Lin Xinglu, also called Xiao Lin, 21 years old, has been involved in Internet Technologies for 7 years. He once was famous for being a network engineer in InfoHighWay Shenzhen branch office and network engineer in China Motion, and now as one of the nationwide youngest programmers, he is working on application development based on wireless internet and PDA in Wireless Division of Hi-Tech Wealth.
Dropout
In 1993, Lin Xinglu went to a junior high school in Bomei town in Lufeng. There were some notorious bummers in his class, bullying other students, seeking a quarrel around. During a final, one of those bad students disturbed Lin, therefore they had a big fight. His mother was extremely worried about it, so they supported him to drop out of school.
Lin’s father gave him two choices. One was continuing to go to school, another was self-studying computers. He decided to learn computers himself in the end. This was the beginning of his path in IT industry.
Lin’s interview on QQ platform
We will find out how and why this dropping-out boy could grow into an IT elite in an interview with Lin Xinglu through QQ chat.
Q: How did you overcome the obstacles on English?
A: I asked people for help, also looked up dictionaries.
Q: Did you have people around to help you with computers? Who was the most helpful one?
A: I didn’t have much chance to ask people for help. My father was learning together with me, but he stopped at application stage without furthering to programming. And I went on. If I have to find a most helpful one, that would be those books on computers.
Q: Do you still have those books now?
A: Yes, they are restored in my home in Shenzhen.
Q: Were you zealous for studying at that time?
A: I was always interested in electronic products, therefore, when I got the computer, it inspired my enthusiasm to learn it.
Q: Did you have IT idols at that time?
A: Of course! When I used Kingsun WPS for the first time, I found that inside the software of WPS, there were two names: Qiu Bojun and Li Ming, which stirred up my dream to be a programmer! It would be fantastic if I could develop some good software and signed my name in it.
Q: How did you advance your ability later?
A: I booked materials and magazines one programming. I started with basic programming language, then C programming language. I studied some programs that released publicly and did experiments on my computers. Then I began to develop some small programs.
Q: What did you use to develop your first program? What is it like?
A: I used Turbo C. It is a background music player for MIDI and CMF files.
Q: It seems that you can be a good business man because you can sell your products out.
A: I should say that I am lucky. When I took my products to those computer counters in Saige market, people bought them immediately, which gave me great confidence to go on.
Q: As Song Yizhi was one of the influential people to you, how do you view opportunities? (6 years ago, Song Yizhi, general manager of InfoHighway in Shenzhen branch, he offered Lin to his company, which gave Lin the step on IT)
A: Opportunities are for the prepared and hardworking people. I value and seize every chance that is in front of me.
Q: How do you feel entering society early?
A: I have tasted joys and sorrows of life. It’s never easy.
Q: If you could choose again, would you choose to go to school or self-study?
A: It would be good if I were aware of the importance of studying in school at that time. But I might not get excellent grades, or I would be like most of the college graduates who were struggling with finding jobs.Thus, I would still choose self-study. However, I think that I lost some valuable things in life. Like university life that is unforgettably good for others, but blank for me.
Q: But you can still go to a university if you plan to.
A: I have a great interest in furthering study in university. Yet, there are many realistic problems to think about. I need prepare sufficient material foundations. And I will consider work-study program.
Q: Do you plan to keep on the path of IT?
A: I will continue to work IT industry.
Q: Thank you for your interview. Wish you a greater success in the future!
Passion is the premise of success
Why can Lin achieve such impressive achievement without finishing junior high school? I think it is his passion and love even paranoid on IT that play a key role in his success.
Lin mastered from C++ programming language to JAVA language, grew from a computer mania to IT elite, from a technical support to a network engineer in Hi-Tech Wealth now and is studying the frontier wireless interconnection technology. He kept his zeal for IT from beginning to the end, so he guarantees at least an hour a day in studying no matter how busy he is. It is his genius talents and endless efforts that draw him to many IT elites, providing him opportunities. I believe that he will fulfill his dream of creating extraordinary software for thousands of users in the future.
From: Student Computer (2002)