A letter from Nanjing
Last week, I received another email from a former student as I often asked them to share their working experiences with current students. In the email the student shared his working experience as he struggle of being a technical person and a managerial person that some of you may find interesting.
Dear Professor,
Ten years ago, I thought that I could have a good career path when I returned to China. As a graduate with a degree in computer science from a top U.S university, a father who is an executive of a company, and many relatives in high positions, I was ready to get into management with the hope that someday, I could be an executive like my father. Of course, with family connection like that, I had no problem getting a good job in my father's company and within a year, I was quickly promoted to management position. It seemed that my career was well on the way as planned.
After a year working as a software manager, I realized that it would take me at least several more years to climb to the next level. However, I did not have patient to wait that long as I was young and ambitious. I left for a higher management job in a small software company with a lot of potentials. I believed that one day I could became another “Mr. Bill Gates”, that was what the company owner promised me. It was hard work that often required me to work 60 hour or more a week but as a young man, I did not mind.
When the company experienced difficulty, the owner grabbed the money then filed for bankruptcy. With a shattered dream, I could not return home since I did not listen to my father advice to stay at his company. I moved to another city and taking a position as a manager in a government IT office. The job in government was not challenging at all, Even I had a good salary (I believe that my uncle had something to do with it) but the technology there was obsolete, the system was so old, and people there were so “Relax”. If they did not want to do something one day then they did it the next day, if not then next week or next month. Of course, they were nice people but the job did not fit me and after a year, I started to look for another job.
Compare with the U.S., China software industry was still young with a lot of companies formed and disappeared. It was easy to start a company since you can get helps from government but if you do not have good products or customers than you do not last long. Most companies were small, about fifty to two hundred people. Some wrote code, developed websites, conducted tests for foreign companies. Many created websites to sell things similar to “eBay” but not successful. Most did not have a good management structure but relied on the labor of programmers who work very hard, day and night for almost nothing. Many companies was established based on government contracts but after the contract ends, then the companies also end too. Since I had family connection, I did not have problem finding management jobs. I spent three years with four companies providing software services for government short term contracts. But contract came one day, gone few months later then you had to asked whomever you know to get another contract.
By this time suddenly I realized that my education was wasted. My knowledge and training at CMU had nothing to do with my career. I was relying on the influence of my family and not myself. I remembered what you said in class: “To have profound knowledge and make a difference in your life and other people' lives”. It hurt a lot as I began to reflect on my life. For years, I did not do anything for myself or to anyone so I decided to start all over again. I knew what I wanted to do: “ technical work” not “management work”.
I remembered a job interview in Nanjing where the interviewer told me: “We have a good management position for someone like you”, “No, I do not want management job, I just want to code.”, “Why do you want to code when you had years of experience in management?”, “I want to learn more about coding, I have not code for several years”, “Your resume said C, and Java but we have many developers with that skills already. We cannot pay someone like you just to do that”. “I do not mind, just pay me anything, I want to do technical work”, “We cannot do that, but we have opening in Python, Ruby and Ajax since we do not have anyone with that skills”, “Good, please hire me, I can learn them very quickly”, “But you do not have that skill yet”, “Do not worry, I am a software engineer and I can learn any programming languages very quickly”.
Suddenly, I feel so proud about my education. Even I did not know these new languages but my education had prepared me for that occasion. I remembered that you always told the class: “Learning is a lifelong activities, never stop learning, no matter how old you are. Your minds are so precious, do not waste them”.
At that time, the interviewer could not make decision so he had to asked his boss to talk to me. His boss was an older person and he seemed curious “So you do not want a management position even you are qualified. Where do you see yourself few years from now?”. My answer was “I just want to go back to the technical work. I do not want management position. I have been doing that and I did not like it. I want to get back to technical work because that is what I have been training for. Please hire me, I can learn whatever you want in about five weeks. If not, you can fire me”. The old man patiently listened to the reason why I wanted to start all over again. After that, he hired me as a “Software developer”.
I arrived early the next morning, started learning Ruby then within a week, I started Ajax, then Python. I developed more software code in 6 months than I had in the previous five years. I felt great as I look back on it with fondness. But things began to change, just after 6 months I was asked to manage a small project since the manager was seriously ill. I accepted and what started as a small project of five person team evolved into 20 person team. The project was so successful that customers wanted to add more functions. By the end of the year, I had the largest project the company ever had. I was very proud of my education since it helped me to make thing happened. I had applied everything that I learned at CMU to the project. I negotiated the schedule with customers, I set realistic schedule with inputs from developers, something never happened here. I organized the team into two groups, one facing outward to work with customers, obtaining requirements, understand business needs, build relationships and test software at customer's sites to make sure that everything work well. The other team facing inward to focus on architecture, design with particular attention to quality. This kind of structure never exist here so it was a learning experience to everybody.
I started a lot of technical training classes for my developers to keep their skills up to date and make sure that they did not overwork. Several developers told me that they enjoyed working for me because I did not abuse them, or took advantage of them but instead gave them a chance to learn more things. Most of all, I am the only manager who “know how to code” in contrast with many who never do any technical works. They are “Victims” of a “family connection” system who get good positions without any efforts, the system that I was once belong to. Now more than ever, I appreciate the education that I have received, a system that encourage having confidence, knowledge and skills.
The business was so good, that the company received more business than ever before. We grew from five hundred persons to three thousand persons in just two years. Before I came, the company promised customers on schedule, now we promise on quality. Never in my life, I appreciate the education at CMU and all the professors' experiences in developing students with such a profound knowledge. I went from manager to director and now I am the vice president of one of the large software company in Nanjing.
I went back to Beijing triumphantly as I have made my family proud. My ten years in the industry have taught me many things. I made several mistakes but also learned from them. I hope that someday I will return to CMU to tell our students that: “Continue to learn as much as you can. Using your knowledge to make a difference for your life and other people's lives.” If students ask me about career advices then I will tell them: “Starting with technical work first, build a solid foundation then move up as you gain more experience. Have the wisdom to know the difference between “technical work” and “managerial work”. Management position should be earned, not granted.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
