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STOP THE HATE

Studying in the same city where parents live is nearly impossible for ~69 millions of village kids in China. Being a girl in such a population is even worse because of the limited support from family and their traditional expectations on girls: Your fate is set since the day you were born, dropping out of high school, working in a manufacture, getting married and having kids at a young age. Then life repeats with how you struggle with providing your next generations better education and living conditions…From the outsiders’ view, they are cheap labor that you can exploit their uses without worrying about being sued or feeling bad. 

Being a family relative to many of them, I see their struggles of settling down in the city where they work, their pain from leaving their kids in the village and their stress from supporting the entire family with little income. Yet, I did not hear many complaints or see them giving up. Instead, they are working hard towards their goals and invest all they have in their kids with hope that their kids can have a better future. 

My parents are one of them who supported their kids with everything they earned by hands. As a result, I got a chance to come to the states. However all financial support my parents can provide is not even enough for one year tuition fee, so I have to graduate ASAP and work in the meantime to self support while working hard to get that damn scholarship that I needed so much. Working and studying in a foreign country is hard, what makes it even harder is that if you need to worry about your life because of your color.

Like my many family relatives, I did not complain loudly about being discriminated against even when some non-Asian students told me that ”The rice you eat is like worms, so disgusting!” or some local cashier told me that “ You must be good at math, so you should calculate your own receipt.” I could have reported all these cases to my foreign advisor to get support. But then I asked myself, are they really racist or just being ignorant? I sincerely do not have clear answers when I am trying to rationalize my own reactions. So I set myself emotionless mode to ignore those noises for almost three years back in college.

Four years later, now being an expecting mom of an Asian baby in this country, I am terrified to learn how Asians get physically attacked during the pandemic. Those Asians who got mocked, injured, or killed in the hate crimes simply because they were born Asians, can be me or my family. My own childhood, oversea life experience and international travels makes me realize discrimination exists everywhere in the world in different forms, but race based hate crimes are the one that frighten me most! I hope tragic history never need to repeat itself, and we all humans can treat each other with basic respect.

共勉

戒懒、戒借口、戒浪费时间----多笑、多学习、多听、多思考
当我们只遇到逆风行舟的时候,我们调整航向迂回行驶就可以了;但是,当海面上波涛汹涌,而我们想停在原地的时候,那就要抛锚。当心啊,年轻的舵手,别让你的缆绳松了,别让你的船锚动摇,不要在你没有发觉以前,船就漂走了。

记得三个尊:尊重自已,尊重别人,保持尊严,对自已的行为负责。

一天要做三件事,第一要笑,第二要微笑,第三要哈哈大笑。

时间抓起来说是金子,抓不住就是流水。

最糟糕的是人们在生活中经常受到错误志向的阻碍而不自知,真到摆脱了那些阻碍时才能明白过来。

青少年是一个美好而又是一去不可再得的时期,是将来一切光明和幸福的开端。

伟人之所以伟大,是因为他与别人共处逆境时,别人失去了信心,他却下决心实现自己的目标。

伟人所达到并保持着的高处,并不是一飞就到的,而是他们在同伴们都睡着的时候,一步步艰辛地向上攀爬的。

生命对某些人来说是美丽的,这些人的一生都为某个目标而奋斗。

积极者相信只有推动自己才能推动世界,只要推动自己就能推动世界。每一日你所付出的代价都比前一日高,因为你的生命又消短了一天,所以每一日你都要更积极。今天太宝贵,不应该为酸苦的忧虑和辛涩的悔恨所销蚀,抬起下巴,抓住今天,它不再回来。

我们什么都没有,唯一的本钱就是青春。梦想让我与众不同,奋斗让我改变命运!

业精于勤,荒于嬉;行成于思,毁于随。

这个社会是存在不公平的,不要抱怨,因为没有用!人总是在反省中进步的!

我不去想是否能够成功,既然选择了远方,便只顾风雨兼程!

