Year 1

0. Looking Back

In the blink of an eye, the first year has passed, and 52 blog posts are now there.

Learning Harvest

Unlocked New Skills: AOP, ES6, BEM, Gulp workflow, Chrome extensions, Backbone, bash, Nginx proxy, HTTPS, Redis, Koa, Mini-programs, React, Vue, SVG elements, GraphQL, Flux/Redux/Vuex.
Adding to CSS: normalize vs. reset, border-image, sticky, timelines, transition, animation, circular progress bars, CSS animations and GPU, DevTools for debugging animation performance, writing-mode.
Adding to JS: URL parsing, date-time strings, curved trajectory animations, two-way data binding, delete, runtime dependency collection.
Source Code Reading: underscore, velocity.
Android: scheme to invoke Apps.
Tools: Command-line QR codes, CentOS working environment, Selenium integrated with Jenkins.
Toys: RSSHelper (open sourced).

I spent less time tinkering with tools/toys, Android has almost vanished, I have the courage to read large-scale source code, and my JS has moved from solutions to principles. CSS remains at a scattered surface-level application, and the new skills I've picked up are barely keeping up with the times... The biggest highlight is learning around business needs—I've finally gotten smart, out of necessity.

Goal Completion

A mechanical level of execution did not form; I am increasingly inclined to compromise with myself.
Japanese is still very weak; the N2 plan is nowhere in sight.
Functional programming plan stalled, even the notes are gone.
The "Add Algorithms" plan failed; I must first master the prerequisite method theories.
The "Systematic CSS" plan is delayed indefinitely.
The RSSHelper "Big Toy" plan is delayed indefinitely.
The "credit" small goal plan quietly miscarried.
The "Jacket Plan" achieved its 3-year goal two years early, but I've changed my mind.
The source code reading plan was executed smoothly; as my predecessors said, my ability at the time was enough to understand the code.

Completion of major goals is low. Filling a major goal with fragmented time requires not only detailed planning and resolute execution but also the courage to start right now. Anything I've started, I will do my best to complete, because it is a promise to myself.

Growth Experience

October's frantic rotation, March's powerless despair, April's unexpected results exceeding expectations, June's siege drama of the heart enslaved by form... This year has been far richer than I previously imagined. I had no chance to look up and see my 30-year-old self.

Every project starts with unclear exploration and attempts, moves through a long period of painful irritability and despair in the middle, then a glimmer of light reveals the outline, and finally, it actually succeeds.

Experiencing this process fully in the first year was a stroke of luck.

From early January to mid-May, I went from initial skepticism of the "Miracles through Sheer Force" (大力出奇迹) philosophy to gradual acceptance, repositioning myself, and pushing forward with full effort. In the most painful and desperate days, everyone persisted with a silent but stubborn will, and finally, we united as one. For the first time, I sensed the striking similarity between a company and an army: collaboration, competition, honor, camaraderie, and even personal cults.

In theory, with resources, goals, and a plan, things can be accomplished. What remains is the gap between a score of 60 and 80 or 90. Whether one can go from "not bad" to "great" or even "stunning" is what truly needs thinking about.

P.S. I once told a story with the theme "Not bad, young man," but scored less than 60. Because I treated 60 as the full score, even my best effort could only reach 60. I had boxed myself in.

1. Insights

The Company

I used to think of a company like a machine: input manpower, output products. As long as it's powered (everyone is working), it keeps running.

From the outside, it is indeed like that. Every small part in the machine has its role and affects overall efficiency. But unlike a normal machine, no matter which small part is missing, the company machine will not stop operating.

From the inside, a company is more like an army: organized and disciplined, with strategies and goals, competition and honor. It is by no means an unchanging gear transmission; every part is alive and can be broken down, reorganized, and changed into different formations at any time.

A company is also a product of the imagination, allowing many unrelated people (from different families, villages, cities, and countries) to collaborate closely. Everyone believes in the same story. Besides identifying that the company truly exists, there is also trust in the future. Thus, many strangers can work together for a common goal. As the scale of cooperation expands, the complexity of the output increases. Humans can use collective strength and wisdom to complete things previously unimaginable, allowing productivity to develop rapidly.

