Another year of “three gold, silver and four” has passed.

Every year at this time, young graduates rub their hands and prepare for months to squeeze into big factories; big manufacturers who have won year-end awards secretly seek new ways out. Some people have outstanding records, are showing off their new work cards in their circle of friends, and are always keeping a secret; others are still refreshing their email addresses every day, answering every strange phone call, and looking forward to the number cards that big manufacturers love.

Whether a newcomer wants to go in or an elderly person wants to go out, the job search turntable can never be bypassed by major internet companies. Despite these two years, news such as the “options trap,” “996,” “the 35-year-old curse,” “time to use the toilet,” “CEO dismissal group chat,” “internal interrogation,” and “employee surveillance” have been increasingly trending.

Qian Zhongshu introduced an old English saying in “Siege of the City,” to the effect that marriage is like a gold-painted birdcage. The birds outside the cage want to live in, but the birds inside the cage want to fly out. Today, this sentence seems to have become a true prophecy for young people in this era. The golden birdcage is a major internet company.

In the process of communicating with the employees of the large factory, I discovered that there was almost no real anger or disappointment about the “employee problems” frequently revealed by the factory. On the contrary, they were in an atmosphere of exhaustion, anxiety, confusion, and self-persuasion. It seemed like they spread their fingers and showed it to you. The problem was there, but where can I go?

However, some of those who left moved between major factories, and some chose to start businesses, keeping a deep secret about their past experiences. But in reality, the moment you leave the context of the big factory, the test in the true sense of the word has only just begun.

“What is a good job for us?” Some people asked Xiang Biao, professor of social anthropology at Oxford University in the UK. The professor said, “Jobs that are not afraid to be repeated, cooperative work, and work useful to others are all good jobs.”

He believes that many young people feel that they are tool people because of time pressure — they are required to be on call 24 hours a day. He suggested that we must not be deprived of our autonomy at the operational level; we are not completely controlled by our boss; let us do what we do; we should have space to reflect, observe, and discuss whether we want to do this.

It's just, this proposal looks great, but how practical is it for big manufacturers?

996,007

But young people's first volunteers are still big factories

Randy, who stayed at a leading gaming company, recalled his interviews and internships. To put it modestly, it was a lot of luck plus a bit of talent.

As soon as he joined the company, Randy participated in a training course lasting 3-4 months. There will be multiple assessments at the end of the year, which will affect his development after entering the job. Once he counts down, he may face not being able to be promoted. “The pressure was very high. At the time, I had to stay up all night almost once a week, and I instantly felt the rhythm of the big factory.” he recalled.

Even so, Randy is one of the lucky few fresh graduates.

A 21st year graduate looking for a job found a collapse. “My results are OK. I don't think it's a problem to go to a major factory. In fact, I'm too young and too self-righteous.”

She reviewed her interview experience, and it can be seen that she has met almost all major internet companies. At the end, she wrote on social platforms that she decided to end the fall recruitment battle starting today. It's not because I got a satisfactory offer; it's because I really couldn't get an offer.

Alex graduated from a C9 college in 2020, majoring in computer science, and his GPA was higher in the middle class of the whole year. In March of this year, Alex directly hired and communicated with BOSS for one of the few positions requiring only “1-3 years of experience”. The platform provided a personal comprehensive competitiveness analyzer hint: his condition is that he can only rank below the competition.

Since the fall recruitment began last year, the “Tencent Written Test” and “Ali Written Test” have frequently been trending because of their difficulty. “The title has to make people autistic. Autumn tricks are being brushed out, and it's a heavy blow to self-confidence.” A student followed up and commented. Afterwards, this post resonated with many graduates: “Last class 211, blame myself for not being good at studying, and now I want to go to Haidilao to work in the service industry.”

It is inevitable that it is difficult to find a job. According to data estimates from the Ministry of Education, the number of graduates in 2021 is close to 10 million. Excluding 1 million postgraduate admissions, 9 million fresh graduates will enter the job market. In addition, the employment problems of more than 10 million “newcomers” will need to be solved.

According to BOSS's “Early Bird Report on Fall Recruiting 2021 Fresh Graduates”, the number of 2021 fresh graduates who have started job hunting since July last year is 44.5% higher than the same period last year, and the pace of job search is ahead of schedule.

