May 18, 2015 at 14:20One day in the life of an UCWeb IT specialist
How does IT work in China? What do they face, how do they find a common language? UCWeb employees Alexander, Oleg, Sean, and Benny will talk about work, workload, salaries, and rest.
Let's get acquainted. What do you do, what tasks do you solve, how is the work process built?
Sean: I’m a product manager in the Russian branch. My task is to optimize the application for the requests of Russian users and increase the retention rate. Sometimes we attract guys from the marketing department to better understand the Russian market. A common problem in work is when users report an error, and you cannot reproduce it. We have to sweat to find out what is the matter.
Alexander: I work with Sean on the same team - I translate the interface and test the application. It works quietly, there is enough freedom of action. The only thing is sometimes they take decisions for a long time. Somehow it took me a month to convince the management to give access to the foreign squad at Mantis. Previously, each user request was translated into English, sent to another department, from there to the developers and back. When the intermediate link was gone, the work went much faster.
Benny: Yes, it takes time to change the usual processes. But small tasks in UC are solved quickly: we welcome live communication. Before that I worked at Ericsson, so there they discuss almost all issues in corporate chat. Now I am responsible for developing the application outside of China. Each month there is a different market. Say, in April I worked with Turkey, in May - with Mexico. The bosses in our department listens to the employees and changes the plan, if enough arguments are given.
Asian companies are said to have heavy workloads and employees leave work late in the evening. How are things going with you?
Benny: Sometimes it is. I have a lot of work: I come to the office at 9 a.m., I return home around 8-9 p.m., and so 6 days a week. It happens that I miss the second break in order to be in time, but during lunch I rest - this is sacred. Foreigners are great, they find a balance between work and personal life. Our work takes almost all the time, it affects the family and health.
Oleg, marketing manager: Everybody has Avrali. Once, we organized a New Year’s campaign and worked for two weeks without days off. I remember thinking about work, even in a dream. However, this happens during campaigns, and on ordinary days it’s calmer. For lunch, you have time to relax - eat, sleep, go to the gym or look at the fish in the pond.
Alexander: Yes, after dinner, almost all Chinese go to bed. I am amazed at their ability to turn off instantly - like robots that have the “Off” button pressed. I try to keep fit until the end of the day. If I do not have time - I linger at work.
Cots in the office.
Alibaba Group is growing rapidly; recently, its president, Jack Ma, said he did not intend to hire new employees: "Only if one employee leaves, will a new person be able to join the company." The policy will affect all departments, including UCWeb. It seems that work will increase.
What helps you focus on work?
Sean: I make a list of tasks and complete them in order. I never do several things at once. So less temptation to distract.
Alexander: Headphones and coffee help me concentrate on work. Moreover, sometimes it is not necessary that music play in them. Wearing headphones, you seem to be detached from everything else. Messengers are always disabled for me. Plus, I try to use timing in my work: when the timer is ticking - not to distractions, "you need to eat a tomato."
How does it work in another culture? What is the difference between a Chinese and Russian approach to work?
Oleg: The Chinese are especially important quantity: partners, views, likes. Therefore, in reports it is better to write about quantitative rather than qualitative achievements. They also like to control here. Perhaps there are reasons for this, but control slows down: daily reports, several people for one task, no direct access to statistics. Due to the difference in mentality and language, goals often seem blurry. It is worth checking twice whether you understand each other correctly and whether everything is going according to plan - sometimes you will learn about the changes after they are accepted.
Alexander: They don’t like taking risks here. I have heard more than once: “why will we try something when we don’t know the result? Better we take what works and improve. ” This is not only in the development of software, but also in principle: the Chinese do not like to deviate from accepted norms and methods. Russians in this regard are more flexible, it seems to me.
Oleg: In general, management in UC is rather classic. Although, as in any IT company, we have many young employees and a friendly atmosphere. I like that my colleagues have a common goal, common tasks. As a rule, there is high competition between the Chinese, but in UC it is less pronounced than in other companies.
Yes, in China there is high competition, at least because of the huge population. How to raise team spirit? In some places, they say, employees of the anthem of the company sing in the morning ...
