When we were young, we always had ideals and a future in mind, but in the blink of an eye we are no longer young. Every time we stay up late, we will lament that our bodies are not as good as before, we will feel tired after working for several hours, and we will also be anxious about being replaced by younger people.
People are replacing and worried about what they will do when they get older.
When I first became a full-time trainee at the age of 23, I have always wanted to achieve a goal, which is to retire before the age of 30.
I don’t want to, let alone accept the fact that I am still looking for a job at the age of 32, 35, and 40. I can't safely leave my destiny in other people's hands.
So have I retired?
So I achieved this goal this year. Some students will definitely ask: Have you retired? Of course not!
So why do you say I achieved this goal? Listen to me slowly. First, let's break down this goal. In my opinion, it is divided into two aspects: 'current economy' and 'foundation'.
Current Economy
It's very simple, you have enough money, and this money is enough to pay for the rest of your life, that is, you can retire.
Then I achieved it by chance last year, and then I discovered that the word "enough" may be a pseudo noun. With this money, I opened 7 famous hotels in Yunnan, Chongqing, Hainan, and Guizhou. All of them will be high-end hotels, and some intangible cultural heritage.
Famous hotels on the seaside of Hainan
Famous hotels next to Dianchi Lake in Yunnan
This is a velvet butterfly
Probably just spending money on various things, so I found that the rest of my life was spent so quickly. Of course, it may be that my desires are too big. But in fact, 'enough' means never enough, and never enough means always being involved (of course I don't involve anyone, I just want to find my own way).
On the other hand, I actually spent the past few months spending my money on vacation, but I soon discovered that I had no idea what to do when I stopped.
So I have to go to work again? Of course it was absolutely impossible. I couldn't accept it when I thought about it.
Foundation
I gained relief from my recent experience. In July last year, I had a chat with my current eldest brother, and then I gave up remote work and went to Beijing to start a business with him.
Then I realized it all really sucked! There are problems everywhere! tmd, annoying Trans colleagues, depressed children, products with no clear idea of what they do, projects full of bugs, unusable mobile terminals, no payment, no traffic...
I wanted to run away directly at that time. This was really scary. I had never seen this in any of my previous companies, but my elder brother gave me a set of values and I took advantage of it. So I just kept solving problems and solving problems (I really can withstand stress).
Then when I recently reached 100,000+ users and revenue of 8,000$+/month, I suddenly realized something: "I have become a Taoist!" `.
What happened? That’s when I realized that even if I stop starting a business now and I just build a new product on my own, I can still achieve stable revenue and flow with this product. I have completed all the elements for commercial products and projects. I understand engineering, traffic, growth, and community operations. Even if this product doesn't have any "non-consensus" or "innovative parts" or selling points, I can still make it profitable with a set of "basic skills".
I really want to praise myself for how strong I am.
This is definitely not an illusion, because I have worked in many entrepreneurial teams, some of which are the world's number one AI graphics team, some of which are audio AI Web3 teams, and some of which are AI teams that rely on China's most popular KOC to bring products, but I don't feel this way in any of these teams.
This is the only experience where I dominated a large enough area and had decision-making power. Then that's enough. I already have the foundation of my life and can be completely independent of others.
Solution to 35-year-old development dilemma
Essentially, the best way to solve the 35-year-old dilemma is to find your own "life foundation". This "life foundation" is not the so-called "I can rely on this skill to find a job at any time. I think this is too simple."
This is a step further. I no longer need to find a job, and I will not lose this "foundation of life" due to any other reasons in the future (such as time, body, knowledge, new knowledge, company situation, age).
This is much more difficult, mainly because it is difficult to verify this matter. When you have no results, that is, you have never done it, it is difficult for you to have confidence. When you have results, you will have confidence and you will also have wealth (certainly).
My approach
Everyone may have different methods of finding their own "foundation of life". I am relatively simple and just keep growing. Well, to be more realistic, it's actually 'blood-sucking', 'eating experience packs', and 'courage'.