“Basically, all that can be released is social recruitment, and large factories are also looking forward to experienced skilled workers.” A group leader with recruitment experience in Dachang said that apart from regular school recruitment channels, the only options left by Dachang to fresh graduates are interns.

On the recruitment platform, jobs released by major manufacturers are more concentrated in the 3-5 year and 5-10 year range

Nor are interns open to everyone. Many employees of major factories told Shenghan that large factories are all globalizing, and now all interns are “overseas returnees” and are not being recruited. “We now have foreign colleagues in every department, as well as colleagues and agents based in foreign offices. Even for 985 and 211 students who have never gone abroad, their English proficiency is generally poor.”

At the end of the day, big internet companies attract young people because of their high salaries and good benefits. However, every gift in the world indicates a price. High pay also means infinitely squeezed private space, frequent overtime, and overwork.

Seeing that some of his colleagues who joined the company couldn't stand it and quit their jobs before their training was over, Randy thought very clearly. During the interview, the interviewer asked him what he thought of 996. His answer was, “If the money is in place, I'll do it.”

Big factory, not a shrine

Young people look at pre-tax wages, and working people see hand options.

Stock gains brought about by the listing of internet companies have become a rare channel for young people to achieve freedom of wealth and class transition. The story of the employees of the big factory cashed out in the early years and left became the motivation for latecomers to move on.

Today, this hope is more like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey by a production team.

In the middle of the night before the labor contract expires, the middle management of a major company received a notice not to renew the contract from manpower. This is equivalent to an announcement: after three years of work, they won't get any of the options promised back then, and based on the stock price at the time of separation, the value is at least 400 million yuan. A big name in the industry joined another major Internet company. Two weeks after joining the company, I heard the news that the company's listing was suspended.

Industry insiders ridiculed that an option is actually a lottery ticket, but people on the internet mistook it for a real estate certificate.

On the one hand, post-listing performance is the key to supporting stock prices. “Many star companies have experienced a situation where earnings have been diluted, and shareholding employees watched their profits disappear in an instant in half the night before the sale.” According to an industry insider, this has also become the biggest psychological shadow of all internet people who expect to rely on options to change their fate since then. On the other hand, even for large companies that are about to go public, in the past two years, options have essentially been distributed according to the amount of the year-end bonus.

For young people who have just left school, “generating electricity for love” is also valuable — the growth brought by big factories is obvious.

“I used to have very poor logic. Now, whether it's talking to people or making materials, I know how to present what I want to present the most, and how to make others follow your ideas and are unable to refute them.” Randy has already felt a change in himself, even though he is new to the job.

Li Jialiang, a senior Internet employee, joined a company that is now a leader in the local lifestyle sector when she graduated. After staying for eight years, she went from the frontline to the management of the headquarters. “I was a student who hadn't graduated at the time, so it was easy for me to communicate with people who are very good now.” For this, Li Jialiang has always been grateful. But if I want to have this kind of exchange now, I don't have a chance.

BAT work experience teams are already an important means for startups to attract talent

However, later, these people all shared the same feeling: leading Internet companies have become the most established organizations in the Internet community. Several BAT employees told Shenghan that before joining the company, they thought the company's keywords were high technology, cutting-edge, and openness, but after integration, they discovered that “departmental barriers are serious, bosses fight, and efficiency is very low. If all of these are removed, it is estimated that the stock price can double again.”

Looking back at the development history of major internet companies, there is no shortage of cases of infighting. Countless companies have even been dragged down as a result. On social networks, anonymous rumors of infidels in major companies have also surfaced endlessly. Dachang's infighting is like an elephant in a room. It's always been around, but it's an obscure topic that can't be taken up on the stage.

“Your immediate supervisor, not your performance and ability to do things, determines your life or death.” The first production rule that big manufacturers need to learn is to manage upward, package themselves, and seize land. “This is the core competitiveness of almost every position in the company. If you really plan to come to the factory, lower your expectations, calculate the input-output ratio, and come at a reasonable price. Don't go here to achieve your ideals; it's not appropriate.” An employee posted his opinion anonymously online.

