Confusion, wasted years, no achievements accomplished

Thread Content

This post was last edited by shenjian*andao on 2016-12-20 21:34. Confucius said, “The young are worth fearing; who knows that those who come later will not be even better?” At forty or fifty and still unknown, such a person is not worth fearing at all! ” Sometimes when I think of this sentence, I feel quite scared. In The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lord Liu lamented that as his thigh muscles grew back, time was passing by, he was getting old, yet he had achieved nothing significant, which made him sad. After graduating from graduate school in 2009, I went to a coal chemical company to work in research and development; two years later I moved to an environmental protection company for similar work, and I have been working in the field of oil refining ever since. At the first company, a process for the hydrogenation of coal tar components was independently developed; the company did not decide to implement it. Later, the company’s management took matters into their own hands and put several sets of this technology into use. Of course, that manager also approached me, but I declined due to other reasons. When I went for the second interview, the interviewer, out of sensitivity regarding industry issues, asked me whether I could bring that technology with me. Out of professional ethics, I replied that I couldn’t. Later, I found that the manager from the first company used that technology to start his own business; thinking about it now, all I can do is laugh. I remember in 2013, a colleague at my first employer mentioned the company’s technical challenges and asked me how to treat coking desulfurization wastewater at low cost. At that time, salt extraction methods such as those using thioammonium or thiocyanate ammonium were already in use, but their operational costs were quite high. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but I had a general idea in mind, so I left it alone. I have a good habit of writing down my ideas in a notebook. After contacting several coking companies, I found that this issue was quite difficult to handle. I tried using my original approach, and the results were very good. I did some rough cost calculations as well, and I got in touch with the design institute; the project is profitable when it’s in operation (although salt extraction is currently unprofitable). I reached out to a friend I met at the first company, and I felt he was trustworthy. They were also interested and said they could help promote the idea. My current boss and I are alumni, and I didn’t hide anything from him; he supported me greatly, saying that if I thought there was a market opportunity, I could start my own business. He wished me success and gave me half a year to prepare. He also said that if I couldn’t succeed outside the company, I could try within it, and he would help me secure benefits. As for now, I have no news from my former colleague. Today, my boss asked me again to make a decision quickly, as there are still many projects that need my attention. I’m really confused right now