After getting Kuaishou's resignation certificate, Song Zhou spent three days sorting everything out and preparing to go to the new owner's house. After three years in Kuaishou, the feelings naturally existed. During the period of leaving, it was indispensable to have a casual meal with various colleagues. During the banquet, Song Zhou frequently raised a glass and said to colleagues more than once, "often contact, there will be a period later." But Song Zhou knew in his heart that after this parting, I was afraid that it would be difficult to see him again.
Song Zhou's next stop is Chongqing, where he will join Changan Automobile as a JAVA engineer. Although it was changed from a super-first-tier city beijing to Chongqing, Song Zhou's welfare benefits did not decrease after he jumped ship, and the basic salary was even about 15% higher than in Kuaishou.
Escape from the Internet factory and turn around and throw yourself into the arms of a traditional automobile factory. If this had been five years ago, probably most people would have thought it incredible.
In the past decade, a new round of rapid development has matured the behemoth of the "Internet factory". With the aura of a large factory and generous salaries and benefits, Bat, ByteDance and other Internet companies have attracted a group of outstanding talents, including a large number of programmers. Traditional manufacturing is regarded as an unpopular job by most programmers.
In the past two years, the balance in the minds of job seekers has quietly tilted.
Future Auto Daily found that more and more programmers in internet factories have begun to turn their job search to traditional manufacturing factories. CCTV financial survey shows that the trend of recruitment is changing the wind direction, graduate students, doctoral students prefer factories, programmers have stepped out of the Internet and turned to the arms of manufacturing.
On the one hand, the wave of intelligent electrification is sweeping the automotive industry, and cars are evolving from means of transportation to Internet terminals. The role change has prompted car companies to seek talents such as programmers and other high-end technical talents.
Judging from the list of "double first-class" construction college graduates, automobile manufacturing has ranked among the top 10. The traditional manufacturing industry, represented by automobiles, is steadily rising.
On the other hand, the Internet giants that once created countless wealth myths are collectively encountering a cold winter. Ali's latest financial report shows that as of September 30, 2021, the adjusted net profit was 28.52 billion yuan, a sharp decrease of 39% year-on-year; Tencent suffered its first profit loss in nearly a decade in the third quarter of 2021; in the same period, Baidu lost 16.5 billion yuan, and ByteDance also reported that Douyin stopped growing and lost money in today's headlines.
On the one hand, traditional manufacturing industries such as new energy vehicles and power batteries take off on the wind outlet; on the other hand, Internet manufacturers are struggling to survive under the cold winter, and layoffs and salary cuts are not uncommon. In between, talents continue to flow to the big automobile factories.
A new way out for middle-aged programmers
The "35-year-old anxiety" that spreads within the Internet factory is the core factor for programmers to escape.
Two years ago, Lin Yuanshan quit his job at an Internet factory in Shenzhen to join BYD and continue to work in data development.
"In car companies you can play a screw, in the Internet factory, most people can only be a sticky note." After five years of immersion in Internet manufacturers and two years of working in car companies, Lin Yuanshan has a deep understanding of these two companies.
Regarding screws and post-it notes, Lin Yuanshan has a lot of feelings.
Under the premise of increasing work experience year by year, the screw you play can take root in the car company, the tighter and tighter, gradually have irreplaceability; and in the Internet factory, the Post-it note will only be written and painted with the increase of work experience, and when it is completely written full, it may be ruthlessly torn off by the company, and soon a new, blank Post-it note will replace you.
During the five years of working in an Internet factory, Lin Yuanshan had personally experienced a number of "Post-it notes being torn off" around him. "There are some colleagues in their thirties whose labor contracts expire and the company will no longer renew their contracts with them, and they have no choice but to roll up and leave."
The Internet industry has a fast pace of work and frequent overtime, and 996 is even called "the blessing of Repair" by Ma Yun.
Programmers seem to be working anytime, anywhere Source: Visual China
In this context, it is difficult for 35-year-old programmers to have a competitive advantage compared with post-95s and even post-00s. After all, young people have low salary requirements and are energetic, which is more suitable for the overtime culture of the Internet industry.
