What is the difference between domestic and foreign coders? Are they all 996?

Have you ever thought about this problem? Why are some technologies and frameworks that are popular abroad rarely recognized in China? Is it a technical reason or a human reason?

I just happened to see an article on Zhihu today comparing the differences between domestic and foreign programmers. The original author is an anonymous user on Zhihu.

What he writes is somewhat emotional, so just read it, don’t take it seriously, just get a general idea haha. After all, we have little accumulation, so we need generations to work hard.

Original link:

https://www.zhihu.com/question/497793332/answer/2216734220

The following is the text.

I worked in the United States for two years and experienced reverse culture shock when I returned to China. Now I have barely adapted to the rhythm of domestic Internet companies. Just a casual chat, I don’t have any intention of worshiping foreigners, I just happened to be very unhappy about being exploited recently, so I took the opportunity to complain.

1. Age

American company:

• Colleagues range from their 20s to their 70s, most of them He is a middle-aged man in his thirties and forties. Most of his work goals are to retire as soon as possible. He can throw a retirement party at any time when he saves enough money. There are also some who choose not to retire purely because they love their work and love writing code.

• One of the core members of our team is a 72-year-old man. He gets up at around 4 o'clock every day and goes to the company to write code for a while. After dawn, he puts on his helmet and goes mountain biking. I exercise in my car and go back to the company around 9 o'clock to continue working. I was deeply impressed by this old man because he has clear logic and sharp thinking. He is a member of the code review team. He often yells in emails about how poorly written the code written by others is. When he was complained, he had to apologize in the email. A few days later, God continued to scold me, and the cycle continued during the two years I worked.

• Another senior colleague of mine is a 68-year-old architect. He loves his work and is cheerful every day. He is also very friendly to new graduates like me. Someone asked When would he retire, he replied the day he died.

Company in our country:

• After returning to China, the company where I now work has an average employee age of under 35 years old. Where have all the older people gone? Very few are in management, or start a business, or maybe it’s because China’s Internet started late.

2. Working overtime

American company:

• I have never worked overtime, and I send my work at night Except for the next day (the next day will be taken off by default).

• We are often in a meeting, and when the time reaches 5:30, the product interrupts the leader and says that he will go back to feed the dog at the end of the hour (he is a 50-year-old unmarried man who has raised (a yard of dogs), and then dismissed the meeting and got off work.

• You need to apply for overtime work. Once I applied to work overtime on weekday evenings, but it was not approved and I had to go home. Because overtime pay will be relatively high, it needs to be based on the project budget, and the leadership will not approve the budget under control.

• Occasionally I go to the office to pick up things on weekends. There are only two or three cars in the several-story parking lot.

Our company:

• 996 is common.

• What impressed me most was that there was a young man in our company who had a bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University and a master's degree from the United States. He got off work on time at 7:30 every day. As a result, he was fired during the probation period because his work attitude was not positive. It is said that he later filed a lawsuit with the company, and he did not know whether he would win or lose.

3. Code quality

American company:

• The time spent in the early stage of the project is The most common ones include requirements analysis, architecture discussion, and technical discussion.

• Writing code will allow you to consider the long term and have more time to consider development principles and maintenance costs. Leaders will also be willing to arrange versions to resolve technical debt.

Chinese company:

• The pace of the domestic Internet will be much faster. It pays attention to small steps and fast running. It only takes a few days of development time, no matter 3721 will go online first. I was shocked at first.

4. Working atmosphere

American companies:

• Old American companies do respect their employees more , do a better job in caring for employees. I can feel that it is different from leadership positions, but our personalities are equal and we respect each other.

• I remember that a few days before a version was released, the programmer in the team said that he was under too much pressure. The leader gave him a holiday to relax and adjust, and the version was delayed.

• The United States has a family-first culture. There is an old Indian colleague whose elderly family member is in poor health. The company allows him to return to India to work and take care of his family, and he can work remotely and cross-border. Colleagues often take time off to watch their children play. The leader himself occasionally takes off Fridays because he has to participate in school charity activities with his daughter.

• The acceptance of differences is also relatively high. I have transgender and disabled colleagues, and we all get along well with them.

Chinese companies:

• Most of the leaders are aloof (I met them) and have great authority. Asking for a leave was like asking him to borrow money. The team leader also reminded me not to write "travel" as the reason for asking for leave, otherwise the leave might not be approved.

• I remember that there was a demand that everyone thought was unreasonable and unnecessary. I went to communicate with the leader. I just mentioned it and before I could expand on it, the leader immediately said, "Are you the leader or am I the leader?"

• There was a colleague who was ostracized and cold-blooded because of his uprightness and disagreement with his boss. He was forced to resign and refused to pay compensation.

• Holding an online accident review meeting and doing root cause analysis is like nailing someone to a pillar of shame. I don’t understand how this will help solve the problem.

5. Outside work

American companies:

• attach great importance to investment in health . At least 1/3 of my colleagues have the habit of going to the gym every morning. There are many stadiums in the company, and you can see many colleagues playing football and volleyball downstairs after get off work in the evening. Fitness is not just for exercise, it is also a hobby for many colleagues. Programmers who look ordinary may be hidden sports masters. There are marathon runners and mountain bike riders everywhere, as well as many extreme sports enthusiasts.

• Like going to the dentist. I like to watch various sports games. I like to travel and basically take at least one family trip every year, and cruises are a popular item.

• Some colleagues are keen on giving back to the society through charity, ranging from donating blood and money to charity, to organizing charity auctions.

• According to my observation, there is not much nightlife. After work, I drive directly home to two o'clock and one line. Occasionally, I have dinner with colleagues and friends. Maybe it’s my own feeling that the connection between people is relatively weak, so Chinese coders often complain about emptiness and boredom.

• The rest of the time of married colleagues is the same as in our country, spent on raising children and investing.

Chinese company:

• Many colleagues in the office dare not read the physical examination report. They are all young people in their 20s, and they have been diagnosed with everything from cholecystitis, stones, and gout. . . A few days ago, a close colleague asked for leave for hemorrhoid surgery (covering his face). According to him, it was because he sat for a long time and often ate crayfish while working overtime.

• In comparison, the turnover rate is much higher. Every month, several colleagues I know leave their jobs, change jobs, change careers, or go back to their hometowns to settle down.

• Except for the leaders, almost everyone looked very anxious and thought about retreating and taking public exams.