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by seanmcdirmid 134 days ago
996 is a Chinese term, not American.

There is a lot of work to do, just because you are doing more work with your time doesn’t mean you can somehow count that as less work.

2 comments

I've only seen it in job postings and linkedin posts from SF founders.
I'm not sure if you are serious, but 996 was invented by the Chinese tech industry in 2019 and I've never heard it to describe anything in the USA (well, until today). Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system

Note all the examples are also Chinese. There is a recent edit at the bottom of the page though:

Occurrence in US tech companies In 2025, amidst the AI boom, reports have emerged of startup tech companies in San Francisco / Silicon Valley requiring "9-9-6" work schedules, with the goal of building things quickly in a competitive market.[15][16][17] California Labor Code §515.5 exempts employers from providing many software engineers with overtime pay.

china outlawed it
What? 007 is the norm here now.