"Employees around the age of 35 have higher salaries, but their work energy is reduced, and if they are not department-specific development objects, they are likely to be abandoned by the company."
According to the data of boss direct employment of "35-year-old and above Internet people survival status survey", 56.8% of users clearly said that the workplace is not friendly to 35-year-olds, and nearly 60% of the respondents have not been promoted and raised in the past two years; 75.9% of them believe that they have encountered a ceiling in the workplace.
The year he decided to leave the Internet factory, Lin Yuanshan was 29 years old, and he gradually realized that his post-it note was about to be replaced.
Lin Yuanshan decided to go to the big car factory to try it.
"Car companies belong to the physical manufacturing industry, and the profit model of the manufacturing industry is relatively stable, and it is not like the Internet to expand or shrink its business."
There are not a few people close to Lin Yuanshan's idea, and car companies are becoming a new target for programmers.
Ling Ran, who works in the intelligent networking department of an Internet company in Hangzhou, is looking for job opportunities to enter a major automobile factory.
Ling Ran believes that "car companies emphasize standardization, work pressure is relatively small, like us in their 30s, with a certain degree of work experience, more adapt to standardized work processes, but also to meet the technical requirements of the manufacturing industry." ”
At present, intelligent network talents belong to the scarce resources of the automotive industry, and Ling Ran and his colleagues have become the "fragrant food" that car companies are chasing. Shortly after hanging up his resume, Ling Ran received interview invitations from a number of companies, including traditional car companies and new car manufacturers.
Middle-aged programmers with "35-year-old anxiety" see a broader imagination space and "money scene".
"If you don't work in a first-line Internet factory such as BAT, you can get better career prospects by writing code in car companies." In 2020, Chen Jiaren, who jumped from an Internet company to a traditional car company, gained an unprecedented sense of achievement.
"The management wanted to make an auxiliary gadget in the PLM (life cycle management system) on the production floor, and the system (code) was fixed, so I drew a gourd and made one, and I successfully 'solved' this problem."
Chen Jiaren told Future Automotive Daily that the development of production management systems such as internal SPA (enterprise management solutions), MES (production information management system), ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other production management systems of car companies adopts the form of outsourcing, and internal programmers are mainly responsible for the secondary development and update of the above systems, which is not a high level of algorithm requirements.
However, it is easy to be an ordinary programmer in a car company, and if you want to be promoted to a management position, you need to have a wealth of knowledge of vehicle principles/structures, workshop manufacturing processes and other knowledge reserves. "Each set of management systems is applied in different scenarios, so programmers need to be familiar with the production working principles of different workshops."
"After working in an automobile factory for four years and learning and experiencing in different workshops, I can qualify as an IT technical consultant." This is Chen Jiaren's personal experience.
It is difficult for Internet manufacturers to attract young people anymore
The big auto factories are taking on new life and attracting young people who have just graduated.
Qiao Gu, who is about to start his career, received an offer (Internet security post) from AVIC Lithium Battery and NetEase at the same time, and Qiao Gu resolutely chose the former.
What attracts Qiao Gu is that the automotive industry (including the supply chain) has fully shifted to intelligence. Qiao Gu deliberately conducted some investigations on AVIC lithium batteries and found that within the factory, emerging technologies such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are being applied to the production and manufacturing end. "You can also get access to high-end technology in large factories."
The wind direction of the capital market makes Qiao Gu more convinced of his choice.
"New energy vehicles are already the biggest outlet at present, and the scale is larger than that of ordinary Internet manufacturers." A good example is the Ningde era, whose market capitalization has far exceeded that of most Internet companies. This also represents the future trend. ”
Like Qiao Gu, more and more fresh graduates no longer regard internet factories as the first choice for employment.
When Li Qun, a senior student in the network engineering department of a university in Shaanxi Province, participated in the autumn recruitment organized by the school in 2021, he not only got the offers of Pinduoduo and Kuaishou, but also got an internship invitation from the brand development institute of BAIC Group and the Internet of Vehicles Department of Xiaopeng Automobile.
