How did I end up on the path of no return to hardware design?
Latest update time：2024-11-08
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I have been working as a hardware engineer for more than two years. Looking back on my experience, before college, I can sum it up in four words: follow the routine. After college, I can also sum it up in four words: the key is choice.
When talking about my connection with electronics, I can first talk about my connection with electricity. Once, the rechargeable flashlight at home broke, and I opened it and tried to fix it. After taking it apart, I found that a wire was disconnected, so I was secretly happy that I could fix it. Then I connected the broken wire, and I showed off to my dad and said, "It's fixed." My dad was overjoyed and thought that I was a teachable kid, so he asked me to plug it into the socket and try charging it. I plugged the flashlight into the socket without saying a word, and then there was a burst of fire and the room fell into darkness. When I think about it now, I can still feel the cold sweat on my back.
Another time, I remember that I was in a physics class and was talking about the use of a multimeter. I wanted to practice it, so I bought a pointer multimeter at the market. I went home and wanted to test it. Where can I test the electricity? So I saw a socket on the table. Without thinking much, I put the two needles into the two holes of the socket. Then I saw the light flash twice, and then it went out.
Well, it’s a miracle that I’m still alive and well.
How did I end up on the road of hardware design? Probably two turning points made me who I am today.
The first time was when I applied for college. My academic performance in high school was actually better in liberal arts than in science, and I was also interested in liberal arts at the time. When I applied for college, I applied for psychology and ancient Chinese literature. As a result, my parents and relatives and friends all thought it was unreliable, so I was forced to change my application to six parallel applications, including electrical engineering. In the end, I was admitted to a major called measurement and control technology and instruments.
You see, our life may be full of drama. The part we can decide for ourselves is very limited. When I went to college, I started to study advanced mathematics and linear algebra. My favorite Chinese class was gone. Compared with rational numbers, I prefer the beauty of words. I always felt sleepy in math class, which was not my favorite state. So I proposed to the teacher the idea of dropping out because I didn’t want to waste time on things I didn’t like.
At that time, I talked about my ideas with several of my teachers. They talked about this matter from their own different perspectives, but the central idea was roughly the same: things you don’t like are also part of your life. After you graduate, you need a job to support yourself first, and then you will be qualified to consider what you like.
The reason I proposed to drop out was that universities are open to the public. Can I rent a house next to schools like Tsinghua University and Peking University, and sneak in to attend classes, so that I can enjoy the same education as them without paying tuition? In the end, I just don’t have a diploma or a diploma, so what? Anyway, I just need to learn the real skills. This idea is actually very similar to some of the ideas of some technical people nowadays. I just need to do a good job in technology, and I don’t care about anything else. In fact, this "no matter" has a prerequisite, that is, your technology has really reached the level where you can support yourself well, otherwise, your "no matter" is others' disdain for you.
What finally stopped me from dropping out was the advice from my college roommate. Actually, what made me want to drop out was that I put in a lot of effort and time, but I still couldn't do well in math. I did well in other courses, and I didn't hate them, nor did I like them very much. So don't magnify the problem, just focus on this one problem and then solve it.
Then the question becomes simple, why can't I learn math well? Because I always doze off in class; why do I doze off? Because I can't keep up with the teacher's ideas and pace; why can't I keep up with the teacher's ideas and pace? Because I don't like math and have a fear of it. I really like this Socratic questioning method, which can take you step by step to the truth and find the root of the problem.
My roommate gave me this advice: If you doze off in class, you can actively interact with the teacher. Most teachers may have this habit during the lecture, that is, they will naturally say during the lecture, right? Do you understand? Why is it so? We all know that almost all students are silent at this time, and the teacher does not expect anyone to respond to him. He just habitually asks questions during the lecture. Then I can take advantage of the opportunity of the teacher asking questions and actively interact with the teacher, so that I will no longer doze off in class.
Of course, when the teacher asks a question and does not expect anyone to answer, if you suddenly give a response, the other person may not be surprised, but may feel a little embarrassed. What I never expected was that because there were so many students sleeping in class, my response in class seemed particularly harsh, so it woke up many sleeping students, which led to them calling me "idiot" behind my back for four years in college.
However, I don't care what my classmates say, because I know clearly what I want. I want to get good test scores, I want to be a good student in the eyes of teachers, I want to get scholarships every year, and I want to find a job that I am satisfied with after graduation. When you have a firm idea in your heart, you will not care too much about the opinions of others.
The effect of this is very obvious. My score in advanced mathematics in the second semester of my freshman year was 92 points, and 62 points in the first semester of my freshman year. Although I am no longer sensitive to test scores in high school, this is a good positive feedback for your efforts. Since my sophomore year, I feel that I have changed completely, and I no longer want to drop out of school. Every time I interact with the teacher in class, I will be despised because I wake up some classmates, but I am extremely happy. This is not to say that I like to be despised, but I have found a feeling of fulfillment.
