Rebuild 2005

Chapter 253 [251] The tragedy of genius
Wang Qinggen, born in a poor rural family in China, won the chemistry olympiad championship in high school, was interviewed by university leaders, entered Nanjing University without examination, was admitted to Stanford University in 98, and stayed in the United States after graduation.

Now he should be working as a chief engineer at PayPal, with an annual salary of up to $20.

Up to here is an inspirational story of "a noble son born from a poor family", and Wang Qinggen has indeed been a legend for a long time.

Until 2012, Wang Qinggen, who was only 40 years old, committed suicide at home.

At this time, Wang Qinggen was 35 years old, and he could be said to be in the prime of life, but he didn't talk much at the party at Liu Zhiyuan's house, which can be called a little silent.

Wang Qinggen graduated from Stanford, and his home is in San Jose, California. It is far away from New York, but he has a close relationship with Zhao Yaquan, Shen Rong, and Liu Zhiyuan. Both Zhao Yaquan and Liu Zhiyuan graduated from Nantah University. Zhao Yaquan and his His wife used to be a classmate. In addition, another high school classmate of Zhao Yaquan and Shen Rong was also an alumnus of Stanford.

In a sense, this is also a person in a small circle.

Apart from Wei Qingfan, there were six people in this small gathering. Wei Qingfan paid close attention to two of them. One was Wang Qinggen, and the other was that "another classmate" named Wang Hai. Works at Google's New York headquarters, also as a software engineer.

They are all very good entrepreneurial teams, but this Wang Hai seems to have a smooth personality, which makes him not at ease.

After all, the two he currently likes, Zhang Yuanping and Wang Qinggen, both have a more down-to-earth personality, and Zhang Yuanping is a bit of a "crazy old man", but he is more reassuring to use.

Of course, starting a business is not about making friends, ability is the key, and even if it is an R&D team, having a smooth character is not necessarily a bad thing.

What's more, people don't necessarily like him yet, it's too early to dislike him now.

"Uncle Wang, what do you mainly do in the company?"

Liu Zhiyuan's house had a rectangular table, and Wei Qingfan was next to Li Miaoyu on one side, and Wang Qinggen on the other side. After looking at it for a while, he took the initiative to chat with Wang Qinggen.

Wang Qinggen was a little surprised that he took the initiative to ask such a topic, but immediately replied: "Oh, it's mainly about software work."

This is nonsense, obviously he didn't want to talk too much about specific things with him, a high school graduate.

Wei Qingfan asked: "I know that PayPal is for online payment. Are you in charge of this project?"

Wang Qinggen was even more surprised, he laughed and said, "Yes."

He is now the chief engineer, and the company's business-related projects are naturally within the scope of responsibility.

After answering, I probably felt that a child took the initiative to chat with me, and it was hard to say too little, so I asked again: "Do you know PayPal?"

"Well, there is also this kind of business in China now. I don't know if you have heard of it. Alibaba has set up Taobao and JD.com, all of which are e-commerce."

Wei Qingfan explained with a smile, "Where there is a market, there will naturally be services. At present, Taobao is the main one in China. The scale of JD.com is a bit smaller, and Alibaba has also launched online payment, and now it is mainly bank payment."

Several elders who were chatting around looked over at the same time. Li Shuqing and Zhao Yaquan were not counted as belonging to their own family. Except for Liu Zhiyuan, the others including Shen Rong all looked a little surprised.

Surprised that he, a high school student, can say this casually, and even more surprised by his demeanor and tone when he speaks, it doesn't look like a prospective college student at all, but it seems that he is chatting with elites like them on an equal footing .

Liu Zhiyuan knew a little more, and said with a smile, "Don't look at his young age, he is much richer than us. There are more than 3000 million stocks in Guangtou, and he even opened an online store."

"Richer than us" is a truth.

3000 million is equivalent to 500 million U.S. dollars. Even if there is New York here, even if they all belong to the high-income group here, even if some of them work on Wall Street, among the people present, there is really no one who can spend so much money.

High income does not mean high savings, but it certainly means high consumption.

In modern society, money is status, especially here. Hearing this, several people's expressions changed slightly, and Wang Qinggen couldn't help but look at Wei Qingfan again.

Born in a poor family, he undoubtedly understands the importance of money better. When he was studying for a Ph.D. After graduation, he joined the computer industry.

"It's just luck, just in time for the stock market to go up."

Wei Qingfan said a few words modestly as always, and wanted to wait for other people's attention to divert and continue chatting with Wang Qinggen, but it was a pity that everyone's attention would definitely not be diverted for a while.

Someone laughed and said, "That's indeed richer than us."

Wang Hai looked at Li Miaoyu again, and smiled at Li Shuqing and Zhao Yaquan, "Just said this is Miaomiao's classmate?"

The other people had subtle demeanor, and there was a kind of kind ridicule and smile. Li Miaoyu naturally understood that everyone had "misunderstood", and couldn't help but feel a little hot on the cheeks.

Li Shuqing coughed and explained: "Yes, my classmate, I heard that US stocks are good for making money, so let's come and have a look."

Wang Hai said with a smile: "It's hard to talk about the stock market now, it's better to be on the safe side."

Shen Rong said with a smile: "People just think that the U.S. stock market is going to fall, so they come to buy short, but they don't think it's going to go up."

Several other people were stunned when they heard the words. They also have a lot of assets in the stock market. Naturally, they also know that the stock market is fluctuating now, but like most people at this time, they are still very confident.