Fresh graduates attending job fairs Source: Visual China
At that time, after Li Qun participated in the interviews of several Internet companies, he heard that the car company recruitment fair in the next building also had Internet-related job requirements, so he went to apply with the mentality of trying it out.
"The recruitment requirements for Internet-related positions in car companies are lower than those of Internet companies such as Pinduoduo and Kuaishou, and they are also extremely friendly to non-automotive professional job seekers, as long as they are interested in cars." The requirements are relatively relaxed, but the salary is not inferior to that of Internet companies, "some car company engineers have a monthly salary of 10,000-14,000 yuan during the internship period, which is higher than many Internet manufacturers." And many car companies also provide benefits such as full shareholding and exclusive discounted price purchase of company stocks, which is not available to Internet manufacturers."
The favorable conditions made Li Qun and his classmates waver. According to Li Qun, there are more than 120 students in his major, about two-thirds of whom got offers from car companies and Internet companies in that autumn move, of which more than 20 chose to go to car companies to join. IT students who had been bent on working in a big Internet factory after graduation began to have new choices.
Li Qun has a "xueba" roommate, and at the same time got offers from ByteDance, Tencent, JD.com and other Internet manufacturers and Xiaopeng Motors. "Without even thinking about it, he rejected the Internet manufacturers and went directly to Xiaopeng Motors." What attracts Li Qun's roommates, in addition to the opportunity for fresh graduates of Xiaopeng Motors to enjoy benefits such as stock option incentives, is also mixed with personality cult factors, "He Xiaopeng,[Chairman of Xiaopeng Motors], and Lei Jun (CEO of Xiaomi Technology) as idols. ”
Li Qun also decided to go to the car company to find the future. The penetration rate of new energy vehicles will continue to rise, writing code for cars and participating in car building, "this sense of achievement is not given by Internet companies."
However, Li Qun did not accept the olive branch of BAIC and Xiaopeng Automobile, and he is still waiting for this year's Spring Recruit. "Nio's R&D center is in Shanghai, and I love the city. And, if you have the work experience of Weilai, you can also jump to excellent car companies such as SAIC and Tesla. ”
It is not easy to get into a car company
The flow of talent reflects the rise and fall of an industry. As a deep participant in the flow of auxiliary talents, headhunters truly feel the changes in the Internet industry.
Headhunter Yin He still remembers the fierce robbery war between Internet manufacturers in previous years. In the field of the Internet, programmers above the P6 level are the object of the big manufacturers' crazy robbery, and it is not an exaggeration to say that "every programmer above the P6 level will have more than 10 headhunters staring at it."
In order to grab these core talents, "high salary + high rank" is the usual means of Internet manufacturers. "For example, If ByteDance wants to dig up a P6-level programmer in JD.com, he will usually give a P7-level grade, and the salary will increase by 30%."
Even so, these "technical bulls" are still difficult to pry, and even quite resistant to headhunting. "Programmers are very sought-after, salary is no longer their pain point, it is difficult to persuade them to jump ship."
Times have passed, and recently the "tech bulls" seem to be less arrogant.
At the end of 2021, Yin He released a notice in the circle of friends that "Xiaomi Automobile recruits key talents for autonomous driving". Unexpectedly, within half an hour, Yin He received inquiries from nearly ten job seekers. "There are also a lot of programmers above the P6 level."
This circle of friends has aroused the attention of many job seekers Source: Photo provided by the interviewee
Yin He statistics found that those programmers who took the initiative to contact him are mostly around 30 years old, and some even said that there is no specific requirement for salary, as long as it is the same as the current level, but must get Xiaomi stock.
"These people have more or less encountered bottlenecks in their careers in Internet companies, and want to take advantage of the explosion of the new energy vehicle industry to embark on a new professional height." Xiaomi Cars is in its infancy, which is conducive to their transition from technology development posts to management positions. ”
The little abacus of middle-aged programmers crackles, but it is not easy to achieve. In September 2021, Xiaomi Automobile announced the latest recruitment progress, in the past 5 months, Xiaomi Automobile has received a total of 20,000 resumes, only 300 people have been hired; "next door" Jidu Automobile has also revealed that within 6 months of its establishment, it has received more than 30,000 resumes, and only 500 people have successfully obtained a Collection Offer through assessment.