So for the next three years, I received a first-class scholarship every year. Together with the money I earned from working part-time at school and during the winter and summer vacations, I basically did not ask my family for living expenses in four years. I bought my cell phone and laptop with my own money. I took out a loan to pay for my tuition, and before graduation I used the salary I earned from my internship in the second semester of my senior year to pay off my college tuition loan. Although I had many regrets in college, overall, I lived a fulfilling life and did not waste my time, and I am worthy of myself.
The second turning point happened at the company where I interned. I liked programming in college, but my major was not computer science. Maybe because I had not studied it systematically, I lacked a comprehensive understanding of programming. I felt that writing programs was my interest, and my internship in my senior year was embedded C programming. In less than half a year, I needed to complete a RS485 communication project with one master and multiple slaves. The final code function was implemented, but the boss of the company said that the code had loopholes. I didn’t know where the loopholes were. In short, I was quite depressed during that period. I felt that I had learned well in school, but why was it so unbearable at work?
After the internship, I returned to my hometown, not because I was homesick, but because I was an only child and would have to take on the responsibility of taking care of my parents in the future. It would be more convenient to be close to home. However, less than two months into my new job, I regretted it. I just assembled charging piles in the workshop every day, so I simply quit and came to Beijing. I was still very anxious during the time I quit. In order to save rent, I lived in the basement at night and went to the company for interviews during the day. Because the shadow of failure left on me during my internship made me feel that I was not suitable for programming, so I interviewed for hardware positions this time.
I attended interviews with six companies in three days and got offers from three companies. I chose one that I was satisfied with in all aspects and started working on the fourth day. From then on, my career in hardware design began.
Back to the beginning of the article, before college, most of our lives were anchored, that is, you followed the path of taking the college entrance examination and going to college. Most people also followed the routine and had little right to choose, and of course almost no ability to choose. We were like a puppet, and could only be dragged along.
When we went to university, on the one hand, we got rid of the oppressive learning environment; on the other hand, we were exposed to more unknown things, and we had our own opinions and understandings, which was also the awakening of self-independence. We finally had our own ideas and decisions when doing something, and of course, this also meant responsibility. I think university has changed me a lot. If I hadn't gone to university, I might have stayed in my hometown for the rest of my life, and I wouldn't have thought of going out to see the world and explore new things. My way of thinking is still relatively conservative. It was because I was young that I felt unhappy and quit my job and came to Beijing.
I have been in Beijing for less than three years. You can see the changes in my thinking:
1. Before coming to Beijing: I am the only child in my family, so I will definitely go back to take care of my parents in the future. I will stay in Beijing for about 3 years to try my luck, learn some skills, and then go back to my hometown to find a wife, get married, and have a warm home with a wife and children. That would be great.
2. The first year in Beijing: Big cities are still better, but it is too difficult for a rural kid to gain a foothold here. Why don’t I stay here for two more years, at most five years, to see how I develop before making a decision.
3. The second year of drifting in Beijing: It is almost impossible to get a Beijing hukou and then buy a house in Beijing. Is there any way? I can work in Beijing and not be forced to return to my hometown due to future policy factors? It happened that Tianjin Haihe’s talent introduction policy allowed me to settle in Tianjin. I can stay in Beijing to work in the future. After completing the hukou process, I also bought a house. Then I bought my first house in my life, a two-bedroom, one-living room house. I paid half of the down payment, my parents paid half, and I paid the rest of the mortgage every month. From then on, I lived the life of a house slave.
4. The third year of drifting in Beijing: Why do I have to think about going back to my hometown? What is there to miss in my hometown? Why do I have to go back home to take care of my parents instead of my parents coming here? So, during the Chinese New Year last year, I talked to my parents about my idea, and my father said, "Wherever you are, that's home." So my parents have already planned to drift in Beijing with me, and the rest is just a matter of time.
"If you don't live the way you think, sooner or later you will think the way you live." This is a sentence I like very much, and it is also a sentence I have been practicing. What is the best education for a person? It is to put him in a good environment. The environment will subtly change a person. When I came to Beijing, I found that the biggest inequality between people is the inequality of birthplace. Some people have worked hard all their lives, but they can't even reach the starting point of others. It's quite discouraging, but this is also one of the motivations that inspire people to strive.
Last week, a girl who is in charge of administration just joined the company. She saw that I had not left work at the end of the get off work day, so she asked me what time I usually leave work. I said, "I usually leave after 10 o'clock or 10:30." She said, "Oh, then you don't have any time for yourself?" I smiled bitterly and said, "You must be a local in Beijing." She asked me how I knew? I answered, "I feel." I don't know how she defines this "time for myself". If working time is defined as not time for myself, then I may really have almost no time for myself.
This is what I think about this matter. If I want to stay in Beijing and develop and gain a foothold, then I must work as hard as I can to increase my capital to stay. This may mean losing some time for entertainment, socializing, etc., but I think this is a cost that must be paid. I am not qualified to demand that I can live comfortably in Beijing and have enough time to eat, drink and have fun. This is my choice. Moreover, I feel fortunate for myself along the way. I have the right to choose how to live in the future. I have relatively open-minded parents who did not stop me from venturing out into the world. I have colleagues, classmates and teachers who have helped me along the way. I feel tired but very happy to have come this far.
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