2022 Year-End Review and 2023 New Year Outlook

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In the blink of an eye, 2022 is about to pass. I do not know whether it is because of pandemic restrictions or because I myself am getting older, but now time feels like it flies, truly like a white horse passing a crack. The ancients did not deceive me.

Previous year-end reviews:

Milestone reviews:

These important blog posts are all under the Diary category on my blog.

2022 Personal Review

This year, both my personal life and work changed quite a lot.

Work

This year, according to the expected plan, I changed jobs and moved to Europe. Although my level did not change; I am still Junior.

The work direction remains unchanged: still backend. But the content and company culture differ quite a lot.
Overall, in terms of atmosphere and work pressure, Microsoft Dublin is much easier than Amazon China.
Language is still a major barrier. With my fragmented English, communicating with people from all over the world is still not completely satisfactory.
Nationality diversity here is off the charts. The group has people from many different countries. However, gender diversity is much worse, mainly male. This is not as good as Amazon Beijing. But it is understandable. Dublin recruits from all over the world, especially the third world, where women’s education and opportunities are far worse than in socialist China. The imbalance in supply eventually leads to a very imbalanced group of hires.

Pandemic

First, COVID entered its third year. Because the virus spread more easily and the dynamic-zero policy became stricter, this year saw unprecedented normalized PCR testing: in Beijing, one test every three days, otherwise you could go nowhere. Buses, subways, malls, and supermarkets all required it. Beijing Health Kit also became the most commonly used app, because wherever you went, you needed to scan a code.

When the pandemic was raging in the first half of the year, I experienced two lockdowns at Xuan Te Jia Yuan, both because another building in the same residential compound had a positive case. Each lasted about ten days. We could only buy food through delivery or express shipping, and the timeliness was poor. At that time many compounds were under lockdown, demand was high, many couriers were also locked down, and supply was limited. The requirement for controlled areas was not leaving the building, with at most a small area downstairs for movement.

The first time, everyone was still obedient and only came out for a little fresh air during PCR tests. The second time, on Sunday, there was a gathering incident. Residents gathered in the compound square and demanded that community leaders stop adding layers of restrictions and lift the lockdown. Of course it did not succeed; we still waited ten days before being released.

The one-bedroom apartment I lived in then was only 35 square meters. There was really not even space to walk. Huddling inside every day was truly hard.

In the second half of the year, the virus began raging again. Before the end of June, my Ziroom lease expired, and I found another two-month room on the same floor of the same building. It expired at the end of August. Staying alone in Beijing was not meaningful, and I could save some rent, so I went back to my hometown to wait for moving abroad. At the end of September, I returned to Beijing to handle the work visa, which went fairly smoothly. However, starting from National Day, a new round of virus spread began, and the 20th Party Congress also arrived, so controls everywhere were extremely strict. At that time, the county I was in also had its first case in the three years of the pandemic. My Beijing Health Kit also popped up a warning, meaning I could not go to Beijing. I fought wits with the pop-up warning, because I was going to fly away at the end of October. Since I had studied and worked in Beijing all along, I asked the company to buy a flight departing from Beijing. Fortunately, it was smooth in the end. I arrived in Beijing one week in advance, completed resignation, had farewell dinners with Amazon colleagues, packed several boxes of moving luggage, and finally successfully boarded and left the country.

Before I left, family and colleagues were still worried and caring about my risk of infection overseas. Unexpectedly, the world changed too fast. When I left, it was already the darkest hour before dawn. The dynamic-zero policy and repeated escalation of controls everywhere had made people unable to bear it. Around the time I left, many events happened. In the end, the Urumqi fire became the fuse, and people across the country took to the streets to express dissatisfaction and demands for reopening. Many public accounts and WeChat Moments I followed also voiced support. Honestly, they were very brave; I certainly would not dare. But the results of the struggle were still significant. The pandemic policy turned 180 degrees, catching many people off guard and unprepared. By the end of the year, Beijing and other cities successively entered infection peaks. Two thirds of my former colleagues had already been infected. Under such circumstances, being abroad was instead safer. But because I had been frightened by China, after my PPS number came through, I immediately went to get the Pfizer COVID vaccine, specifically targeting the BA4.5 variant. mRNA vaccines are indeed fierce. On the first day I only felt my arm hurt badly; for the next two days my whole body hurt, I felt weak, and had a slight fever.

