Having witnessed two decades of projects, who can remain consistently successful without faltering?

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Ten years ago, I wrote an article titled: “A Decade of Uncertainty – The Digital Home for Chemical Industry Workers” | Dedicated to the sharing of industrial technologies and knowledge – Powered by Discuz!. Now, another decade has passed, and finally I have time to summarize things: The company I joined in 2015, as mentioned in that post, wasn’t a place I stayed at for long; I left after just one year. Since there have been no engineering projects coming in and I’ve just been idling away the time, I no longer want to waste any more time. The only accomplishment during this period was that it took me a year of self-study by reading books to pass the judicial examination. At that time, I had almost completed all the certifications related to engineering, and I didn’t know what to do. Feeling lost, I wondered whether I should change industries, and somehow I decided to take the bar exam. Amazingly, I passed it on the very first try. Although I didn’t ultimately pursue a career in the legal field, I still felt a great sense of accomplishment. Personally, I feel that the judicial examination is the one among all liberal arts exams that requires the most logical thinking. Also, at that time, I kept thinking about transitioning out of the industrial engineering field. After much searching, in 2016 I joined a civil engineering design firm. It’s also a top player in the industry; it has participated in the design work for China Zun. I won’t mention its specific name. It was only after starting work that I realized Minjian was far inferior to Gongjian – sales played a dominant role there, and technology had no say in Minjian. The drawings are also not accurate; there are numerous clashes in the MEP piping design. Even when these issues are identified, no corrections are made. When asked about it, the response is always, “The contractors will fix them on-site.” At that time, I was mainly responsible for BIM-related tasks, but Minjian used BIM merely as a gimmick to showcase in bids, without actually applying it to the engineering design. I quit on my own before the 3-month probation period ended. This period wasn’t a waste either; I made some friends. I also worked as a part-time consultant in industrial BIM for a four-person startup for some time, traveling there by high-speed rail twice a week to stay for two days each time. Although they all studied civil construction and have a weak foundation in engineering skills, the young people are enthusiastic, and the working relationships are simple. In the end, this company was acquired by a leading domestic waste incineration group, which can be considered a successful outcome. The company I joined later on was another top-tier domestic waste incineration company. I joined this waste incineration company in the second half of 2016; it was originally a private enterprise founded by its owner from scratch, and it has now become a listed company. At that time, the group established a new subsidiary to develop new technologies for handling hazardous waste. I participated in it as an expert in high-temperature equipment. When the company was recruiting, it required at least a master’s degree; I was the first person to join with a bachelor’s degree. It’s also because the company really couldn’t find anyone suitable; during the interview, they thought I was a good fit, so they made an exception. I never could have imagined that there was a big pit buried here. It was not until I started working there that I realized the technical team at the new company consisted of people with high educational qualifications, but most of them came from laboratory backgrounds and almost none of them had any experience in engineering design. When developing the project plan, they simply used a scaled-up version of a laboratory setup as a proposal for an industrial device. Not even everyone knows how to calculate the resistance drop in smoke ducts. As one of the few people with extensive engineering experience, I had no choice but to start from HGT20519 and provide training to others from scratch. But technical skills are easy to learn; working mindsets are hard to change. I can sense that many doctors don’t consider engineering design to be important; in many people’s minds, conducting experiments and publishing papers are far more important than the practical application of technology. At that time, I also served as the assistant to the engineering manager; the manager actually didn’t handle any tasks, and it was I who coordinated the entire project schedule. Meanwhile, the team of PhDs responsible for process research and development repeatedly postponed the development of the process package and made unauthorized changes to the design inputs on multiple occasions, resulting in continuous delays in the entire project. Time costs and operating costs continue to be delayed under the laboratory-oriented mindset prevalent in the process engineering field. Although the final pilot project was completed, its operating costs remained well above the requirements set by the group. Many awards and titles in the field of research and technology have been obtained, but none of these bring any real benefits to the group. As a result, the group eventually decided to scale back this new technology: from providing full support at the beginning, it shifted to offering only limited support, and later even began to “optimize” the team. From that point on, I realized that the team’s future looked bleak, so I started posting my resume to look for a new job. At the beginning of 2023, an HR representative from a US-based Fortune 500 company reached out to me. After three rounds of interviews, I was eventually hired. Thus, I’ve achieved a grand slam across state-owned enterprises, private companies, listed companies, and foreign enterprises. Before joining a foreign company, my biggest concern was my poor English skills. However, after having numerous conversations with foreigners, I realized that they themselves don’t speak English in a perfectly precise manner either; as long as one is aware of the specialized terms used in one’s field, communication isn’t a problem. From personal experience, if there’s a long passage in English during a meeting that I can’t understand, it’s generally just useless nonsense. In terms of benefits, foreign companies are truly great—whether it’s salary, annual leave, or insurance. The most obvious point is that as long as you still have paid vacation days, you can take as many as you want without needing any reason; the boss will approve them right away. However, foreign companies aren’t all a good thing. First of all, foreign companies also face the problem of being large organizations, with low efficiency in internal communication and an excessive number of meetings. I attend meetings at this foreign-owned company more frequently and in greater numbers than I do at state-owned enterprises. And since it’s a U.S.-owned company, it’s common to hold meetings in the middle of the night; this isn’t considered overtime, so there’s no overtime pay. Due to the “democratic” atmosphere in foreign companies, work efficiency is very low. For example, it’s a purely professional issue—something that several experts can confirm after a brief discussion. When an outsider observing the meeting asks a question that is quite basic, the meeting must come to a halt so that time can be taken to explain to them why it is done that way. Moreover, behind one common-sense question, there are often many other common-sense questions that follow. The final meeting turned into a science popularization event; it lasted only an hour. The only outcome was agreeing on the date for the next meeting. As someone who has changed jobs many times, I often think that with this approach, no amount of money the company has will be enough. Unexpectedly, my words came true: first, there was infighting within the company’s board of directors due to dissatisfaction with the profit margin. As a result, the entire board was replaced; both the chairman and CEO were changed, and the company’s overall development direction was adjusted. Then came the Sino-US trade war, which affected various cross-border businesses. Especially during the period of the 245% tariffs, the company’s business operations were completely chaotic. Finally, the major conflict in the Middle East at the beginning of the year affected the company’s largest factory as well. As a result of these successive setbacks, the company began to shut down various departments, and as an employee in a non-core department, I too received the ‘layoff package’. For all these years, I’ve been the one firing bosses. This is the first time I’ve received a layoff package. To be honest, the severance pay is quite substantial, but losing one’s job at around 40 years old does make one feel a bit lost. Having worked for so many years and been constantly busy, I’m now back in my hometown, taking this opportunity to spend time with my parents. As for work, the job market isn’t doing well right now, so I can only look for opportunities gradually. Hopefully, I’ll still be able to find a suitable position.