About - Jack Chi

Hey there 👋, I appreciate your time to read the article which is about me!

Me

First of all, just call me Jack. I was born and raised in China and I am living in Beijing currently. I used to be a software engineer in big tech companies such as Baidu and Didi. However, I quit my job in 2022 and started to prepare for the master's entrance examination, I probably don't remember what my thoughts were at that period but I just did it. Unfortunately, I didn't pass the examination. Recently I am looking for a job again and working as an independent developer. During this period, I reflected on what I could do, and I discovered my love for writing and sharing, so I built this website.

Here are some memorable moments that I'd like to share:

Timeline

2011 - I barely remember anything about 2011, except that I went to high school by myself and started living independently.
2014 - I started my first year at JXUFE, my college. I was excited to attend college because it was my first time away from my hometown and I was moving to a capital city. Many things happened during my first year:
- I joined a public welfare organization.
- I got my first laptop.
- I learned how to program and edit videos.

2016 - This was my sophomore and junior year, and I joined an IT studio where I assisted instructors in developing software. I earned a reward of about 10,000 CNY, which made me feel like a rich student, even though I spent it all within two months.
2017 - As I approached graduation, I began searching for internships. Fortunately, I received an offer from a giant bank company located in Shanghai. I spent three months working as an intern in Shanghai, where I had a lot of fun exploring the city's many attractions, such as Disneyland, WaiTan Area, and the Oriental Pearl Tower. After my internship was over, I received an offer from XCF, one of my favorite companies, and I moved to Beijing.
2018 - This was a lucky year for me:
- I landed a decent job at XCF.
- I attended my graduation ceremony.
- I visited many resorts in Beijing.
In addition to these accomplishments, I met some wonderful people in 2018, including my two mentors and my leader. One of my colleagues, Stephen Gao, became my best friend, and I started to feel comfortable living in Beijing.

2019 - This was the year I started working out and playing sports like soccer. There was a soccer field near my house at the college, so I used to go there often to play soccer and basketball. Later that year, one of my cousins came to the college to study. I barely knew him before he got admission to the university.
2020 - This was a tough year for everyone, including myself. However, I got a job offer from Baidu, the biggest search engine company in China, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. When the situation got serious, many people had to work from home to prevent the virus transmission. With my new job, I moved to a new residence and bought a scooter for commuting. During the pandemic, there were not many entertainment facilities or resorts open for visitors, so I found it a bit boring. I didn't even go back to my hometown for New Year's Eve because of Covid.

2021 - I started working at Didi, which is known as the Chinese version of Uber. There were not many differences between working at Baidu and Didi, but I got much busier. Being busy left me with no time to think. One significant change was that my friend Stephen Gao left Beijing for Shenzhen.
2022 - After 10 months of working at Didi, I opt to quit and wanted to be a graduate student. So I started to prepare for the graduate school entrance examination. It was my loneliest period during that 8 months. At the end the year of 2022, Omicron spread across the globe and the government still hold the zero-covid policy, which led many college students to go home as soon as possible. Do you remember my cousin who I mentioned before? There was one month left before the exam, my cousin came to my house to prepare for the graduate school examination together. We had a really good time even though it was a tough time. More about the year 2022, I got some takeaways to share, check out the blog 2022 annual review.

2023 - As I write this paragraph, I have just received the result of my exam, and unfortunately, I didn't pass. I feel disappointed because I spent almost eight months preparing and ended up with nothing. What can I say? At least I tried.

As you can see in my life journey so far, there weren't many big things happening but still fulfilled small stories. I'm so grateful for what I have and what I can do. During the gap period, I can do some things that I'm interested in. I like

coding, so I can build and code my side projects.
teaching, so I can teach online.
reading, so I can spend my whole afternoon and sit my balcony on reading books.
writing, so I can write by any chance.
traveling, so I can go wherever I wanna go with consideration.

Keep Looking, don't settle.

I am looking for a remote job as a software engineer as well.