Chapter 181: A Powerful Assistant

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In the early days of establishing Xing Hai Technologies, Chen Jin had decided that no advanced technological product would be exported overseas. They would only service the citizens in the country. They would only bring about benefits and conveniences for the citizens in the country. As for the foreigners… Haha, they could continue playing with mud.

What was behind this mentality? Was it not too narrow-minded? If there was money to be earned, why not earn it? Actually, Chen Jin was not being narrow-minded. He was simply acting out the saying, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Money was a good thing. But, why did the overseas governments refuse to earn the profits that came with so many high-tech products, and instead choose to implement a strict embargo on Z country? When they saw that Z country started producing some good products that were breaking the monopolies, overseas governments scrambled to announce that the embargo was lifted, and sold their products at a much lower price in their markets. They seemed to have found their conscience again.

In actual fact, they never had a conscience. They strongly wanted Z country to remain in the Stone Age, and could not stand to see this ancient civilization benefiting themselves in any way. It was a black and white, zero-sum game!

This deeply rooted mentality of theirs could never understand what was “seeking common ground while respecting each others’ differences” or “seeking mutual benefits for a win-win situation.” No matter how many times it was repeated, it was futile.

Moreover, the West’s hegemony on science and technology was their last defense to shore up their sense of superiority and maintain the prosperity and stability of their society. If they lost their hegemony on science and technology, their self-esteem, pride, and even arrogance would be fatally impacted! They would protect their hegemony at all costs.

Naturally, Chen Jin would not export a strategic product like the Little Star learning machine to the West where they would use it to strengthen their next generation of technology and solidify their hegemony. Hence, Chen Jin sent someone to the Department of Education, requesting Department Chief Yuan for an appeal to the higher-ups to list the Little Star learning machine as a strategic product for embargo. Its export would be prohibited. However, for unknown reasons, the higher-ups did not agree to his requests. Perhaps they had misgivings about the potential consequences of such an action, but they merely allowed Xing Hai Technologies the discretion to come up with their own responses.

Chen Jin shook his head. “They’re leaving us to deal with the entire situation. We’ll be facing the pack of wolves on our own.” Then again, what did Chen Jin have to be afraid of? Xing Hai Technologies was only expanding within Z country’s borders. What did foreign restrictions and sanctions have to do with them? Their long-arm statute would be useless against them.

Even so, the majority of copyrights licensing purchased by Xing Hai Technologies originated from the West. Most of the database software, applications software, and operating systems came from the West. 90% of copyright licenses for the hardware, including the ARM and X86 framework used in the development of chips, originated from the West.

Once the overseas governments announced a complete embargo against Xing Hai Technologies, they would be banned from using the above software, operating systems, and hardware licensing. They would lose all authority to use the technologies and products from overseas. Within half a day, Xing Hai Technologies would be paralyzed.

Xing Hai Technologies could forcibly use these products and technologies. In any case, there were pirated versions of everything on the market. It did not matter even if the western companies sued them for copyright violations, as this was within Z country’s borders. Even if they were right, the lawsuit would drag on for one to two years. At most, they simply had to pay some money and they could continue using the products and technologies.

If the other party continued with their lawsuits, they would simply pay the fine after two years or so. It was impossible to totally stop Xing Hai Technologies from using the products and technologies.

However, Chen Jin was not so thick-skinned. He gave the technicians of his company one year to produce an independent operating system. It must have its own ecosystem of software and an independent hardware set-up… It must be done to the point where the West would have no opportunity to sue them.

A year? How was this possible? Of course, it was possible. Ever since Work Assistant Alpha from the “internal beta version” had been introduced into the company for the programmers’ use in October, their work efficiency had shot through the roof.

…

Cheng Yuyang was a 26-year-old programmer with five years of experience. He had been working for Xing Hai Technologies for a whole year. His qualifications were average and his technical skills passable. He had only achieved the middling standard of ++ in the professional skills evaluation for programmers. His maximum salary was $16,000. Of course, since he frequently worked overtime, the net income that he received was usually $20,000, $22,000 or more. He made $27,000 in the month where he did the craziest amount of overtime. The price that he had to pay was a rapid weight loss of five kilograms, and consequently, he had to take three days of leave to rest.

His girlfriend of seven years vented non-stop to him as she wiped at her tears, heartbroken. “Cheng Yuyang, so you want money but not your life or me? You said that you wanted to buy a house in Shang Hai and you would save up enough by slogging for three years. But the problem is, are you able to endure this for three years? I heard that the average retirement age for employees in Hua Yao Company was 40 years old. It seems like Xing Hai Technologies does not hesitate in squeezing out the life from their employees either. Your body will collapse by the time you’re 40 too!” Gathering him in her arms, she said, “Stop thinking about buying a house in Shang Hai, we can’t afford it! You can work for a few more years and then we’ll go home, back to our home city. The prices of houses there are only a tenth of what they are in Shang Hai. There are also programming jobs. Don’t waste your life here.”

