What It Feels Like to Graduate from University
In the preface of Li Dan’s book “Laughing Place,” there is a sentence: “Life has no meaning, but life has beauty.”
The Same Mistake
Actually, I “graduated” a long time ago, but I only received my diploma now. When I had no failing grades, and when I started my internship, my student days were already over, even though it seemed they had never begun. Academically, my only regret might be that I didn’t pass CET 4. You might find this laughable; I do too. Near graduation, the school had a comprehensive assessment score for the four years of college. I never ranked first in any final exam, but my four-year comprehensive assessment was actually the highest in my class. Of course, our class’s overall performance was poor, but that’s not important. What matters is that nearly half of the students could pass 425, while I only got 423.
In the first few days of college, I wrote a few diary entries in my notebook, and when sorting through my things, I found a surprising sentence: “I’m here to study, not to have fun.” I can naturally understand how I felt back then. Only I knew what I did during the year of my senior high school. In the initial assessment test at the beginning of senior year, I ranked among the last ten in my class, but by the time of the various mock exams and the college entrance exam, I consistently ranked among the top three. Don’t be surprised by such rankings; this is the reality of small counties. Because of such experiences, I started my college life with a mindset not entirely focused on formal education.
Just recently, I fell into the same mental trap: “I’m not here to have fun; I’m here to work.” Because I didn’t attend college with a playful mindset, my academic performance might not have been that bad, and my technical skills improved, overall exceeding those of many classmates. But because of this, I missed many opportunities for entertainment. I didn’t even get to know the city where I studied, its attractions, and places. More importantly, I missed very important people and once precious opportunities. Now I’ve learned how to love someone, but there’s no one left who needs my love.
So you can understand what the title “The Same Mistake” refers to. About half a month ago, I planned to write about my career plans, with the original title “About Career Planning.” Later, I felt the scope of career planning was too small, just about working seriously, living well, and balancing work and life. In fact, life doesn’t need planning; planning is useless. We should always stay clear-headed, understand our current situation, what the future holds, and what we want. In short, the mindset should be: “I’m not here to muddle through.”
One Punch Man
I changed my avatar. He said, “I’ve gone bald, but I’ve become stronger.” Saitama became a hero out of interest, not for recognition or admiration from others, nor for the generous treatment from the Hero Association, but simply because he wanted to be a hero. Similarly, I pursue a profession not for others’ evaluation standards, but because of certain interests I’ve accumulated since junior high, which make me want to continue exploring this path.
Saitama’s strength is inexplicable. Even if he reveals the entire process of becoming strong, you still can’t reach his height. It’s like a top student telling you how they listen in class and complete assignments, but you can’t become the next top student. The only cost for One Punch Man to become strong was going bald, directly becoming bald. I find this similar to programmers. If a programmer goes bald because of work, they are often a master. Even if they tell you their methods, you can’t easily surpass them. But even so, it shouldn’t stop us from aspiring to great abilities.
Graduation Project and Microservices
My graduation project was titled Microservices, but due to the low requirements from our school for graduation projects and theses, I didn’t achieve my personal goals. I just coped with the teacher and got by. Microservices are a very simple concept, but the difficulty lies in how to implement microservices in large systems. Any operation in a large system is arduous, and microservices are no exception, hence, microservices are simple. About the registry, configuration center, load balancing, and circuit breakers, articles about them may appear on this blog in the near future.
Learning should focus on the essence, which is abstract. I prefer to understand technology from a higher level. If you only learn how to use Kafka without caring about what problems middleware like Kafka solves, this world would be too boring. Combining my actual work content, my next plan will focus on middleware, blockchain, and algorithms.
The Meaning of the Blog’s Existence
(As I write this, I find myself losing patience to continue. Some content output requires empathy, that is, “what was I thinking at the time.” Many things have happened in the past half month, but now it’s over, and I will face new life and challenges. My mindset cannot return to the past, nor do I want to stay in the past. The remaining content may not be completed.)
(This attachment About Career Planning is the outline written before.)