Lin Chen, a fresh graduate from a second-rate college, was ground down by reality on the assembly line of an electronics factory. Day after day, he pressed buttons, got chewed out by his line supervisor, and laughed at by his coworkers. But he refused to accept his lot. He worked by day and hunkered down on the steps at night, poring over Analog Circuits, page by page, pulling himself out of the mud.
A 0.1-millimeter discrepancy in a component caught the attention of Zhang Qiming, a group vice president, and got Lin Chen a job in Hengtong's technical department. From then on, he pored over blueprints, worked all night, cracked algorithms, and tackled mass production. He rose from assistant engineer to technical department manager, making domestic sensors that could compete with imported ones and taking the stage at a global industry summit.
Along the way, there was Zhao Lei, a petty man who envied him, falsified data, and framed him; Zhang Cheng of Dingsheng, who hired hackers and copied his products to crush him; Engineer Wang, who passed him a notebook; Professor Zhou, who offered ideas; and Jian Ning, who brought him milk tea. There were also Chen Tao, whom he'd brought up from the assembly line, and Xiao Wu, who opened an appliance shop.
His journey proves that starting low is nothing to be ashamed of. What's shameful is looking down on yourself first. As long as you refuse to accept your fate and are willing to put in the hard, unglamorous work, when opportunity comes, you'll be ready to seize it.
