‘Developers’ lives matter’ – Chinese software engineers use Github to protest against the country’s 996 work schedule

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  • CB Insights study found that burnout was the primary cause of 8 per cent of the 101 start-up failures it analysed

Yingzhi Yangin Beijing
Microsoft purchased the popular coder hang-out Github in 2018. Photo: AP

Resentment against long working hours in China’s tech industry is growing among software developers that use the Github open development platform after a user posted a copy of China’s labour laws on the site and named two e-commerce companies that practice the 996 work schedule – 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

A Github user called “996icu” posted a so-called repo (repository) on Tuesday complaining that working 996 all the time means running the risk of ending up in the “intensive care unit”, adding that “developers’ lives matter”, a reference to the US activist movement Black Lives Matter.

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