A post by an SK hynix production worker has gone viral online. With expectations that average bonuses per employee could reach hundreds of millions of won, interest is also growing in related job openings.
According to the financial investment industry on January 14, Macquarie Securities estimated that if SK hynix's operating profit next year reaches 44.7 trillion won, the average bonus per employee could be approximately 1.29 billion won.
SK hynix allocates 10% of its operating profit to its profit-sharing (PS) fund and has abolished the previous cap of "1,000% of base salary." With this year's annual operating profit also expected to approach 20 trillion won, some forecasts suggest bonuses to be paid early next year could average around 580 million won per employee.
Amid these expectations, SK hynix is recruiting production workers to respond to expanding demand for AI semiconductors. The application deadline is January 22, and eligible candidates are high school graduates or junior college graduates who can start work in July or August. The positions being recruited are "Maintenance," which handles equipment maintenance and line operations, and "Operator," which is responsible for semiconductor equipment operation and quality inspection.
Against this backdrop, a post by a person identified as "A," claiming to be an SK hynix production worker, attracted attention on Blind, an anonymous workplace community, on the same day. Blind requires users to verify their employment status through official company email during registration.
Introducing himself as being in his 20s, A wrote, "I'm a production worker at Hynix and life is sweet," while sharing his career path. He continued, "I didn't study well in middle school, so I didn't even dream of going to an academic high school. I just wanted to get a job early. I went to a local technical high school, easily ranked second in the school, and joined here last year after switching jobs."
He also said, "I never went to any private academies, so I didn't have to spend money. There's no better cost-effective route than this."
As the post gained attention, A added his thoughts in follow-up comments. He said, "Of course, I know well that office and production positions differ in terms of hiring difficulty from the start. I'm someone who knows my own level well, so I got a job early because I thought even if I went to a four-year university, I wouldn't be able to get into a major company, let alone a mid-sized one. Of course, someone with better credentials could have gotten the position instead of me. I think luck definitely plays a big part too."
