Zoe Du was once a typical employee at a big tech company in China, working long hours six days a week. Once, after weeks of working her job until 11pm every day, she passed out in her office.
Du, who lives in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province, is one of tens of thousands of Chinese workers who have quit their jobs at the country's big tech companies in recent years as the industry lost growth momentum. Tech jobs remain the highest-paying jobs in China's job market, but with layoffs and the value of stock options shrinking, tech jobs are no longer seen as a shortcut to wealth.
ByteDance reveals dozens of cases of internal misconduct, including bribery
ByteDance reveals dozens of cases of internal misconduct, including bribery
The Chinese internet giant has cut jobs in recent years, affecting tens of thousands of people. According to financial disclosures, at the end of 2023, China's so-called BAT (Baidu, South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings) had 364,477 employees, an increase of 20,000 from the previous year. The number of people decreased by nearly 5,000. However, the reduction in total headcount is not entirely a result of cost cutting, as companies are also undergoing significant business transformations.
Du, who goes by the nickname Danna online, said that China's big tech companies are “not as prosperous as they were a few years ago,” and that at least 70 percent of his former colleagues pursue their own businesses just like him. He added that he resigned because of this. did.
Du founded Ziranliu, which means “natural flow” in English, in 2021 to help web influencers grow and monetize online traffic. The company, which has just eight employees, achieved annual revenue of 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) last year and has successfully made more than 150 clients famous on its short video platform.
Du said his experience working at companies, including his most recent employer, ByteDance, has proven valuable, giving him an understanding of data, web traffic, and management.
Wang Shijin, a former product manager at search giant Baidu and now-defunct bike rental startup OFO, has a similar story. Wang said his five years in the corporate world helped him develop a “more structured” work style that prioritized data. She has also been constantly challenged to do a better job in the Big Tech work environment, which has allowed her to develop a more critical eye.
Wang left Ofo in 2017, at a time when both startups and the internet industry were growing rapidly. By April of that year, Ofo's user base had reached 40 million people in more than 70 cities around the world, according to co-founder Zhang Siding, but within months it ran out of capital and still has millions of users. I am borrowing a security deposit from.
Mr. Wang felt that there were limits to his contribution to such a vast undertaking, so he decided to retire. “As a product manager, she could only decide what her campaign page looked like on the app,” she said.
Her first solo venture was training to be a product manager. At that time, the Internet field was so attractive that for many people the role of product manager seemed easier than programming. Mr. Wang's business achieved revenue of 20 million yuan in the first year.
However, the business environment has changed since 2020, when the pandemic shut down all in-person classes. At the same time, the demand for product manager training has decreased.
“People who entered the Internet field” [after 2020] We didn’t get the benefit of the previous boom,” she said. As a result, her product, her manager, her class attendance decreased to one fifth of what it was before, and she was forced to change direction.
In 2021, Wang used the pseudonym PMWang on platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, and launched a new persona as an online professional for product training, career tips, and self-employment.
This approach, where tech workers leverage their Big Tech experience to help online influencers, is trending today. A search using the term “Big Tech exit” on Douyin returns dozens of results, including accounts offering advice on job hunting, e-commerce, career change, and management.
Do said her life is “much freer” now compared to her ByteDance days. “When I'm tired, I take a day or two off, go on a trip, get closer to nature, or just meditate,” she said.
China's internet sector, notorious for its 996 working hours from 9am to 9pm every day, six days a week, has been shut down by companies following widespread criticism and bad publicity due to rare cases of employees dying on the job. has relaxed his attitude.
But some current ByteDance and Tencent employees say they still have to work late into the night and sometimes on weekends to meet project deadlines.
Do, a self-employed entrepreneur, sometimes works until 9 p.m., but he no longer cares because “this is what I own and am passionate about.”
She said the hardest part of running your own business is before you start. After quitting her ByteDance, she thought hard about becoming an entrepreneur for six months. “I kept asking myself questions and feeling guilty about not getting paid,” she said, but added, “For someone who has been running non-stop for years, rest is essential. “I did,” he added.
