Speaking as someone who was recruited out of university into the management training program of a Korean conglomerate, the life these kids are headed for is indeed soul-crushing. Common activities will include trying to stay awake during two-hour meetings with no agenda, surfing the internet while pretending to work, but still having to stay for at least 10 hours, and mandatory evening drinking/karaoke parties with the boss. And consuming a fuckton of instant coffee and cigarettes.
Many white collar American megaconglomerates are similar, without the karaoke bits. Depressing offices in the middle of nowhere, endless pointless meetings, not a whole lot of real work and a lot of looking-busy. Office Space exists for a reason.
Hell, I once dated a consultant with Accenture who flew around constantly to client sites but seemed to just sit around once there racking up the billables.
"Mandatory partying with the coworkers/boss" seems to be something American corporate culture has largely avoided, but sadly the startup tech culture has embraced.
As a westerner who had his soul crushed once by the machine there, I can attest.
That being said, I do think that it's not as bad if you look foreign (esp if you're white). You also need to be able to ignore the norms even if you are aware of them. If you start worrying about complying with the norms that you know are there but aren't quite sure where the boundaries are (like I did), then your soul is guaranteed to be crushed.
kyllo|11 years ago
potatolicious|11 years ago
Hell, I once dated a consultant with Accenture who flew around constantly to client sites but seemed to just sit around once there racking up the billables.
"Mandatory partying with the coworkers/boss" seems to be something American corporate culture has largely avoided, but sadly the startup tech culture has embraced.
w1ntermute|11 years ago
0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_the_Han_River
marveller|11 years ago
hkmurakami|11 years ago
That being said, I do think that it's not as bad if you look foreign (esp if you're white). You also need to be able to ignore the norms even if you are aware of them. If you start worrying about complying with the norms that you know are there but aren't quite sure where the boundaries are (like I did), then your soul is guaranteed to be crushed.
intruder|11 years ago
I'll try to find a foreign company.
KaoruAoiShiho|11 years ago
w1ntermute|11 years ago