凡事都要脚踏实地去作,不驰于空想,不骛于虚声,而惟以求真的态度作踏实的工夫。

伟大人物的最明显标志,就是他坚强的意志,不管环境变换到何种地步,他的初衷与希望仍不会有丝毫的改变,而终于克服障碍,以达到期望的目的。

不要以感伤的眼光去看过去,因为过去再也不会回来了,最聪明的办法,就是好好对付你的现在。

成功根本没有秘诀可言,如果有的话,就有两个:第一个就是坚持到底,永不言弃;第二个就是当你想放弃的时候,回过头来看看第一个秘诀,坚持到底,永不言弃。

Career Advices

Focus.

Be patient.

Stay Humble.

Listen & Learn.

Influence people around you.

Make life worthy living.

Stay on a path.

Focus on your strengths.

Listen to your users.

Optimize for simplicity.

Prioritize ruthlessly.

Underpromise, overdeliver.

Be calm and confident (Always Smile).

Be aware of your blindspots.

Don’t worry about things you cannot change.

Make everything measurable.

Taking care of yourself first.

Focus on Measurable Impact.

Views humility collectively.

Always ask: What can I do for you today?

What gets measured, gets done.

Work with people who you can learn from.

Good leaders are willing to be hated.

Always put the other person 1st and say foo and I. 

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Collect feedback early.

Manage expectations often and early.

Don’t Criticize, Condemn or Complain.

Always face yourself honestly and continue to polish.

Let your manager speak, explain their expectations.

Say what people need to know. Do not say more than you need to.

Strive to align “skills, interest and opportunity”, take the long view.

If you think a problem is too big for you, go do it anyway.

Be a team player and do what your lead asks you to do.

When in disagreement, first thank someone for what they are doing and then question them.

Do not be attached to code because of how much effort you put into it. Bad code needs to be discarded.

One finger pointing at the other person, three fingers pointing back at us.

I am doing a great job, I am calm and at peace, I am good enough, I am perfect at this moment.

When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, a hundred.

Do not be attached to code because of how much effort you put into it. Bad code needs to be discarded.

One finger pointing at the other person, three fingers pointing back at us.

I am doing a great job, I am calm and at peace, I am good enough, I am perfect at this moment.

When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, a hundred.

A can-do optimistic attitude needs to be tempered with a critical look at project goals and timelines.

For junior engineers, don’t limit yourself to a predefined model, say “I will see what can be done” when asked to help.

Be clear and concise about what you want your audience to know.

Play to your strengths, and work on things that you care about. Focus on doing the right thing, and the rest will follow.

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.

Take care of all challenging/annoying tasks at the beginning of the day.

In reality, there is no such thing as a perfect solution. acknowledge the risks in what we do not know, and make the best decision from there.

Reference:

Manager and Employee Feedback Examples: How To Give Feedback at Work https://www.leapsome.com/blog/manager-and-employee-feedback-examples-how-to-give-feedback-at-work Learn about Google’s manager research https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-identify-what-makes-a-great-manager/steps/learn-about-googles-manager-research/

Free Resources for Everyone During COVID-19 Outbreak

To everyone, 

Hope you and your loved ones will find resources listed below useful. Stay safe, and we will get through this together!

Stay HealthyStay Creative Stay ConnectedStay Hungry, Stay Foolish
https://donottouchyourface.com/

Free Workout Trainings
https://www.onepeloton.com/app
https://www.corepoweryogaondemand.com/keep-up-your-practice
https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Free Mental Wellbeing Tips
https://hbr.org/2020/03/build-your-resiliency-in-the-face-of-a-crisis?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/current-events/supporting-your-emotional-well-being-during-the-covid-19-outbreak/
Free Art
https://www.brit.co/free-classes-stay-creative/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/13-museums-you-can-visit-online-during-your-quarant

https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours?utm_medium=social&utm_term=59F3F59E-653B-11EA-938E-3D9296E8478F&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=travelandleisure_travelandleisure&utm_content=link&fbclid=IwAR1oFVBt47HiQ1ZaJSOvxOsS-ocrytmBnh976RpzdpKgW8jpPeUCiAzcpJE