Chen Yuyang strived to explain. He said that this period of extreme overtime would only last for a while. Usually, he only had to do overtime occasionally for about one to two hours. He had the whole weekend off, it was not as bad as Hua Yai Company. Moreover, there would be a huge increase in his salary after he had improved his technical skills and was promoted to a higher ranking position. Including the annual bonus, he would be able to save up enough for the down payment of a house in Shang Hai after two more years. He told his girlfriend, Sun Haiyan, “Do you think it’s possible to save up enough for the down payment of a house in Shang Hai by working for three years in any other company? It is tiring, but at Xing Hai Technologies, I can work until I’m 50!”

“Ok.” His girlfriend calmed down. Faced with his argument, she could only nod in agreement. But she stressed, “You still have to pay attention to your health, don’t work too hard.”

Chen Yuyang nodded. “I understand.”

Time quickly flew by. After October, Sun Haiyan realized that her boyfriend ended work about one hour earlier than usual. After another half a month, she realized that not only did he clock out punctually every day, he also commuted using the shared bicycles. Although he had to cycle for 40 minutes each way, he still got back to their rented room half an hour earlier than she did, as she was often stuck in a traffic jam. Then, he would buy groceries and prepare dinner. They could almost begin eating by the time she reached home. Her boyfriend cooked for her! When the weekends came, there was virtually no mention of going back to the company to work overtime. Instead, he would take her out for some fun and shopping. They would show how lovey-dovey they were.

One day, when Sun Haiyan could not help herself anymore, she asked, “Yuyang, you’ve really stopped working overtime? This will definitely leave a bad impression on your superiors. Your pay now must be much less than what you received in the past. Perhaps you’ve figured things out and plan to strike a balance between your work and health?”

Chen Yuyang smiled mysteriously. “I don’t have to work overtime anymore. The programmers in the operating system development team, including our direct superior, clock out punctually every day. Nobody does overtime. Our salary is no longer pegged to time, but to the amount of tasks that we complete. Usually, it’s not a problem to earn 1.5 times our old salary if we work efficiently for six hours every day. For those with more experience, they could even earn up to twice their old salary amounts.” He typically earned 1.8 times of his old salary.

“Six hours of hard work every day is enough?” Sun Haiyan’s eyes widened. “It is possible to finish your tasks in such little time? You’re a coder; is it ok to code for less than 12 hours?”

“It’s enough; how could six hours every day be insufficient? I’ll tell you this even though the company says that it’s a secret. The amount of coding that I’m doing now using six hours a day is so much more than the amount I did for the last ten days! The better coders can now code much more in a day than they did for the past month!”

“How is this possible?” Her mouth hung open and she was filled with disbelief. “Did you grow ten pairs of arms? How could you code so quickly?”

“It’s not that we code fast. It’s the prowess of our assistant at work. It has increased the efficiency of our programmers by at least 10 times! In the past, we had to type every line of code manually when we wanted to create a module. Now we only have to input our requirements according to a standard format in the assistant, and it will immediately write a complete module. In addition, the refinement, efficiency, and quality of the code are much better than what I could do. Moreover, the assistant is still undergoing improvements and upgrades. Its comprehension ability is getting stronger. Now, even if we give out our requirements directly in a non-standard mode, it can still write out the basic, usable codes. It is also capable of multi-language programming and code conversion, where it can convert java code into C++ and .net code that has similar functions. It has a very powerful corrective function that results in a very small margin of error.”

Chen Yuyang smiled widely. “With the assistant, I don’t really code manually anymore. My coding is rubbish! The assistant can write amazing code that is on a whole new level. It can solve the majority of problems that I have at work! Now, the programming department has almost become the ‘easiest’ department in the company. The operating system that we have to make will be done in three months at the latest. We’ll be able to produce a version to replace the overseas operating systems. I finally understand the words said by President Chen some time ago. The significance of the work assistant for programmers is similar to the significance of the Little Star learning machine for the vast number of students. Little Star can make every student into a top scholar, and the assistant can make every programmer into an amazing, out-of-this-world programmer. The era of acquiring knowledge by studying is over, it is now the era of applying and using knowledge and technology. In the future, work will be just like playing a computer game. You don’t have to think about how the game technology was achieved, you’ll be fine as long as you know how to use that technology. If gaming is easy for you, work will be very easy for you too. There is no difference between the two. Chen Yuyang clasped his hands together and said, “This… is the future depicted by President Chen.” His eyes were shining and he wore a worshipful expression.

With the existence of such a magical object, it was a piece of cake to be victorious in the so-called “Hairline War.” As she listened to her boyfriend’s explanations, Sun Haiyan’s eyes widened even more in stupefaction.

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