Fluctuations are normal, how can you earn more without fluctuations?Only when it fluctuates and rises can there be room for manipulation.

But what the hell is short selling?

Even on Wall Street, there are very few short-selling institutions, and they are very unpopular.

After all, everyone hopes that the stock will rise, and only when it rises can everyone make money, and the short-selling institutions are really "shorting", trying their best to make the stock fall. Although it is aimed at individual stocks, it is easy to cause a chain reaction.

Such examples are not uncommon in history, and there are many people who made a fortune in the country. Even during the Great Depression, some people took the opportunity to short and make a fortune.

"I just saw the subprime mortgage crisis and wanted to try it."

Wei Qingfan didn't hide anything, anyway, when he told the truth, no one was willing to believe it. As for whether he would regret it afterwards, it had nothing to do with him.

At this time, the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis has gradually emerged, but it is still far underestimated. It is believed that this is a short-term crisis that can be overcome quickly.

After all, so many financial institutions have already suffered, and stocks have fallen, so isn't that enough?

It has only been a few years since the Internet bubble burst?

How can there be another bubble burst so soon?
The attention of others was finally attracted by the subprime mortgage crisis. Wei Qingfan turned to chat with Wang Qinggen to learn more about PayPal's business. He was not very interested in this, just to open up the topic.

Today, PayPal is expanding globally and is preparing to set up an international business headquarters in Singapore. As the chief engineer, even if Wang Qinggen is not in charge of this business, he has heard about it.

The two expressed optimism about the future prospects of two related industries, e-commerce and online payment. After chatting for a while, Wei Qingfan asked casually, "Has Uncle Wang ever considered returning to China for development?"

According to the Xiaomi model, customizing the system UI is undoubtedly an extremely important part, and it can even be said to directly determine the success or failure of the start, and software talents are naturally the top priority.

However, with the experience of later generations, Wei Qingfan is very clear about the development process and direction of the Android system. He knows what kind of system to make, but he needs others to come up with the system.

The difficulty is much lower than that of the original MIUI, and the requirements for the development team are naturally lower.

But if you can recruit better candidates, you should naturally try to be as good as possible, after all, you will face fierce competition in the future.

The person in front of him happens to be a genius in this area.

Or, maybe not just in this field.

You know, he has been studying chemistry during his undergraduate, master's, and doctoral periods. Just because he heard that computers are more profitable, he took a master's degree in computer science during his Ph.D. and became the chief engineer of PayPal all the way.

Talent without a doubt.

However, what if he hadn't changed careers to make money and continued his studies in chemistry?

The domestic media is promoting the fact that he became the chief engineer of PayPal as a Chinese, touting his annual salary of 20 U.S. dollars, and using him to prove the saying that "a noble son comes from a poor family", but it seems that few people discuss such a genius. If you return to China for development, what kind of achievements may you achieve?

After he committed suicide, many relatives and friends of teachers and relatives said something like "It would be great if I returned to China" while sighing.

However, the fact is that none of the elite geniuses like "Wang Qinggen" have returned to China in these years.

We cannot stand on the moral high ground and say that they are not patriotic. After all, they all have to eat, and the difference in treatment between returning and staying is too great.

If you really want to reflect, maybe the responsibility is not on them. In this day and age, the country can be said to be poor and weak. What about ten years later?
The Internet has begun to step on the United States one by one, as if pointing the country with the attitude of "we have already revived". How is the treatment of scientific researchers?

Isn't "being a questioner" still openly ridiculed by the media?

Wei Qingfan is powerless to change the general environment, but it is still possible to save the tragic fate of a genius, and let the other party show their intelligence by the way.

First of all, this is undoubtedly a genius. He joined PayPal in 04 and became the company's chief engineer in 07.

Even though he has no experience in developing mobile operating systems, he believes that this person is capable of doing this job.

Secondly, the other party's dilemma is money, and he happens to have money, success or failure is easy.

There are many speculations and rumors about the cause of Wang Qinggen's death in later generations, mainly focusing on depression, but depression is not born with it.

Why does a talented person with great success and fame suffer from depression?
In later generations, one of his colleagues once said on the Internet: "He is very hardworking, serious, and careful about his work, but under the pressure of his boss, he dare not say no, and he is forced to die."

This may be the real reason behind it.

Maybe it’s because of their personality, maybe there are many common personality defects among Chinese who came out of China in this era. Many Chinese always have the so-called “ceiling” and the fact of being “bullied” in the workplace in a foreign country.

——Also according to Wang Qinggen’s later colleagues, Wang Qinggen’s salary was cut in half very early, from $20 to $10.

At the same time, Wang Qinggen has gained great attention and popularity in China due to his success in his career. At his alma mater, whether it is elementary school, middle school, or university, he is a legend and has countless younger brothers and sisters. Treat him as an idol, and the teacher also regards him as an example to inspire everyone.

Such honors and expectations are important. If you want your parents to live a good life, no matter what happens in your hometown, you will naturally think of this brilliant person who earns dollars abroad.

This may also be one of the factors of depression and eventual suicide. The pressure of the workplace and the expectations of the body work together to lead to the tragedy.

Wei Qingfan has never had anything to do with him. To put it bluntly, he is willing to help and has good intentions, but it is more because of the other party's ability and the saying of "being forced to death by the boss".

This may be a character defect, but from the boss's point of view, he is also a good employee who is as capable as a scalper and hardworking.

The difference is that Wei Qingfan will not be stingy with salary.

(End of this chapter)