This is my response to the topic of 996 that the interviewer asked during my first job interview.
During the interview, I didn't think about it too much. This is something I reflected on afterwards.
When I heard about 996, I felt an indescribable feeling. Should I say it's a sense of oppression? Or a feeling of suffocation? The question of "How do I view 996?" triggered some thoughts in me.
What kind of 996 can't I accept? Do I have to think about work-related matters from 9 AM to 9 PM every day for six consecutive days? For example, if I have to fix company bugs from 9 AM to 9 PM every day, I believe there is no room for independent thinking. I think I need some time to "read technical books," "write journals," "summarize certain things," and "work on personal projects."
What kind of 996 can I accept? My ideal work pattern is to focus on "battling" during the day, dealing with company business and work-related issues, and then starting from 6:30 PM, I can have the freedom to do the things I mentioned earlier.
In fact, even if the company doesn't require 996, I would still have another level of 996. Is 996 a problem? I don't think so. Every ambitious and hardworking young person should have a 996 mentality. At least during my university years, I basically studied in the library or attended classes from 8 AM to 10 PM (excluding Saturday and Sunday afternoons). I didn't play games or watch anime in the library either. I didn't feel that it was inappropriate because I could decide what to study during my time at school. However, I cannot accept having to think about work-related matters for 12 hours in a day. I can accept working and studying for 12 hours a day, but I want to have the freedom to decide the content of 3 hours of studying.
Actually, what I care most about is that I want to develop in direction A (which is a technical field), but because the company doesn't use that specific technology or uses it less frequently, I have to learn it outside of the 996 schedule. Is it possible to have the freedom to learn the technology I want to learn in addition to 996? For example, I want to understand spring and spring cloud, or the technology stack related to big data.