Why do American programmers have an easier job and work less overtime than Chinese programmers?
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I recently saw an article. I don't know if it's true or not. I'm sharing it with you. Please judge for yourself. Do you think it's true? Don't American programmers work overtime? They only work eight hours a day and can come and go as they please? You can't find them during non-working hours? And what about food and drinks? Let me tell you the real situation. It's... It is true. The overtime culture should be the most obvious difference between China and the United States. The reasons for this difference cannot be explained in just one or two sentences. I have worked in both countries and in different positions, so I will try to briefly talk about it from different angles. Programmers in China work overtime seriously, and the problem is not primarily with programmers as a group. There are many decisions made on the product level based on a snap of the fingers At the product level, there are many decisions made on the spot, which are euphemistically called "Internet thinking", "small steps and fast progress", and "trial and error thinking". In fact, they have not thought it through clearly. Anyway, I just mention a demand and the technical team will do it. If it succeeds after the launch, I am a product genius. If it fails, there is no harm. I can find an excuse saying "the Internet market changes too fast" to get away with it, or find a new project and continue to paint a rosy picture. There are too many product managers in China, many of whom are fresh graduates with no experience. They can only rely on their wild imagination to propose a requirement, which can make a group of technical experts work hard for several months to realize it. This is simply incredible. Even if the product manager is very good, when there are too many people, everyone wants to achieve results, and they all work hard to come up with ideas and propose requirements. How can the technical team cope with so many requirements? So there will be these phenomena: Holidays are coming, we launch an activity, or a holiday easter egg function. Competitors have launched a xx function, which looks good, so we rush to launch one too. 10 product managers tell you at the same time: I have checked this requirement with the boss, and it must be launched before xx. The product manager has not thought clearly about the value of a certain function, or the benefits it brings are not significant, and the technical team needs to pay a lot of effort for it, that is, work overtime. Of course, this is not necessarily the fault of the product manager. In domestic companies, the bosses give too many instructions. I won't say more. You know. In the United States, most product managers are people with very rich industry experience. They are either transferred from engineers or from many years of business experience and then studied MBA. It often takes half a year or a year to launch a function, from proposing an idea to seeing the update by the end user after rigorous theoretical deduction, multiple rounds of preliminary research, and scientific AB testing. Many unsuccessful ideas are "stillborn" before they are launched because of poor data. This not only improves the quality of product requirements, but also gives the technical team enough time to design and implement a sustainable development architecture. The technical team has low voice When making decisions, the management often pays more attention to product updates and iterations, while neglecting the construction of technology. For example, if the technical team has 100 hours, the boss may invest 90 hours in realizing product features, optimizing technology, and repairing technical debt. As a result, the technical implementation will be very rough. For example, if you are given a week to implement an IM function, will you consider modularization, maintainability, performance optimization, etc.? Of course, do it as fast as possible. Baidu has implemented the code of others, ctrl+v /ctrl+c, click to run, hey, it runs through, online. So many programmers in China look at other people's code and feel that it is a bunch of shit and completely unmaintainable, so they simply rewrite it themselves. Can the technical boss run to the boss and say, "Let's stop the product demand for a while and let our technical team optimize the infrastructure."? As long as he is not a fool, he will not say so. The low voice power is also reflected in the fact that there is almost no decision-making power over the product, and even cannot question the product decision. If you raise objections, you will always be blocked by the product manager for various reasons. The product manager has a sentence to end the debate: This is what the boss should do. Over time, technical debt piles up higher and higher, and there are more and more bugs. If programmers don’t work overtime, who will? The phenomenon in American companies is that technology has a very high voice, and a product demand that is not clearly thought out can be directly rejected by the technical team. At the same time, the technical team can independently spend a lot of time on technical optimization. The product can't be launched on time? The manager said: It doesn't matter, postpone it, and advance it according to the best technical solution. Sometimes you want to go online quickly, and submit a piece of shoddy code, which will be despised by your colleagues and scolded by your boss. In the last month of each quarter, we will devote our energy to make up for technical debt and put product needs aside. In such an environment, it may seem inefficient in the short term, but it is the most efficient in the long term. In China, the saying goes "haste makes waste", while in the United States, the saying goes "slow work makes fine work". Poor technical infrastructure In fact, the technical infrastructure of most companies is very poor. How many companies can afford a dedicated Infra team? How many technical teams can set up a small team specifically for Infra optimization? Even if there are, how many companies can guarantee that the results of the Infra team can be implemented throughout the company? I believe that companies that can do this are rare. Needless to say, small and medium-sized companies, in such a highly competitive environment, how can they afford to support a team that cannot directly bring about KPI improvement? Even if they have money, they don’t have time to optimize. But the reality is that there are still no internal tools that are common to the entire company, and each team is still reinventing the wheel. Alibaba has done a very good job. The big and medium-sized platform strategy that it started to implement in the past few years has achieved remarkable results and liberated the productivity of various product departments. Computer programs are completely different concepts when written by one person or a group of people, and when used by thousands of users or tens of millions of users. Without strong