Wang Xiaobo wrote in the Golden Age, “THAT day I was 21 years old, in the golden age of my life. I have so many hopes. I want to love, eat, but also in a moment into the sky of the half-dark clouds. Later I learned that life is a slow process of being hammered. As one gets older, one’s hopes fade away and one becomes like a battered cow. But I didn’t foresee that on my 21st birthday. I felt that I could go on forever, that nothing could hit me.”
All things have their laws, not always vigorous, will slowly fade, heaven good reincarnation, heaven bypassed who, who also don’t laugh at who. In middle age, whether in large companies or small ones, there is a vague fear of a midlife crisis. The wave of layoffs at the end of 2018 has not picked up again this spring. Almost all companies are retrenching. After the post market, not so many imagined, many posts, facing very fierce competition. It makes many people feel a little uncertain about the future, and today’s post is not to sell that anxiety, but to deliver positive energy. Through interviews with a group of workplace veterans over the age of 35, their experience in this spring, the experience of changing jobs and feelings. The interviews in the transcript have been anonymized to ensure partial privacy.
Age: 36
Background: No second, third line Internet company background, technical ability, worked as a leader
The first time I got in touch with Lao Jiang was on the Chinese New Year’s Day, when he added my wechat account. After the Chinese New Year holiday, he asked me if I could recommend a job in Beijing. I asked him to send me a resume, and I asked him to recommend it. I read Lao Jiang’s experience, which was very rich, and it was optimized in December last year. He told me to recommend companies with an unlimited age limit. Size doesn’t matter. * * when he said these words, I am not too understand the subtext of this he said, I can try to recommend * * a few big companies acquaintances, and before long, give the feedback is not appropriate, I ask, what is not appropriate, the interview is not surface, also doing application development technology, I think, do business should do not have what problem. To give feedback means that ** has no suitable pit for him, not that he says his technical ability is not suitable. ** I didn’t ask again. People say that, and I can’t go against it. Then change companies and recommend them. The back of the recommendation is the same tone, a little more familiar, the suggestion is to go to small and medium-sized companies to push, should have harvest. My former friend In Beijing Lao Yu (goodbye, my program green years! This article, once said, yu is no longer do programmer), but he has a friend in Beijing do programmers education training, * * need to hire some programmers experienced old driver, so * * recommended in the past, the old river looks do training teacher training institutions, as well as to write code, to teach students related technical programming. For Lao Jiang, this is indeed a choice to open up a new way of thinking. In the past, he always wanted to work in one unit or another, but he did not try. ** Now, even if he could find a job and work for a few years, where would he go? Therefore, for Lao Jiang, if he can become a teacher in a training institution and establish some good reputation, he can cooperate with others or set up a training institution by himself. Both ways are open. Later, under the recommendation of Lao Yu, I went to the training institution of Lao Yu’s friend, and now I am a technical programming teacher of online education. Currently, ** is still trying to adapt to the rhythm of the teacher from an old bird to a humorous teacher. ** Lao Jiang said some time ago that doing a training teacher is the same as doing toB business, customer first, results oriented. Say next return Beijing, must invite me to dinner ~
Age: 35
Background: BAT background, rank of ali 7+
Lao Song contacted me in March, because I have been recommending jobs to others recently. This recommendation is just a bridge, and it has not done much. According to reason, he will not jump out and change jobs again. ** This rule has resulted in the phenomenon that there is always someone at the bottom of the group, which is really quite helpless. Having worked in a BAT company for nearly 6 years, ** from the resume and background, I think Song should have a lot of opportunities, this rank and background, but the fact is just the opposite, ** actually from the end of last year, Song has been paying attention to opportunities, he also sent a lot of resumes and found headhunters. At the end of the year, each was tightening HC, and the basic recruitment of large factories is very few. But Old Song heart, still want to go to Dachang. This year just spring, he is also more anxious, because the end of the year, according to the previous agreement, he will completely leave the company, at this time there is not a next home, the heart is still very panic, anxiety can not sleep at night, come to ask me two days later, which factory which factory know people? I think there’s a position I’d be better suited for. Let me pitch it. Song, I put a little emphasis on it, because I think if people with this resume and background end up unemployed, what’s the future of programmers? I pushed it to some upstart factories, but the feedback was not suitable for him. Then pushed to the traditional big factory, the effect is good, the traditional big factory is about the interview. Some traditional big factories rejected him in another way considering his status and cost, but he has already got an offer from another traditional big factory. Overall, it’s good. Sometimes we worry that we won’t be able to find a job, and that kind of self-denial is often unfounded. Old Song said, ** looking for a job, is a bayonet. It is also a process of patience and suffering. He said he couldn’t prevent my midlife crisis, I was just trying to prolong my career as long as possible, ** if the company didn’t survive, I should have stayed, but you never know, who’s going to die? (PS: Lao Song is a traditional big factory, but within the accepted range, he said he was satisfied)