Free Music
https://www.wkar.org/post/list-live-streaming-concerts#stream/0
https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nightly-met-opera-streams/
Free Hangout Apps
https://duo.google.com/
https://hangouts.google.com/
https://jamm.app/en/
https://zoom.us/
Strategies for online learning/teaching
https://teachfromhome.google/intl/en/
https://globalonlineacademy.org/insights/articles/15-strategies-for-online-learning-when-school-is-closed
https://podcast.concordiashanghai.org/blog/2020/02/21/tech-talk-roundtable-07-14-when-virtual-learning-is-your-only-option/
https://www.nextvista.org/advice/continuity/index.phtml
https://campusadvisories.gwu.edu/tools-instructional-continuity

Free Books
https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/library/catalogsearch/ebooks.asp
https://www.audible.com/
https://www.getepic.com/

Free Education
For age 3~18 learners :
https://www.instagram.com/play.hooray/?hl=en
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
https://outschool.com/
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/kids
https://pbskids.org/
https://www.pbs.org/parents/pbskidsdaily?source=email
https://mysteryscience.com/school-closure-planning
https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
https://www.brainpop.com/
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/
https://signup.toucanbox.com/gb/choose
https://www.kiwico.com/
https://tinkerlab.com/
http://madebyjoel.com/madetoplay
https://creativepark.canon/en/special/kids4-7yrs/index.html

For age 18+ learners
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFRv9O2AHqOZjjynzrv-xg
https://newsela.com/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23cv19ReadAloud
https://ed.ted.com/
http://epgy.stanford.edu/

Free Podcasts
https://www.storypirates.com/podcast
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/474377890/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510321/wow-in-the-world
https://www.brainson.org/
http://andrewandpolly.com/earsnacks
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532788972/circle-round
http://storiespodcast.com/
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-two-princes
https://anchor.fm/professortheo
http://www.bestrobotever.com/pants-on-fire
https://www.brainson.org/pages/smashboombest

What is Googleyness?

So what is Googleyness? A term that was created to describe Googlers. Then what a typical googler looks like? So I searched it on Google and I found the picture below.

Googler

In order to get a better understanding of Googleyness, I recently contacted a couple of my friends who worked at Google. According to them, there is no single definition of Googleyness. For example, my Google engineer friend told me, what distinguishes Google from other tech giants is that, at work, everyone writes code very fast, and they are always willing to help each other. Whereas my Google UX designer friend told me that Googleyness is about understanding users, and being innovative to create products for billions of users.

Their answers got me more excited about Googleyness, so I did a quick analysis of Googleyness using Natural Language Processing. The top five distinctive words associated with Googleyness that I found after scraping first 50 snippets of Google’s search result on Googleyness include the Intellectual, Candid, Humility, Creative and Fun. Below I give my understanding of those top five words:

  • Intellectual: Everyone must have the role-related knowledge, or ability to learn role-related knowledge quickly. More importantly, it is about the ability to figure things out by finding simple processes that help work through problems from multiple dimensions and perspectives.
  • Candid: Miscommunication is usually one of the root causes of an inefficient team. You must be honest about your ideas, reasonings, and methods so that people can not only understand your projects but also know what actions and influences they can have on your projects. In addition, creative contribution needs candid discussions and inputs.
  • Humility: You should realize that the more you learn from work (or life), the more you know you don’t know. So don’t let the title, years of experience, or major expertise block your eyes, you should be open to admit what you know and what you don’t know. And embrace comments, doubts, criticism.
  • Creative: Sometimes people do not know what their need for a product until it comes out, for example, VR. As technology becomes more and more advanced, and the Google can better understand users, Googlers should create something that can not only help people live, but also enjoy their life.
  • Fun: Working at Google is almost equal to working for billions of people in the world. It is a long road to achieve their ultimate goal. So it is important to have fun along the way!

word1

Please let me know what you think about Googleyness.

Data: Google Spreadsheet

Code: GitHub