infrastructure construction, the larger the technical team, the lower the efficiency, the more users there are, and the more bugs there are.The more. You have to pay for what you have done. If no one pays attention to infrastructure today, countless programmers will work overtime for it in the future. Back in the United States, a dedicated Infra team is almost standard for every company. This is also the result of the engineering culture. The founders and executive teams must have a strong technical background and have gone through many detours, so they attach great importance to infrastructure construction, which is "important but not urgent". Abnormal workplace culture Finally, let’s talk about cultural differences. Americans pay great attention to individuals and families, and it is impossible for them to sacrifice their own time to work overtime for the company. They leave on time when it’s time to get off work, and never check emails outside of work hours. Many companies’ onboarding training specifically emphasizes how to balance work and life, which actually means: after-get off work time is your time, and you have the right not to deal with company affairs. On the other hand, in China, I don’t know when overtime has become a convention. There are also seemingly reasonable life experiences, such as “young people should work harder” and “working overtime can learn more and is good for the future.” Working overtime has become something that is honorable and can be used to compare with others. For example, if you work overtime until one or two in the morning, take a photo, post it on WeChat Moments, and are very happy to receive a thumbs-up from your boss. Managers also buy into this. Those who work more overtime and are good at handling things will have more advantages during the assessment. In this atmosphere of overtime, even "pseudo overtime" has appeared. I arrive at the company at 10 in the morning, go to the toilet, read the news, and browse my Moments. It's already 11:30, and I haven't done any work. Then I prepare to have lunch. After lunch, I go for a walk and take a nap. It's 2 o'clock again. I write some code and browse Zhihu. Another afternoon has passed. Many companies have free dinners. After lunch, I come back around 7 o'clock, write some code, and grind until 10 o'clock. Oh yeah, it's another fulfilling day. I'll post a Moments to let my boss know. In fact, the effective working time in a day is less than 8 hours, but it is "overtime". To sum up, this is probably the reason why overtime is so serious in China. Teams are almost standard for every company. This is also the result of engineering culture. The founders and senior management team must have a strong technical background and have gone through many detours, so they attach great importance to infrastructure construction, which is "important but not urgent". Abnormal workplace culture Finally, let's talk about cultural differences. Americans pay much attention to individuals and families, and it is impossible for them to sacrifice their own time to work overtime for the company. They leave on time when it is time to get off work, and never check emails during non-working hours. Many companies’ on-the-job training specifically emphasizes how to balance work and life, which actually means: after-get off work time is your time, and you have the right not to deal with company affairs. On the other hand, in China, I don’t know when overtime has become a convention. There are also seemingly reasonable life experiences, such as "young people should work harder" and "working overtime can help you learn more and is good for your future". Overtime has become a glorious phenomenon that can be used for comparison. For example, if you work overtime until one or two in the morning, take a photo, post it on WeChat Moments, and receive a thumbs-up from your boss, you will be very happy. Managers also buy into this. Those who work more overtime and are good at handling things will have more advantages during the assessment. In this atmosphere of overtime, even "pseudo overtime" has appeared. I arrive at the company at 10 in the morning, go to the toilet, read the news, and browse my Moments. It's already 11:30, and I haven't done any work. Then I prepare to have lunch. After lunch, I go for a walk and take a nap. It's 2 o'clock again. I write some code and browse Zhihu. Another afternoon has passed. Many companies have free dinners. After lunch, I come back around 7 o'clock, write some code, and grind until 10 o'clock. Oh yeah, it's another fulfilling day. I'll post a Moments to let my boss know. In fact, the effective working time in a day is less than 8 hours, but it is "overtime". To sum up, this is probably the reason why overtime is so serious in China. Teams are almost standard for every company. This is also the result of engineering culture. The founders and senior management team must have a strong technical background and have gone through many detours, so they attach great importance to infrastructure construction, which is "important but not urgent". Abnormal workplace culture Finally, let's talk about cultural differences. Americans pay much attention to individuals and families, and it is impossible for them to sacrifice their own time to work overtime for the company. They leave on time when it is time to get off work, and never check emails during non-working hours. Many companies’ on-the-job training specifically emphasizes how to balance work and life, which actually means: after-get off work time is your time, and you have the right not to deal with company affairs. On the other hand, in China, I don’t know when overtime has become a convention. There are also seemingly reasonable life experiences, such as "young people should work harder" and "working overtime can help you learn more and is good for your future". Overtime has become a glorious phenomenon that can be used for comparison. For example, if you work overtime until one or two in the morning, take a photo, post it on WeChat Moments, and receive a thumbs-up from your boss, you will be very happy. Managers also buy into this. Those who work more overtime and are good at handling things will have more advantages during the assessment. In this atmosphere of overtime, even "pseudo overtime" has appeared. I arrive at the company at 10 in the morning, go to the toilet, read the news, and browse my Moments. It's already 11:30, and I haven't done any work. Then I prepare to have lunch. After lunch, I go for a walk and take a nap. It's 2 o'clock again. I write some code and browse Zhihu. Another afternoon has passed. Many companies have free dinners. After lunch, I come back around 7 o'clock, write some code, and grind until 10 o'clock. Oh yeah, it's another fulfilling day. I'll post a Moments to let my boss know. In fact, the effective working time in a day is less than 8 hours, but it is "overtime". To sum up, this is probably the reason why overtime is so serious in China. The reason for the weight.The reason for the weight.
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