Alexander: Well, UC also has a corporate song, and its text is written on the back of the pass for each employee. But no one sings a hymn in the morning - a song is often included after a lunch break to wake colleagues. Teambuilding and team lunches are organized for team building. In Russia, I have never met a company where a budget, even a small one, is allocated each month to a budget for employees to rest. In UC, a team once or twice a month can safely go to a restaurant. In general, I can say for sure that UCWeb is trying to take care of its employees: it organizes various events, entertainment, teambuilding, family holidays. On May 9, near the business center, the company organized a Family Day, to which everyone was invited.
Family Day at Alibaba Group.
Sean: A couple of months ago, the development department was taken out for a week to Hainan. Not Tiens, but nice.
By the way, about the rest. There is a stereotype that all IT-specialists necessarily play games, and even more so in Asia. This is true?
Alexander: Not all, of course. At the institute, I was somewhat interested in online games, but now there is no time for this: priorities have changed, I want to do so much. But the Chinese colleagues play all the time and often come to the office on weekends for this.
Sean: I love video games, although I'm not a fan of them. Favorite Fallout and Plants vs. Zombies And Benny often plays.
Benny: Yes, there is one. Warcraft, Clash of clans, Monument Valley are my favorites.
Finally, the main question. How about a salary in the IT field?
Benny: In IT companies, of course, they pay more. Not sure, but I think a senior product manager in China gets 500 thousand yuan a year. Often, bonuses are offered for salaries - for example, we have free three meals a day, insurance and an annual premium. I would like the salary to be commensurate with the efforts that we make at work. But this is the case everywhere.
Oleg: In large cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - specialists in the field of mobile applications are paid 14-20 thousand yuan per month ($ 2,200-3,200). It all depends on your level and knowledge of Chinese. English is often enough for work in UC, but if you know Chinese, then among your colleagues you will be more “your own” and you will be able to get around sharp corners in negotiations.
What to count on those who don’t speak Chinese?
Alexander: Without knowledge of Chinese, you can work in Russian IT companies: there are such ones here, but there are few of them. Basically, these are digital agencies that work on the international market. A Chinese company will be hired in two cases: "it is almost impossible to find a specialist of this kind among the Chinese" or "a native speaker is required to work with the Russian market."
Have questions about the lives of IT professionals in China? Write in the comments - we will answer in the following articles.
Let's get acquainted. What do you do, what tasks do you solve, how is the work process built?
Sean: I’m a product manager in the Russian branch. My task is to optimize the application for the requests of Russian users and increase the retention rate. Sometimes we attract guys from the marketing department to better understand the Russian market. A common problem in work is when users report an error, and you cannot reproduce it. We have to sweat to find out what is the matter.
Alexander: I work with Sean on the same team - I translate the interface and test the application. It works quietly, there is enough freedom of action. The only thing is sometimes they take decisions for a long time. Somehow it took me a month to convince the management to give access to the foreign squad at Mantis. Previously, each user request was translated into English, sent to another department, from there to the developers and back. When the intermediate link was gone, the work went much faster.
Benny: Yes, it takes time to change the usual processes. But small tasks in UC are solved quickly: we welcome live communication. Before that I worked at Ericsson, so there they discuss almost all issues in corporate chat. Now I am responsible for developing the application outside of China. Each month there is a different market. Say, in April I worked with Turkey, in May - with Mexico. The bosses in our department listens to the employees and changes the plan, if enough arguments are given.
Asian companies are said to have heavy workloads and employees leave work late in the evening. How are things going with you?
Benny: Sometimes it is. I have a lot of work: I come to the office at 9 a.m., I return home around 8-9 p.m., and so 6 days a week. It happens that I miss the second break in order to be in time, but during lunch I rest - this is sacred. Foreigners are great, they find a balance between work and personal life. Our work takes almost all the time, it affects the family and health.
Oleg, marketing manager: Everybody has Avrali. Once, we organized a New Year’s campaign and worked for two weeks without days off. I remember thinking about work, even in a dream. However, this happens during campaigns, and on ordinary days it’s calmer. For lunch, you have time to relax - eat, sleep, go to the gym or look at the fish in the pond.
Alexander: Yes, after dinner, almost all Chinese go to bed. I am amazed at their ability to turn off instantly - like robots that have the “Off” button pressed. I try to keep fit until the end of the day. If I do not have time - I linger at work.