To be honest, if there is no "resources" to cultivate, a person's growth is very limited. Just like when he was a child, children need to make up lessons if they want to improve their grades, and making up lessons requires money.
I am now in my seventh company from my internship, and I paid for some remote social insurance by myself (it doesn’t matter, I’m not looking for a job anyway). In almost every company, I changed jobs after learning what I could learn. When choosing my own targets, I was also more cautious and only chose jobs that were not related to my previous experience. For example, I wrote Vue in my first job, React in my second job, App in my third job, and responsible for backend + Web in my fourth job, etc. What I probably want to express is that I did get different experience packages in each time period, and the types were relatively complete.
It is not only a technical experience package, but also contains more suggestions from others, reasons for failure, staged problems, etc. (When I think back, it feels like my brain is going to explode too much, it is all work, and nothing but work is work).
Oh! You think you are seeing an unscrupulous "vampire" who only knows how to suck the blood of the company. Let me defend myself: choosing technologies that are "irrelevant" to you to prepare, interview, and work requires "greater courage" and "understanding greater pressure", so I have not had any large-scale entertainment activities in the past few years. When many opportunities arise, even if I know I shouldn't be able to do it, I will go for it for this "experience package".
Slowly, as there are more and more resource packs, and the experience and level are getting higher and higher, I can get things done. And getting things done actually healed me.
When put into practice, it actually covers the following aspects: skill diversity, expanding information collection, workplace relations, and financial management.
The importance of skill diversity
Most of the small partners from big manufacturers are actually "specialized", which does not mean that it is not feasible, but it is very difficult to reach "scarcity" on this road (this industry is all about you, you are the only one).
Think about it, when I only know Vue, how many choices do I have? But once I mastered Vue, React, back-end development, mobile development, and even some product and operation knowledge, my choices became infinitely broad (for a while I even studied UI design specifically).
This kind of "comprehensive skill set" is actually "indispensable" even if we don't talk about doing things ourselves, even if we work within a team. After all, your value lies not only in writing code, but in being able to solve problems from multiple angles.
Expand information collection outwards
This should be considered a very critical point, because most development is actually 'isolated', which may be due to various reasons, such as work area isolation, system isolation, information isolation, value isolation, etc.
However, if you want to go further in this industry, you must break the isolation and take the initiative to understand and participate in the work of other departments such as product, operations, and marketing (even if the information is untrue and biased). Don’t complain all day long that your leader is a ‘stupid’ and the company’s top management are all ‘stupid’. It's just that your butt is different. If you are a leader, you may be even more stupid. People have much more information than you, so be a little more humble.
Moreover, this kind of cross-department experience will be very helpful for you to start your own business or become a technical leader in the future. Because by then, what you need is not just the ability to write code, but the ability to "coordinate the overall situation".
In this rapidly changing industry, the most dangerous thing is to remain complacent. So, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and take the initiative to understand and learn new things. This may make you uncomfortable, but it is an opportunity for us to grow.
Workplace Relationships
It’s easy to understand. It is always beneficial to maintain good personal relationships. The morning I wrote the article, I was talking about work with my former leader (he also started a business). It is definitely right to communicate with valuable people more (I actually did a poor job, and I regretted it belatedly).
Importance of financial management
Generally speaking, my financial management is a mess~, but it is precisely because of this that I want to tell everyone, "Don't think about spending it if you have a little money."
Conclusion
Finally let us sublimate it:
35 is not the end, but a new starting point. As long as you find your "foundation of life", you will be able to continue in this industry and even create "greater value".
So, don’t be afraid of turning 35, but look forward to turning 35. Because by then, you will have the perfect combination of experience, wisdom and ability, and you will be wealth in yourself.
Finally, a very hard and contrasting advertisement: “Add my contact information, let’s create a happy life together and become a master (too much).”