Life

Since the end of last year, I began a work-from-home life. Amazon had started WFH (Work from Home) from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, but the office was always open and people could go in. Basically very few people came every day. Most of the time there were only the manager and a few colleagues who came often. The vast majority of colleagues chose long-term remote work, and we only saw everyone occasionally during dinners or team building. Long-term work from home is also relatively rare in China. Although work communication efficiency decreased, the saved commute and freedom of work location and time were simply amazing, especially when you have family or a partner to stay with.

Before resigning, I also enjoyed two months of working from my hometown, which was also wonderful. Low prices, no rent, and family companionship all make me miss it very much.

The biggest life change was moving from China to Ireland in the final two months and beginning my second working career in Dublin.

Microsoft arranged two months of temporary accommodation. It was also an apartment, and even had two bedrooms and two bathrooms (2b2b), but I lived there alone. An auntie came every week for simple cleaning. It was not far from the office either, a 20-minute walk. But because it was in the suburbs, going to the supermarket was inconvenient. The nearest commercial area was also more than 20 minutes away.

In the final month, I found a long-term apartment. It was also a 2b2b apartment, total price 2,550 euros, but I chose the smaller bedroom, 1,225 euros per month. It did not include electricity (cooking and boiling water all use electricity) or internet. Ireland’s rental market is truly abnormal: poor infrastructure, but all kinds of prices and rents are sky-high. The price-to-rent ratio is among the highest in Europe. Colleagues’ mortgage payments for buying a home are far more cost-effective than renting.

Because the group’s work is too foundational, onboarding takes a long time, and December is a Non-Fly zone with no production code changes. These two months felt quite relaxed. The people I know here are also colleagues from other countries in the company. After work they like gathering and chatting. I prefer solo activities, so after work and on weekends I stay at home reading books, watching videos, and watching films.

Learning

First, because I was preparing for European interviews, I learned a lot of interview-related knowledge, including LeetCode, system design, and behavior questions. Because the interviews were all in English, I spent a lot of time improving English, especially oral expression and communication ability. I also read most of DDIA and a small part of Grokking the System Design Interview.

Second, I learned a lot at work. I myself really like learning new knowledge. The pleasure of acquiring new knowledge is similar to shopping or gaming. For skills needed at work, I generally tend to spend more time systematically learning them. For example, for Java I read Effective Java and Core Java, and for C# I read More Effective C#.

Finally, miscellaneous things I am interested in. Especially during the last two months after coming to Europe, I had unprecedented free time and strong love for knowledge. Mainly A Brief History of the Human Body, A Short History of Europe, and A Brief History of Quantum Science. Besides these, I also watched many classic films from Douban’s TOP250.

Longing for a Good Life in 2023

  • Promotion and transfer to the United States in the next two years.
    • After eight years of understanding, I have finally made up my mind to develop in the United States. There are many reasons. First, for programmers, the United States is still the core of computing. In terms of career-development opportunities and salary, it is far better than other countries. Second, Europe has been going downhill. Although its foundation is thick, it is in the second world and has high quality of life, the future does not belong to Europe. The next technological explosion will most likely happen in China or the United States. Finally, the United States is a balance point between life and work. Life in Europe is very good, even too relaxed. China’s work pressure is high and life is severely squeezed. Today, because of the dividends of the internet information industry, programmers’ income has an obvious premium, especially in China and the United States. This dividend will sooner or later weaken and disappear, but I do not know how long that will take. I want to take advantage of the dividend to earn more money and make some investments. But I am confident that the next dividend will also be in the computer field, so perhaps I can still enjoy some of it more or less.
  • Exercise and strengthen the body.
    • The body is the capital of revolution. The older I get and the more people and things I encounter, the more I feel that good health and family happiness are more important than anything. Spend more time on exercise and family. Work is only to support the family. “Wife, children, and a warm kang; two acres of thin farmland and one ox” remains my life ideal.
  • Maintain enthusiasm for learning, whether work-related or personal interests.
    • Mental health is also very important. Live and learn until old age.