As for me, I have always been a playful child since I was young. I didn't take studying seriously and didn't like reading. I was notorious for not liking to read. I couldn't seem to calm down and was always restless. However, when it came to storybooks, I would read short stories over and over again. I enjoyed reading fables, stories about famous people, fairy tales, composition books, and short stories. As for long novels, besides the Bible, I don't think I have ever finished one seriously. It's embarrassing to say that I haven't even finished reading the four classic Chinese novels that are essential for elementary school students.
I started playing games in elementary school. I would go to the local arcade, where they had arcade game machines. It cost one dollar for four tokens. I also went to internet cafes (which were popular at the time), but I wasn't talented in gaming. My family computer had a password, which was my first step into the world of computers. I learned how to remove passwords using software and even how to reinstall the system. Later, I started playing games on my phone, but I always ended up with old Android phones that couldn't even run basic apps. Eventually, I unexpectedly got a Samsung I9250 Google Nexus from an uncle. Although it was an old phone, it had Android 4.x, which was satisfying for me because it had background task switching. However, it couldn't play games. After finding out that it didn't have enough RAM, I flashed a Xiaomi ROM on it, and surprisingly, I was able to play games, although the special effects turned into pink textures. Later, I became interested in various cracked software for phones, such as cracking QQ and WeChat, script software, and bombing software. But I never thought about learning programming myself because I thought I was really "dumb" at the time. Why do I say that? Because my mind was always focused on playing, and even if I was interested in programming, I wouldn't be able to finish it, just like my "four classic Chinese novels". Sigh~
This problem caused me to have a slow progress in programming. In 9th grade, I met an uncle who was a programmer. He sparked my interest in studying computer science and even gave me Java and C++ tutorials. I learned from him that "ipconfig" is used to check IP addresses. I ended up choosing Java for some reason, although I couldn't understand it. I knew how to call interfaces, but I was completely confused. The reason was that I was always struggling with the question, "What's the use of learning this interface? I didn't even have a concept of interfaces. All I could say was, "What's the use of writing this line of code? How does it relate to my game, Lock's Kingdom?" Although I successfully set up a Java environment on my family's old revolutionary notebook and ran HelloWorld!, I proudly said, "Whatever I write in System.out.println(); will be printed."
In my first year of high school, my deskmate was excellent in math. He had a great mind and was much more flexible than me. He also had a good memory (interest probably helped a lot). I wasn't good at math, but his unique way of thinking always gave me a different perspective. He also liked computer science and we went to the bookstore together. He bought advanced programming language and assembly language books. He had already understood the exercises in the assembly language book published by the Machinery Industry Press, but I didn't understand anything. Then came the second and third year of high school, and I continued to learn Java. Whether I could go to college was another story.
In the end, I got into a mediocre undergraduate institution, but let's not talk about that. I studied computer science and my biggest regret is not learning algorithms and 408 (a Chinese programming competition). It's not that I didn't want to learn, but university time is short, even though it seems long. If I didn't play games, it might have been better. I played a lot of games. There were also many easy courses in school, and I had to take English and math in the first and second year. I wasn't biased towards any particular subject. I knew I wanted to pursue Java, but I also studied embedded systems, Python, and C, and submitted assignments. However, some classmates knew they only needed to focus on Java and pass other courses, so they quickly built up their Java skills. I was much slower. I can say that until I learned Java web development, I had been studying for a year. As for frameworks and microservices, I only spent less than three months on them and completed two projects. But those three months were really tiring. I would study and develop for more than ten hours a day. Here, I worked on parts of the Grain Mall and Grain Academy projects. In the end, I realized that I seemed to have learned nothing and didn't know anything. This year, I went through the Grain Academy project again to gain a clearer understanding.
Recently, I have been looking for a job through campus recruitment. My academic background, algorithms, and other aspects are relatively weak. But at least I feel that I can't change my career. However, the current job market is not good. Small companies are not hiring, large companies are laying off employees, and campus recruitment has high requirements. Many classmates have changed their careers, and even good friends have chosen a narrow field. I am still struggling. But I'm not saying all this because I want to insist on being a developer. Development is busy and tiring. I hope that my future work will not rely solely on myself, but on God. When the day comes that I no longer foolishly rely on myself and instead seek God's guidance, that will be the best. My so-called expertise, efforts, and goals are all secondary to God's mission. I pray that God will use me.
Every day, I am busy and it seems like there is not enough time. In reality, I am just wasting time. I am not efficient. Recently, I have been reading the book "Crazy Busy". I feel like I am exactly like that, lacking efficiency. It seems like I am very busy, but I hope that in the future, I can have order, plan things, and develop the habit of not being disturbed by external factors. I always get occupied with the current task when I am doing something, which shows a lack of order. There should be priorities. I also hope that I won't be so busy and that I can focus on doing things in order.
Crazy Busy: What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
Matthew 16:24-26: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"