past.
Compared to the past, the outward development potential of the Internet has shrunk, and companies that are caught up in inventory competition demand a “wolf culture” and “efficiency first” from their employees in order to control costs.
In this corporate culture, “beating workers” and even the freedom to go to the bathroom are deprived. People magazine previously reported that Internet companies have planned the time for the toilet pits, and if they are over a certain time, they will be recorded by the system.
“The best time to work for an Internet company is over,” he said. “Some programmers lamented on social media platforms. In the past, the dream of holding stocks and options, working for three to five years, and then realizing the freedom of wealth is rarely found anymore. “This has deterred many young people from aspiring to the Internet.
In an unstable social environment, Internet employees facing a “mid-life crisis” try to plan ahead, trying to enter state-owned enterprises, banks and other institutional units once and for all, but in reality, it is not easy to enter.
A user left a message under the post of “750,000 annual salary”, he also wanted to enter the system to change the fate of being fired, but the only difference is that after several efforts were not able to get into the test, failed to successfully “shore”.
It is worth noting that the trend of students from elite schools going into the system has become more obvious. According to the 2019 Annual Report on the Employment Quality of Peking University Graduates released by Peking University, nearly half of the 9,904 Peking University graduates surveyed chose to work in party and government organs and institutions, and 27.14% of the graduates went to state-owned enterprises. In other words, more than three-fourths of Peking University graduates entered the system.
“Now it’s getting harder and harder to get a public exam. “Liu Yan said. “The competition is getting fiercer, and the threshold is higher. In the past, ordinary 985 students they liked, but now they may only need Tsinghua and Peking University students, and even if they send a resume, there is no longer a response. “
(All names appearing in the text are pseudonyms at the request of the interviewer)
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