This sort of backsliding on labor rights is why we need a tech workers union now more than ever. Go on strike. Starve the exploiters.

You cannot ask staff to be on afterburners constantly for weeks or months on end. It damages the engine.

99* and 00* are what I do during hackathons, not work. I write some of the worst, god-awful code I've ever seen during hackathons, because I need to get the idea working. I(and the company) can't afford to merely "get the idea working" in production.

Maybe it’s just me having low energy levels, but for me, I can’t fathom working 996 while continuing to do focused and deep work consistently.

At the moment I work 9-5, a few meetings per day, so maybe 5-6 hours focused work, and I’m mentally exhausted by the end.

I found out that it was a very limited wavier in Chinese law that permitted a few companies to do 996 (or 9am to 9pm 6 days a week, or 72 hour workweeks).

Now, I'm seeing US companies demand that here. Like, hell no. My body and health isn't worth what you're paying, and the answer 996'ers aren't paying double, or even 1.5x the position.

Saner parts of the world are discussing 37.5h/weeks, and even going to 4 day workweeks.

I mean, hell, if I'm expected to work gross overtime, I expect overtime pay. Guess like I should get into electrician union.

The most interesting point in this post, which resonates with me, is to those of us who work a lot, 996 sounds ridiculous. It sounds ridiculous because to work a lot, you have to fit in the gaps around your life. I have done about 60hrs/week for the last 15 years. My scheduled work is barely 10-4 five days a week, with a lunch break, and with a break three days a week for the gym. To get the hours in I wake up at 5:30 most days and start work, unless a kid needs me, or I'm sick, or one of a dozen other things comes up. I won't take your call at that time, I won't respond to texts, and I'm not going to promise to be up then, because long hours require a lot of flexibility. You don't have to be espousing the four-day workweek or a part-time lifestyle to roll your eyes at the 996. If I can't long-term schedule 60hrs/week, there's no universe where someone's scheduling 72hrs/week. It's just performative nonsense.

I'm sure the people in China who claim to work 996 and those who demand it all know that the truth of hard work is complicated. I'm certain they all work damned hard, and the results are there for the world to see with the amazing success their country is having at absolutely everything. The nature of hard work doesn't fit some silly schedule.

I think Carl Newport had in his book "Deep Work" that Number of Hours or Looking Busy was the measure of being productive in the Industrial Age but doesn't suit the knowledge worker(us/developers).