My Blog's New Name: Diff's Sojourner's Diary
Yesterday, I was invited to give a design talk to the UED team at Ximalaya. The theme was: A Middle-Aged Retired Designer’s Reflections on Career Choices and Dilemmas. It was my first time speaking publicly about my thoughts on the harsh, anxiety-inducing topic of “career planning after 35” in the internet industry. I hope some of my ideas can give young designers a bit of inspiration and caution.
Even if I didn’t bring an atmosphere of anxiety, discussing this topic inevitably leads to it. The reality facing internet professionals is truly harsh. You graduate at 23 or 24, and by 35, you’re facing a midlife crisis. The golden years of a career last only 10-15 years, and that includes 3-5 years of initial growth, adaptation, and positioning.
This isn’t an isolated case; the whole industry is like this. It seems most people are trapped in a state of chronic despair, feeling “there’s no way out.” Nearly everyone’s words are tinged with resignation, and there’s little positive hope for the future. It’s like everyone is in a state of “career waiting for death.” Objectively speaking, people age, the older ones in the workplace will gradually retire, and new people will take over. That’s normal, but in this industry, the turnover happens way too fast.
What’s the reason? Something’s definitely wrong. I can’t speak for how it is abroad, but in China, I attribute it to the warped “speed over anything” industry competition culture.
The entire industry is like a huge battlefield. Various internet companies are like lords and warlords in each field, constantly sending the most elite, cost-effective combat forces—professionals—to the front lines to secure an absolute victory.
Though there’s no smoke on this battlefield, the “war culture” has thoroughly permeated all companies, big and small. From top to bottom, everyone talks in terms of war: battles, campaigns, combat power, situations, destroying, pledges, commissars, squads, conquest… In war, it’s about speed and strength; cost-effectiveness means choosing the young and vigorous. In this human force delivery system, those a bit older, not quite as strong, are rotated off the field. Describing it as “one general succeeds over the bones of ten thousand” isn’t an exaggeration.
Thinking about it, I’m really lucky, or rather, I should be grateful.
On one hand, I’m a Christian. From having nothing in my youth to lacking nothing in my middle age (“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:8, NIV)), I’ve often felt anxious at various stages. But within my faith in Christ, relying on the Lord Jesus, my heart always finds safety and contentment. On the other hand, I’ve received some tangible returns from this industry. Though there are returns, sometimes my heart feels heavy. From a Christian perspective, wealth doesn’t belong to me. I don’t have ownership. It’s just something God entrusted to me to manage. How to use it wisely, in a way that pleases God?
When I see young people in the industry under such a heavy atmosphere, besides wanting to do something, share something to help and inspire, I feel it’s crucial to share the Christian faith. To help people understand life’s value and purpose through faith, to help them escape the world’s unnecessary desires for falsehood, vanity, and excess, and to help them find inner peace and joy in this sinful, unjust, turbulent world.
At 8 PM, I watched Liulishuo’s 8th-anniversary livestream from my neighborhood. I saw Lao Wang and noticed the young PMs I had worked with becoming more mature. An old engineer friend of mine was surprisingly articulate. This is a challenging time for the company. But what mature company hasn’t been through ups and downs? Blessings~
At the end of June, I developed an app with a friend. This morning, the friend told me I earned about 3000 yuan in July. Although the amount is small, I’m pretty excited. After all, making a little money purely through design and technical skills, outside of a company platform, is quite interesting. I’m looking forward to the future versions.
After thinking it over for a long time, I’ve decided to change my blog’s name from SeeFromAfar to Diff’s Sojourner’s Diary. Maybe because of my design background and exposure to foreign works, I’ve become somewhat “foreign-loving” 😄 I prefer English to Chinese (even though my English isn’t great). If I had studied Chinese literature, maybe it would be different.
My readers are in China, and I want to write for a wider audience, not just designers. So having a Chinese name for the blog will be better accepted. This is so obvious, yet I’m only now willing to accept and make the change.
‘Sojourner’ comes from Hebrews 11:13-16. Life on earth, just a few decades. For Christians, this world is like a tourist attraction. We live here temporarily, like travelers. One day, we’ll return to our true hometown.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
(Hebrews 11:13-16, NIV)
The thoughts and reflections during this journey, in these days of sojourning, have become my Sojourner’s Diary.
Hope you like the name.