Haichuan Gratitude Season – A Tribute to One of My Real-Life Masters [Mechanical Section 009]

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This post was last edited by gaodi913 on 2016-2-18 at 10:30. Thanks to Haichuan for organizing the Gratitude Season event, which gave us the opportunity to recall a mentor – someone who was both a teacher and a friend. I majored in mechanical manufacturing and automation. After graduating, I started working in the process engineering department of a water pump company. At that time, I was very interested in CNC technology; however, in the water pump industry, the use of CNC machining for components was limited to simple applications that weren’t very complex. As a result, there wasn’t much work to do. I worked under an engineer named Qi Liang, helping with the design of process tools. Although my major was relevant, what I had learned in school was quite superficial. This mentor patiently taught me how to plan process routes, prepare process instructions, design tools, and establish production quotas. He invested a lot of time in guiding me, and over the course of more than a year, I managed to acquire a great deal of knowledge. It’s a pity that the company didn’t pay enough attention to the engineering department at that time; the salaries there were much lower than those in the design department, and the year-end bonuses were also very small. Many senior engineers in the process departments are also forced to accept the status quo for various reasons, lacking the ability to change it. Seeing this situation, I felt inclined to leave the production department, but the manager of the technical department disagreed. I was ready to resign, when Master Qi Liang stepped in to help me talk to the manager and supported my request to switch to the design department. In the end, the manager agreed, which changed the course of my career. My own design work is also progressing well now; I’ve become a senior designer. Looking back, it’s fortunate that he helped me at that time. On regular weekends, the two of us would often go to his house for gatherings and cook together. The main reason was that he introduced his sister-in-law to me as a potential girlfriend; unfortunately, I wasn’t good at maintaining relationships at that time, and so we never ended up together. However, this didn’t affect our relationship as master and apprentice – we remain close friends, at least that’s what I think. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older; lately I’ve felt that there are many people I need to thank, but I haven’t said it out loud. I hope this piece of writing can express my feelings. Thank you, Haichuan, and thank you to everyone who has helped me.