Cots in the office.
Alibaba Group is growing rapidly; recently, its president, Jack Ma, said he did not intend to hire new employees: "Only if one employee leaves, will a new person be able to join the company." The policy will affect all departments, including UCWeb. It seems that work will increase.
What helps you focus on work?
Sean: I make a list of tasks and complete them in order. I never do several things at once. So less temptation to distract.
Alexander: Headphones and coffee help me concentrate on work. Moreover, sometimes it is not necessary that music play in them. Wearing headphones, you seem to be detached from everything else. Messengers are always disabled for me. Plus, I try to use timing in my work: when the timer is ticking - not to distractions, "you need to eat a tomato."
How does it work in another culture? What is the difference between a Chinese and Russian approach to work?
Oleg: The Chinese are especially important quantity: partners, views, likes. Therefore, in reports it is better to write about quantitative rather than qualitative achievements. They also like to control here. Perhaps there are reasons for this, but control slows down: daily reports, several people for one task, no direct access to statistics. Due to the difference in mentality and language, goals often seem blurry. It is worth checking twice whether you understand each other correctly and whether everything is going according to plan - sometimes you will learn about the changes after they are accepted.
Alexander: They don’t like taking risks here. I have heard more than once: “why will we try something when we don’t know the result? Better we take what works and improve. ” This is not only in the development of software, but also in principle: the Chinese do not like to deviate from accepted norms and methods. Russians in this regard are more flexible, it seems to me.
Oleg: In general, management in UC is rather classic. Although, as in any IT company, we have many young employees and a friendly atmosphere. I like that my colleagues have a common goal, common tasks. As a rule, there is high competition between the Chinese, but in UC it is less pronounced than in other companies.
Yes, in China there is high competition, at least because of the huge population. How to raise team spirit? In some places, they say, employees of the anthem of the company sing in the morning ...
Alexander: Well, UC also has a corporate song, and its text is written on the back of the pass for each employee. But no one sings a hymn in the morning - a song is often included after a lunch break to wake colleagues. Teambuilding and team lunches are organized for team building. In Russia, I have never met a company where a budget, even a small one, is allocated each month to a budget for employees to rest. In UC, a team once or twice a month can safely go to a restaurant. In general, I can say for sure that UCWeb is trying to take care of its employees: it organizes various events, entertainment, teambuilding, family holidays. On May 9, near the business center, the company organized a Family Day, to which everyone was invited.
Family Day at Alibaba Group.
Sean: A couple of months ago, the development department was taken out for a week to Hainan. Not Tiens, but nice.
By the way, about the rest. There is a stereotype that all IT-specialists necessarily play games, and even more so in Asia. This is true?
Alexander: Not all, of course. At the institute, I was somewhat interested in online games, but now there is no time for this: priorities have changed, I want to do so much. But the Chinese colleagues play all the time and often come to the office on weekends for this.
Sean: I love video games, although I'm not a fan of them. Favorite Fallout and Plants vs. Zombies And Benny often plays.
Benny: Yes, there is one. Warcraft, Clash of clans, Monument Valley are my favorites.
Finally, the main question. How about a salary in the IT field?
Benny: In IT companies, of course, they pay more. Not sure, but I think a senior product manager in China gets 500 thousand yuan a year. Often, bonuses are offered for salaries - for example, we have free three meals a day, insurance and an annual premium. I would like the salary to be commensurate with the efforts that we make at work. But this is the case everywhere.
Oleg: In large cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - specialists in the field of mobile applications are paid 14-20 thousand yuan per month ($ 2,200-3,200). It all depends on your level and knowledge of Chinese. English is often enough for work in UC, but if you know Chinese, then among your colleagues you will be more “your own” and you will be able to get around sharp corners in negotiations.
What to count on those who don’t speak Chinese?
Alexander: Without knowledge of Chinese, you can work in Russian IT companies: there are such ones here, but there are few of them. Basically, these are digital agencies that work on the international market. A Chinese company will be hired in two cases: "it is almost impossible to find a specialist of this kind among the Chinese" or "a native speaker is required to work with the Russian market."
Have questions about the lives of IT professionals in China? Write in the comments - we will answer in the following articles.