The acceptance rate of the two companies does not exceed 2%, and the degree of competition is comparable to the "national examination".
"There are a lot of resumes delivered to Xiaomi Cars, and some job seekers even ask about the progress every other day."
Those high-end talents who are proficient in intelligent cockpit and automatic driving algorithms are regarded as the pearls of the palm of traditional car companies.
As an autonomous driving algorithm talent, Ling Ran briefly contacted SAIC Motor, "the other party promised to add 10,000 yuan to the monthly salary of the previous company, and other benefits were the same as those of the previous company."
In order to grab talents, car companies have done everything in their power, in addition to not stingily paying heavy money, using company shares to "tempt" talents, and more car companies HR directly promised Ling Ran, "After coming, you are the key person in charge of the entire department."
"The current market is that if the Internet manufacturer has more than five years of experience in algorithm positions, after jumping to the car company, the annual salary can basically double." After being dug up several times, Ling Ran is already familiar with the market situation, "all car companies are robbing programmers of talent, (salary) is low and no one is willing to go."
The automotive industry ushered in the "golden decade"
Feng Shui takes turns, and the century-old automobile industry once again ushers in a period of opportunity. Huaxi Securities has issued a research report saying that the inflection point of the automotive industry can be expected to be expected, and the car is undergoing great changes in intelligent electrification, which will reshape the industrial order and be optimistic about the golden decade of the automotive industry.
Economic analyst Song Qinghui believes that the upstream and downstream of the traditional automobile industry have great potential, far higher than the Internet industry. "The automobile manufacturing industry is profitable through sales, and Internet companies rely on traffic to make profits. The automobile industry will maintain a moderate growth trend, but the increase in Internet companies has reached the top and will turn into stock competition. ”
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts that China's total automobile sales will be 27.5 million units in 2022, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year; in 2025, car sales are expected to reach about 30 million units.
Source: Visual China
The industry prospects are good, and car employers are beginning to show amazing "banknote capabilities" to the outside world, offering equity in the left hand and high salaries in the right hand, as long as they get on the car, they can take off with the company.
The Interview with Future Auto Daily learned that the salary conditions offered by car companies are quite attractive. In the Great Wall's Hive Power, R&D engineers with four years of experience earn an annual salary of more than 200,000 yuan (in hand), and also allocate hundreds to thousands of shares of equity; ideal car recruitment store showroom designers, ideal annual salary of up to 600,000 yuan in the ideal state; Xiaopeng Automobile related algorithm engineers annual salary of 300,000-500,000; 36Kr has reported that in 2015, there are hundreds of middle and high-level people who joined the Ningde era, and the current annual salary has reached hundreds of millions.
At the same time, the intelligentization and networking of automobiles have been deepening, and the profit models of car companies have become more and more abundant.
Tesla pioneered the profitability of software. Morgan Stanley statistics show that as of the third quarter of 2021, Tesla has accumulated $1.26 billion in cash income through the FSD payment model. Morgan Stanley expects Tesla's FSD fully autonomous driving optional package revenue to approach $7 billion in 2025, contributing 25% of the gross profit of the automotive business, and software will become a core part of its business model; by 2030, annual subscription service revenue is expected to exceed $16 billion.
Traditional auto giants are also targeting the gold mine.
"Software plays a crucial role in the Volkswagen Group's transition from a traditional car manufacturer to an integrated mobility service provider. By 2030, software based on autonomous driving technology will be a major source of revenue for the entire automotive industry. Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of CARIAD, an automotive software company owned by the Volkswagen Group, emphasized.
It is certain that the automotive industry is ushering in its own golden age. In addition to programmers, there will be more talent rushing to the automotive industry.
(At the request of the interviewee, except for Song Qinghui, the rest of the characters are pseudonyms)
The author | Su Peng
Edit the | Li Huanhuan