Hoping to Work in Silicon Valley After College? Get Ready to Work Weekends

In Silicon Valley, employees at tech companies may be facing longer work hours, as the “996” schedule takes hold.

“996” refers to a work schedule that originated in China and involves working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for six days a week, adding up to a 72-hour work week.

Recently, some tech company chief executive officers have claimed that working long hours—even weekends—are necessary to get ahead in a time when investors are betting billions on the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

Earlier this year, Google co-founder CEO Sergey Brin wrote in a memo to employees working on the company’s AI products that “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity,” according to a New York Times report.

Further, it’s not just the CEOs of big tech companies encouraging employees to work longer than the traditional nine to five weekday schedule.

After AI startup Cognition acquired Windsurf, another AI company, Cognition CEO Scott Wu, took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to announce that Windsurf employees would have the option of joining Cognition—but only if they were willing to put in long hours.

“Cognition has an extreme performance culture, and we’re upfront about this in hiring so there are no surprises later,” Wu wrote on X. “We routinely are at the office through the weekend and do some of our best work late into the night. Many of us literally live where we work.”

One New York City-based AI startup, Rilla, states their work expectations for software engineers explicitly in job postings. “Please don’t join if you’re not excited about … working ~70 hrs/week in person with some of the most ambitious people in NYC.”

While much of the evidence supporting the “996” phenomenon is anecdotal, a recent analysis from Ramp—a corporate credit credit card issuer and fintech company—found data backing it up.

Ara Kharazian, an economist at Ramp, analyzed Ramp corporate card data and found that there had been a spike in corporate credit card transactions on Saturdays in 2025 compared to 2024, specifically in San Francisco, which he says is evidence of “996” work schedules.

“So the headline is simple: the 996 schedule now has a measurable signature in San Francisco’s spending data. It’s recent, it’s local, and it extends beyond tech,” Kharazian wrote. “If you’ve felt the city’s weekend hustle returning, it’s now quantifiably true.”