The long-term development of a company forms a structure that adapts to the scale of the organization and the current environment, from a simple linear model to a multi-dimensional one. The organizational structure ensures the stability of the company machine; there are no irreplaceable core components, nor are there key components that can paralyze the entire mechanism. Although an individual's role and influence are relatively limited, the efficiency of the group is closely related to everyone.

In addition to continuous structural optimization, companies have evolved an efficiency incentive mechanism. The company has big goals, each organizational unit has corresponding sub-goals, and individuals have fine-grained small goals. The interests of the company determine the interests of the organizational units, and the interests of those units determine individual interests. From an individual perspective, to get more, one must not only contribute more (excellently completing individual goals) but also advance the goals of their organizational unit and contribute to the company's goals. Hard work leads to more, and wanting more leads to hard work—this reciprocal mechanism acts as both an incentive and a constraint.

Collaboration and competition coexist, with collaboration taking precedence. The uniqueness of this environment is consistent across companies, armies, and other groups.

Technology

Technology is for solving problems.

Just like scientific research, topics beneficial to the current environment are more likely to receive support—for example, those that promote economic and social development or alleviate energy and environmental issues. Of course, research without short-term gains is also meaningful, but the effects are slower. When resources are limited, prioritizing those with quick results allows for constant adjustment of the investment direction (similar to rapid iteration) and helps form a positive cycle where the resource gains from research are reinvested into further research.

Technical learning is the same: investing resources like time and energy with the expectation of gaining knowledge and skills. Topics beneficial to your environment (your current business) are more likely to get more resource investment—for example, those that can improve efficiency, quality, or experience, or alleviate manpower and hardware resource issues. Technical learning also carries risks and opportunity costs; you might spend a lot of time learning something that is hard to yield actual returns, such as something that fails to become popular or a technical solution that is almost impossible to use in actual business. Although there is some long-term gain, the ROI is too low.

Side Quests and Main Quests

Compared to research investment, technical learning has its own characteristics:

Time and energy are strictly finite.
Diversified investment doesn't necessarily reduce risk.

Time is limited; you can only optimize its allocation or improve its utilization rate. But if your extracurricular learning goals align with your business, you are effectively investing more time and energy. This is one of the advantages of prioritizing business-related technologies.

Technology is not just divided horizontally and vertically; it also exists as a system. If you learn many scattered points, it may seem like you've broadened your scope, but in reality, you won't be able to apply them because they don't form a system. On the other hand, any technical point has its depth and related dependencies. A shallow investment rarely yields value. Since business applications are necessarily systematic, another advantage is that you can strengthen an entire subtree (skill tree) alongside the business. Vertically, you can dive deep into research as business scenarios demand, or perform technical reserves for future business. Horizontally, you can gradually strengthen related technical points and learn surrounding knowledge.

Therefore, technologies/solutions related to your current business that help solve business problems should be learned first. This allows you to quickly give back to the business and see results, while naturally diving deeper as the business progresses, effectively investing more time and energy.

In addition to the "Side Quests" that are strong in the current version (business-related skills) with low investment and quick results, there is also the stable and reliable "Main Quest" of practice (the basic knowledge system). Grasp the invariants and invest long-term; the potential return is irreplaceable. Only with a deep and solid foundation can you build high-rises. Thus, the foundation is the main quest. If you are immersed in side quest gains and lack a long-term main quest plan, you will eventually find too many prerequisite skills to make up for—like a bucket with a very short stave.

Curiosity

My life is finite, while knowledge is infinite. To follow the infinite with the finite is exhausting.

Mathematics, economics, psychology, literature, art... these are all things I'm interested in, and there will probably be more in the future. Faced with this endless knowledge, I can clearly only exchange a small portion of my limited time and energy for it.

The simplest principle is to seek knowledge starting from practice, focusing only on the most meaningful parts, setting aside ethereal things (which are fine as extracurricular reading), restraining endless curiosity, and exchanging finite time for the most meaningful knowledge.

Land and Flags

The field of technology is like a piece of land. Looking around, every place you can see is filled with flags. Later arrivals began to dig down, and after digging, they made new discoveries and planted their own flags.

Faced with a newly opened land, the first group of people rushed to plant big flags and became pioneers. The next group found gaps and filled the open space with small flags. The group after that dug up some easy-to-dig land and planted their flags. Those who came even later had to think carefully, facing a ground full of flags and hard earth.

