If things had gone as the family planned, I would have stuck to studying power grids honestly and diligently, without venturing into coding. Had I erased the dust from my memory, it all stemmed from a chat with my roommate near the Spring Festival, which led to a review of my experiences over the years.
Chapter One
The results of the gaokao (national college entrance examination) couldn’t be described as good or bad; I got into a 211 university, and according to Dad’s original plan, I should have studied power grids and returned to work for the local electricity supply bureau. Earlier accounts had also mentioned how to gradually transition onto the IT path – something that hadn’t been fully articulated before: financial perspective and self-discipline.
I started my education in a rural school, and after primary school two, my family arranged for me to transfer to a school in the city district. Like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden, I initially struggled to adapt to the bustling prosperity of the city. I hadn’t been to the cinema very often, and specifically, I hadn’t gone with my parents, but relatives would take me. Heaven always bestows luck upon you; back then, I met a few like-minded friends, though we lost contact later on. Looking back, that period of youth was truly wonderful. After weekend tutoring, we’d clean out the classroom plastic bottles, quickly stepping on them to flatten and pack them into our backpacks to take home for Mom to save up – accumulating them until they were enough to find a waste collector to handle disposal. We’d play chess, badminton, and Mahjong together, with push-ups as punishment for losing, which we still felt a little fortunate about; Dad had been taking me through various exercises since childhood. From this point on, my financial perspective was slightly skewed, I felt somewhat inferior, but these small misfortunes quickly passed. Our family wasn’t struggling financially, and we didn’t have much pocket money, sometimes couldn’t join our classmates in their activities, especially on weekends. Seeing our parents’ efforts as they moved us from the village to the city. At this time, the seed had been planted, waiting for it to sprout.
My simple-minded self was generally very happy during my studies, much like many graduates can only appreciate after graduation – studying wasn’t really a difficult task; the investment and output converted relatively easily.
Chapter One
I layered in the memories of the Age of Empires, and during university, I encountered a laptop – it was like Pandora’s Box opening, introducing me to games and connecting me with game merchants. Initially, I was a low-level salesperson, sourcing goods upstream and selling them through my own community channels, earning a little money. Later, I gradually understood the operational logic of the entire chain. The products we sold were simply mass-produced by upstream programs, and their costs approached zero. At this point, the road had already started to veer off course; there were further subdivisions within the field – on the left was power grids, and on the right was automation (very complex, chip programming, factory electrical automation) – I realized that software could make money, but it wasn’t much. Although the upstream channels did earn a lot, combined with my previous background in programming, I started tinkering here and there, making a little money. When choosing between specialized fields, I naturally chose automation. After finishing my third year of coursework, I didn’t attend many classes, constantly thinking about writing code to make money.
As mentioned in last year’s article, inspired by the beautiful vision of hackers, I came into programming through self-study – I learned assembly language, penetration testing, game cheats, DLL hijacking, and data theft, familiarizing myself with various blackware and greyware. My parents taught me how to be a good person, and the law ultimately dissuaded me from going too far down that path; the road didn’t completely deviate.
Chapter 1
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I also talked about a brief romance during university. Looking back, it was mostly longing for the love depicted in television dramas. As an immature mind at the time, I couldn’t understand how to love someone, let alone achieve: settling down and starting a family.
Chapter Two
Amidst the torrent of times, I was fortunate – university’s tribulations led me to not pursue graduate studies; I immediately entered employment and enjoyed a smooth career path riding the wave of IT. It’s now my eighth year in this profession, but the hype money vanished as the industry matured, leading to its decline. Sometimes, I question whether my initial choice was correct – perhaps entering the power grid as suggested by my father would have been a better option. Such thoughts might linger during the first five years of employment, but they gradually fade away with time. My recruitment into HSBC lasted five years without a change of company, which resulted in certain deficiencies regarding technical understanding, industry knowledge, and self-awareness. Following arrangements from the Hangzhou headquarters, I relocated to the Shenzhen branch, experiencing a workplace struggle (which, upon reflection, proved detrimental to both sides – ultimately benefiting the board) fueled by my passion for technology. I returned to Hangzhou with a youthful exuberance, only to later withdraw and head to Shanghai.
Initially, I planned to settle in Hangzhou, register, and purchase property during the highest interest rates and peak housing prices, risking being trapped; my finances were limited, making it impossible to bear the burden of mortgage payments, compounded by an industry downturn, leading to emotional instability.
Chapter Three
Having been around for so many years, having seen so much, I’ve made my own mistakes and wasted time. Currently, I’m doing well. Through experiences and through people, one inevitably grows and matures. If I were to remain at home all the time, I don’t know what form my flaws would manifest in.