Hello World

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
  cout << "Hello world!" << endl;
  return 0;
}

This is the very first program I developed.
Just like me, most programmers’ very first program is to print “Hello world” in the terminal.
Then, it’s the most suitable title for the very first article I write after I’ve started a completely new life.

A destroyed “game account”

Do you have such an experience: you destroy your character or account in a game, so you must create a new character or register a new account and start from zero? I had such an experience, but the thing that I destroyed was not my character or account in a game; it was my life.

In 2022, I’ve chosen Golang as the programming language that I mostly use and Site Reliability Engineer as my job. I didn’t know that that was the worst decision I’ve made in my life. That doesn’t mean Golang is a terrible language or that SRE is a bad job for a programmer. They are just not suitable for a fresh graduate. You probably know that the status of a fresh graduate is really important in China because there’s a special opportunity for fresh graduates to be hired by companies in China regardless of work experience. But SRE is a job that requires a lot of experience, and Golang is a new programming language that also requires 3-5 years of experience in other languages. So, it’s really hard for a programmer who doesn’t have more than 3 years of experience to become a SRE using Golang in China; the chances are really limited.

Fortunately, I finally got a job at a big international company as a SRE with a satisfactory salary. I worked hard, developed a lot of important features, solved many complicated bugs alone, and became an indispensable member of the SRE team. That’s the happiest 8 months of my life: my job became a part of my life, I live in a big city where everything is convenient and enjoyable, and I never need to work overtime. I feel happy every time I remember that time.

The good times didn’t last long. I’ve lost my job because my department and group were abolished due to the company’s poor decision-making. I tried to find a new job as an SRE and asked over 400 companies, but I wasn’t given a single chance to interview because I only have 8 months of experience and I’m not a fresh graduate anymore. I was rejected by every company simply because of my experience, regardless of my strong programming skills and my ability to work as an experienced programmer.

Review my mistakes

I’m used to reviewing my mistakes when I know I’ve done something wrong, so I started thinking about why I failed just after I lost my job. A lot of my friends told me, “It’s not your fault; it’s due to the abnormal circumstances.” But I couldn’t agree with that because the root cause of this failure was that I’d chosen the wrong job and the inappropriate programming language for a fresh graduate. I think that kind of opinion is as silly as using a C++ compiler to compile Golang source codes, getting a “compilation failed”, and then complaining that the compiler is difficult to use. Anyway, I must change my programming language and ideal job.

I chose C++ and operating system development after careful consideration. The main reason is that C++ is a widely used programming language compared with Golang. Besides, operating system developers are required by a lot of big companies, but the demand exceeds the supply because it’s boring and too difficult for most programmers. I also know that it’s easy for operating system developers to change their jobs to driver developers, embedded system developers, kernel developers, or C++ back-end developers. But there was still a question remaining: I need a job and more than 3 years of experience.

I’ve made up my mind to get the status of a fresh graduate again by studying overseas to avoid the restriction of experience. That’s the easiest and most stable way, I think. I can also upgrade my education level to postgraduate by doing this, which may give me more chances to get a satisfactory job.

Restart my life

Unexpectedly, I got a chance to work as an outsourcing software engineer in the Department of OpenHarmony at Huawei. It’s a good job and an unforgettable experience, but I need to work overtime until 9 p.m. more than three times a week, and I usually need to work on Saturdays. So I didn’t change my decision to study overseas.

I submitted some applications to Australian and New Zealand universities while working. Fortunately, I got some satisfactory offers and accepted one of them. All right, you all know what happened next: My life restarted successfully.

Epilog

There are still a lot of things to do, like completing my course, applying for a summer internship, and improving my speaking English skills to communicate with locals. But I feel more confident than before because I’ve regained control of my life.