Age: 37
Background: I used to have a background in a second-tier Internet company, but later I failed in entrepreneurship and went to a third-tier Internet company
At the beginning, Lao Mo was in a group, that day he said a bunch of programmers in the group how to walk in the second half of the truth, eat melon group friends, in the following constantly shouted “God, niubi, 666”, “there was Lao Mo after the day, Pangu geng before Lao Mo”, I think, who wow, so 6, just looked at the chat record. Originally, he said he earned a lot of money outside of work, the workplace is also all the way upgrade play strange, at present in the third line of Internet companies to do technology manager, tube a lot of people. But one thing that went wrong was betting on the wrong business. Unprofitable business units will be cut sooner or later. His business unit was axed in March. I suddenly remembered two days ago, saw gang elder brother (Ren Yugang) in his public number (Yugang said) sentiment wrote: ** in the eyes of the boss of the company, his eyes do not see technology, technology is a downstream thing, upstream decision downstream, to be specific, the upstream of technology is the product, the upstream of the product is strategy. ** this paragraph, later a friend added that the upstream of ** strategy is capital. Upstream of capital is market potential. ** This is all a line that affects each other. Mo’s business division (games) has seen its market potential decline sharply in recent years. He said that he is now more optimistic about toB business, toB business in the future is the second half of the Internet is the most potential, now is not a random app, you can get financing, and then open the company era. But thanks to their use at an early age to earn money, bought a lot of houses, there are a few in investment, a completed the early accumulation of capital, have to do now, is to find a similar model, to find a job for him, is not very urgent, * * he fortunately his early strategic vision and finish work early human capital accumulation, tuen food enough now. ** His understanding of entrepreneurship and working is: ** there is no essential difference, whether working or starting a business, take it seriously, achievement of others is achievement of their own. ** I added him on wechat in the group and asked him about his recent plans. He said that he was currently negotiating with a cloud business company about his salary. If appropriate, he might work first for the time being, because he had not decided what to do.
I’ve asked all of them three questions:
1. How to treat the midlife crisis of programmers? If you could go back in time, what would you do to avoid a midlife crisis? 3. If you can give a piece of advice, pick one or two that you feel most about and give them to younger programmers?
My summary is as follows:
1. How to treat the midlife crisis of programmers?
A: There must be A midlife crisis. Sooner or later, it’s no use worrying about it. But be careful not to let others magnify you so much that you can’t sleep well. Look at the midlife crisis by looking for ways to improve your own shape, which is essentially a distrust of your own potential. ** So find some of the things you dig deep into, and keep building a moat. ** may not understand a lot of people, slowly experience. Networking in both large and small companies can be a great help in a midlife crisis. ** this sentence seems simple, so far I can not understand the deep meaning behind ~
If you could go back in time, what would you do to avoid a midlife crisis?
A: Different people have different views on this question. Lao Jiang said that young people strive to improve their skills and strive to get into A big factory. So even if stem training, also have good aura. Lao Song said, not greedy in technology itself, but also want to create value in the business. ** Technology serves the business. “Lao Mo said that at that time, I was too timid, so I should have borrowed money to buy more houses. The choice was greater than the effort, and the effort was far from enough. When I was young, I should have made more contacts with people of high status and great talents, which was of great benefit to some key decisions.
3. If you can give a piece of advice, pick one or two that you feel most about and give them to younger programmers?
A, do things to the extreme (comments: just a few words, do it is not easy, but still rely on this direction)
B, if the career continues to go further: education and background are really important (a few people do not have a degree is more awesome than awesome example), professional basic ability seems simple, need to cultivate hard enough. (Comment: the truth all understand, can be no one told me wow, the first half sentence can not change, the latter half sentence can change)
C, programmer life is the first half of the fight is technology and ability, the second half of the fight is business and value. (Comments: Yeah, take note)
D, don’t be too greedy for technology, limit yourself in technical thinking. Being taught by others is not terrible. What is terrible is that they do not understand others’ cognition and also resist others’ cognition. Different cognition leads to different patterns. (Comment: Absorb in silence)
E, pay consciousness, find someone to help remember the appropriate time, help back. It will make you more recognized by others. (Comment: Difficult, now many people think helping people is should, you have to do pay, that is not cut our leek)
F, career is a marathon, cow force in the first half, cow force does not mean that the second half, the body important, excessive overtime consuming overdraw, sooner or later also (this suggestion, I feel no dice, a lot of people the overdraft, or overdraft, online there is an old saying: call you dare to work overtime to 11 points, they will be added to the 12 o ‘clock) (comment: do not do, are tears ~)