“The middle management in large factories, in particular, has always been in a state of anxiety because they are afraid that their subordinates will crowd out and replace themselves, and that their superiors will not be satisfied. Under such circumstances, promotion claims will be placed in a very high position, and completing one's KPI is more important than anything else. In contrast, the company's interests will be put to the back burner, making it particularly easy to throw the pot and infighting. Similarly, projects that require the cooperation of various departments are difficult to advance.” Xiaolei, a middle manager at a major factory, told Shenghan.

The alternation of old and new is also one of the flashpoints of conflict concentration. Young people in their 20s often feel that it is difficult for the elderly to get results but take their place; after being promoted to a certain level, the elderly will fall into a long stalemate.

“Old people who have been around for years talk to you about their qualifications at every turn, or use the tone of old qualifications to teach you, 'You're not worth', rather than just talking about the matter. The company and team also need these old people because the company is too big and wants to work across departments. These old people are better greeted.” An employee of a major factory concluded that, therefore, large companies have a very clear chain of contempt. People who have been in 10 years despise people for 5 years, and people who have been around for 3 years despise people for 3 years. If this is a delay, people who have stayed for a year will also despise newcomers who have just arrived.

The experience of qualified large factory employees is that in case of trouble, it is not about making sense; it depends not on ability and experience, but on qualifications. Whoever has older qualifications has the right to speak.

Man Fei, an employee at a leading e-commerce company, believes that being an elderly person who has been waiting for many years also feels powerless. On the one hand, it stems from “not only having to launch a new project, but not offending people; it is difficult to have both.” On the other hand, when accomplishing many things, others don't directly link work results to abilities. However, after a few years of hardworking, Manffy gradually discovered that what he wanted did not match the company's needs, and further promotion only “depends on fate.”

The alternating conflict between old and new has erupted more thoroughly over the issue of salary inversion. There is a highly discussed topic on Zhihu: “According to the Internet, the annual salary of fresh graduates in Meituan in 2020 is 35w+, seriously reversing old employees. Is this forcing the elderly to leave their jobs?”

What is interesting is that, to a certain extent, this forced the elderly in the big factory to leave their jobs. It's an indisputable secret that internet companies will pay newcomers higher wages, and even some major internet companies say “when you join a job, you reach the peak.” Plus, the big internet companies are all robbing people in a small pool. The more aggressive the robbery, the higher the starting salary. As a result, major manufacturers were afraid to announce their salaries in advance this year; they all waited for others to play cards first and then adjust their own strategies.

Yu Bai, an employee of the leading live streaming platform, has worked for startups before. Often, the whole team works together for the same project, while in Dachang, they often need to work with teams from multiple different departments within the same period of time and perform multiple tasks in parallel. “How to become more 'quarrelsome' is also an ability that Dachang must learn.”

Arguing is due to unclear division of labor and internal competition for resources. For this reason, they spend at least half of their time communicating with people every day, have to respond 7 x 24 hours a day, and there will never be an endless meeting. “Sometimes meetings are almost over, and people are still arguing about topics.” Yu Bai recalled that the final consensus was to make a project report first, get the money and ask for someone first, and then talk about it.

Grassroots employees are like this. Li Jialiang, who climbed to the middle level, was also worried about adapting to the working conditions in the big factory. After a long time, he chose to leave his job and start a business. He discovered that most of the colleagues who left were moving between large factories, and the number of people starting businesses accounted for less than 1/5.

According to Li Jialiang, compared to starting a business, it is easier to go to a big factory. “People who choose to start a business have higher abilities in all aspects than those who stay in big factories. This is probably a bit anti-mainstream perception in society.” He explained that when people stagnate in the organizational structure, they take defense first, while entrepreneurs have no position to defend; they can only attack.

Want to leave the factory? But the body is very honest

According to the results of a survey last year, workers in the Internet industry ranked third to last in terms of job happiness and satisfaction. Entering the second half of the Internet, the company's increasingly high-target demand and the physical and mental health of employees under heavy pressure have increased in conflict with the naked eye. But even so, many of the front waves were indecisive. They survived year after year in the siege, and there were also many young back waves rushing towards that siege.

“It's normal for people to come and go. There is no shortage of great people in big factories. If anyone leaves, they can quickly find someone better to replace them.” Xu Xin, who works for a leading short video company, said. His company was criticized because its employees looked like “ants on hot pots,” but it didn't affect the enthusiasm of internet people looking for jobs.