Fortunately, the frontend is currently in rapid development. Some ancient big flags are being overturned, and a large number of small flags are emerging. In terms of opportunity, whether it's open space or easy-to-dig land, there is still plenty. Bringing mature things and valuable ideas from other fields over is a new flag. This is why new things in the frontend emerge endlessly.

2. Goals

I have no grand dreams or extravagant hopes, but the path beneath my feet knows that every step is real.

Year 2

Systematic CSS
Algorithms
Functional Programming
New Technology (Looking up at the sky)
Japanese

Meeting a Better Self

If you were the opposite sex, would you like the current version of yourself?

I wouldn't, so I have to find ways to become better.

Mr. Tian was right: strive to be a reliable soldier and meticulously maintain your "credit." As a junior, the biggest advantage is being a blank slate. I lack all experience, so I've listened carefully to many words and put them into practice with my heart. Another advantage is the cost of mistakes. When your ability is shallow and your responsibility is light, the cost of mistakes is at its lowest, while the harvest remains full.

Besides experience, what's more important is influence and the ability to think. Influence is partly a byproduct of maintaining credit, and the other part needs to be managed carefully. What truly makes people convinced is the ability to think—finding problems through thinking, performing multi-dimensional deep thinking on those problems, and then putting those thoughts into practice to solve the problems and create value for the group. This entire process doesn't rely on extremely rich experience; as long as you are diligent in thinking and finding problems, and make rational analyses based on existing experience, you can arrive at valuable solutions.

Self-Cognition

Weaknesses: How to strengthen them.
Strengths: How to expand the advantage.

Like the "Resetting to Zero" mentioned by Mr. Hou—reset your mindset and start from scratch.

Facing environmental changes, you need to refresh your self-cognition (find weaknesses and strengths), reposition yourself (find the right role), and adapt quickly (make your role powerful).

Influence

Reliability (Reputation)
Thinking Depth (Vision)
Speaking Ability (Communication)

No one likes to work with unreliable people:

I don't trust you!

The scariest thing is a crisis of trust; one small thing can cause the painstakingly built "credit" to collapse. Thinking depth reflects vision, and vision determines the depth of thinking. "Being a person with ideas" is applicable at all times. A large part of influence is demonstrated through speaking ability—the ability to inspire and persuade others.

Drive

Self-Drive (Sense of responsibility)
Execution (Learning to like things you don't want to do)
Pushing Power (Driving group goals, finding problems, and finding ways to solve them)

Self-drive is the manifestation of a sense of responsibility. Ensuring that tasks are completed as planned is the most basic form of execution. When facing things you don't agree with, the best way to ensure execution is to try doing it with your heart first, and then you will gradually grow to like it. Pushing power is the manifestation of a big-picture view. Proactive people can not only create more value but also get more opportunities.

When facing problems, you need both execution and drive:

Problem Priority (It's not about whose fault it is, but how to solve it)
Active Thinking (Pushing problems to a conclusion)
Patience (Not being afraid of problems)
Maintain a positive attitude and "convert" (enlighten) those who aren't positive.

There will always be people who aren't proactive. You should influence them with a positive attitude. Keeping this principle makes pushing things forward unexpectedly smooth. Conversely, if you are infected by a non-proactive attitude or allow your own positivity to be lowered by others, you are unlikely to push anything forward.

Big-Picture View

Focus on things with blurred boundaries (the gray areas between upstream and downstream connections).
Risk awareness.

Clarify group goals, proactively focus on gray areas, and stay sensitive to risks at all times.

3. Plan

Follow the main quest, do side quests, and grind the dailies.

Main Quest

CSS
Algorithms
Functional Programming

Side Quests

Product, Operations, Interaction
Visual Communication, Color Composition, Plane Composition

Dailies

Thinking (Multi-dimensional)
New Technology (Looking up at the sky)
Japanese

Final Words

Weaving lies is like trying to wrap fire in paper; each sheet patches the previous one. There are only two outcomes: either it turns to ash, or it becomes a fortress that you eventually believe in yourself.

Miracles born from sheer force will ultimately be a farce. The footprints behind you, deep and shallow, are what's most real.