Weekly Brief: Beasts in the East

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Everyone’s favourite Silicon Valley giants seem to be dominating the mainstream media headlines again this week. So to freshen up your inbox (and hey, given it’s more important than ever to take a global view) let’s look to the East for an update on a different front.

Turns out that the rapid tech scene growth in China is starting to show a rather insidious counterpart; huge burnout. Tech workers in a number of cities have now been flagging that their pursuit of success is impinging upon both their health and their… ahem… personal lives – resulting in far higher employee turnover than we’re seeing in Europe or America. A dangerous precedent? Meanwhile (in what’s a fairly massive development) Russia’s ambition of a total disconnect from the World Wide Web puts American net neutrality reversal efforts into stark comparison! Guaranteed that will be making more headlines over the coming weeks, but it looks unlikely to stop the flow of Gen Z talent from Europe, apparently eyeing up a move East. Turns out the Valley isn’t the only hot destination for VC cash these days, but at what cost behind the scenes?We at Work in Startups will certainly be watching… now, where’s our popcorn?

No sleep, no sex, no life: tech workers in China face burnout
As you can see it’s not always sunny in an emergent tech hub, with the introduction of ‘big-small weeks’ (where tech workers work every other Sunday). It is, somewhat predictably, resulting in higher turnover and burnout.

Russia wants to cut itself off from the global internet
With the ‘Sovereign Internet’ law currently languishing in the Kremlin, the potential for a totally disconnected ‘Runet’ is certainly still on the horizon. This both dystopic and interesting case will certainly be an interesting one to watch as it will pose a complex political and technical challenge.

Gen Z Women see China and India as the next big tech hubs
The post-millennial generation (born after 1997) are increasingly viewing tech hubs in Asia as more significant than Silicon Valley. There are some eye-watering stats – did you know by 2023 India is due to have the largest population of tech developers in the world?

The coming-of-age of Middle East’s tech startups
Even the old-guard are confirming that there is something interesting going on in Eastern tech, with the Uber acquisition of Careem setting the record for the biggest Middle-Eastern startup exit at a whopping $3.1 billion.

Have a look through some of our favourite UK startup jobs this week:

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Happy Hunting! Happy Hiring!

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