There is no shortage of people in large companies, so the project team has a strong sense of crisis, and even project leaders may be replaced at any time. On the third day after joining the company, Yifan, who is on the leading short video platform, was told that the business was not going to work. “My whole eyes were dark at the time”. He was then adjusted to do jobs that were completely unrelated to his previous position and could not even be classified. Wanwan wanted to apply for a job transfer, which was very hindered. There are not a few big manufacturers like Evan.

But why don't old employees leave? Zhang Jun, an employee of a major factory, summed up the emotions in this contradiction: on the one hand, when the company's environment is not at the point of nothing, high wages and benefits can partially offset some negative feelings; on the other hand, people who have “survived” in the company's competition are still somewhat “arrogant” and have to face new uncertainties when they go out.

In addition to that, the more realistic question facing these big manufacturers is: After jumping out of here, where should we go next? Is the outside world really better?

There are only a few foreign companies left, and the cost of changing jobs is also very high; if you wait to get promoted, you'll have to start from scratch when you get a new company; the year-end bonus is almost ready, so there's no reason to give up; the company is about to go public, and there is finally a way out for the shares accumulated over so many years. “This is the difference between an old person and a newcomer. It's not that the profits created by the elderly are not as large as the newcomers, but that the burden on the shoulders of the elderly is heavier than that of newcomers, and the cost of changing jobs is higher than that of newcomers.” A major factory employee reluctantly concluded.

Ye Ming's large factory is famous in the industry for its high-pressure and overtime culture, and it even fell into turmoil at the beginning of the year. After joining this company, he lost 20 pounds due to staying up late and eating and resting irregularly. Since February, he has communicated with no less than 20 companies on BOSS direct employment. Many of them have also gone through phone interviews, but they all ended up without incident. “The current salary paid by the company is too high. It is difficult to accept a 30%-40% salary cut; looking at it the other way around, adding more than 20 hours a week to get 30% to 40% more money is a good deal.”

There are also employees who can't let go of everything they already have. Xu Xin has the same concerns. The current company can provide the highest salary for the same job, and also include three meals and housing allowance benefits. This is a very realistic bonus condition. “The benefits of this company are already so good, I'm still so unhappy. I jumped to a small company, what if a bigger hole appears?”

She discovered that her colleagues all had this mentality, so rational people would make themselves more in line with the company's values. “Frankly speaking, it's about assimilating yourself, so you'll feel better.” Xu Xin now feels that his dissatisfaction with this job is not a company problem; it is a problem with his position.

According to Zhang Jun's plan, if he decides to change jobs, it must not be because of the job itself, but because his health really doesn't work, or he wants to move on to the next stage of his life, such as getting married and having children. Now she wants to work in this position with peace of mind and minimize the time and opportunity costs associated with changing jobs. “Wait until I need to put my family first and find an easy job.”

In fact, too many people who stayed in Kitakami Hiroshi had this kind of plan — wait until they don't feel well before leaving, but in reality, this can't be called a choice; it's more like a hopeless joke about life.

And those who stay active or passive will have to face 996. “I don't think 996 itself is important; what matters is what 996 is for.” “In fact, even if you don't do anything for a day, you can get double wages, but the vast majority of people don't want to spend a day at the company on the weekend.” “996 is not a big manufacturer's fault, but advocating 996 is a big manufacturer's problem.”

In fact, none of these big factory employees really wanted 996.

Li Jialiang now occasionally chats with his former colleagues. He feels that these people trapped in the siege are very pitiful. “The world is diverse, yet one value is used to cut it all together. Many large factory employees will also set themselves up to those values and then PUA themselves.”

Just a while ago, an employee at a major factory discovered that he had anxiety disorder and depression, which was accompanied by high intracranial pressure. He posted a mocking circle of friends, saying that he only asked the doctor, will you gain weight if you take these pills? Also note that in this circle of friends, colleagues are not visible.

*The title picture is from Visual China. At the interviewee's request, Alex, Randy, Yu Bai, Man Fei, Yi Fan, Zhang Jun, Xu Xin, Ye Ming, Li Jialiang, and Xiaolei are pseudonyms.