Capital City, Yanhua University, Laboratory of Intelligence and Automation.
Luo Zhijin, sitting in front of the computer, ticulously checking the code submitted by his graduate students. The abilities of ordinary students are limited, making them only suitable for relatively simple coding assignnts. Still, the submitted code is quite a ss. The programs could run but the results were far from perfect, encountering many bugs with varying inputs.
He was sowhat distressed.
He was embarking on a project in collaboration with an external digital product firm to develop an automated chat custor service tool for both phone and online consultations.
The firm’s expectations were high, hoping that the resulting product could solve so custor issues, thus reducing dependence on manual services.
This was akin to working on a project with a software company.
Developing automated chat capability was much simpler than researching Artificial Intelligence conversation or image recognition. Luo Zhijin hoped to succeed, as successful completion of the project would ensure more collaboration opportunities and funding for the lab.
Of course.
He could make a bit of money himself as well.
That was a certainty.
Guiding a team through project developnt was not so different from a contractor leading a construction team. The major difference was that he didn’t have to pay his team of graduate students any salary; still, there were certain limitations. For instance, a sizable part of the inco had to go to the lab and the university.
Undertaking a project did co with its risks, much like a contractor. There was risk in claiming paynt for a completed project, and even more risk if the project could not be finished.
Trustworthiness was key.
If they failed even a simple project, it would doubtless raise questions about their abilities and make it much more difficult to secure future projects.
Luo Zhijin was distressed.
What distressed him was not the prospect of the project not being finished; instead, it was the lack of capability among his ’employees’. In fact, he could finish it all by himself given enough ti - there were no technical obstacles. However, one person couldn’t do everything, he needed a team.
The few competent individuals in the lab were all working on national projects assigned to the other two professors.
He had but one person to assist him, Xu Chao.
"Xu Chao, wasn’t he supposed to be back today? Why hasn’t he shown up yet?" Luo Zhijin felt like calling him, but decided against it, considering Xu Chao had only just returned to the capital and needed rest.
At seven in the evening, Xu Chao arrived.
"Brother Chao!"
"You’re finally here. Teacher Luo has been complaining about you all day!"
"You have no idea. He scolded all morning. Brother Chao, we need your advice on how to revise the code..."
Xu Chao laughed.
In the lab, he got along with everyone. Whenever ordinary graduate students asked him sothing, he was always willing to help.
Now, he was unable to respond.
"I feel like sothing’s off with Brother Chao. Are you just really tired?"
"Yes, he traveled thousands of kiloters from the south to the north!"
Upon seeing Xu Chao, Luo Zhijin imdiately smiled, "Chao, now that you’re here, why don’t you rest today since it’s already quite late? Let’s start tomorrow."
His face was smiling like a blooming flower.
Xu Chao stood silent, his expression becoming increasingly serious as if sothing was bothering him.
Luo Zhijin asked with a puzzled look, "What’s wrong, Chao? Are you too tired? Go ho and rest."
"No, Professor Luo."
"Just call Teacher Luo as I’ve told you many tis before." Luo Zhijin stood up, still enthusiastic, "You haven’t been in the capital for long, treat as an elder. If sothing’s bothering you, don’t hold back, just let it out."
"Really?"
Xu Chao clung onto a keyword.
"Of course." Luo Zhijin nodded vigorously. His serious expression seed to enforce the statent, "I am your elder."
"An elder would be considerate towards , right?"
"Of course."
"If I made so decisions, significant ones, surely an elder would support, right?"
"Of course!"
Luo Zhijin repeated the word ’of course’ three tis, then asked curiously, "What’s really going on?"
After taking a deep breath, Xu Chao finally spoke up, "I... I don’t want to continue this anymore!"
Luo Zhijin’s mouth fell open for quite a while before recovering. He hurriedly guided Xu Chao to sit down on a couch nearby, "Talk to , what’s going on? How did you suddenly decide not to continue? You need to understand, in a few years, you are sure to be promoted to associate professor, with a great future ahead..."
His words tumbled out in a rush, betraying his profound shock.
Xu Chao listened quietly.
After Luo Zhijin had finished, Xu Chao explained his desire to ’start a business’ with Zhao Yi. He talked about Zhao Yi’s research project and expressed his future aspirations.
Professor Luo realized that he was unable to dissuade him.
The robotics technology Xu Chao spoke about made even him interested in collaborating with Zhao Yi; the prospects seed bright.
How could he dissuade him from that?
It’s common to spend five to ten years as a postdoc in the lab before being promoted to an associate professor (associate researcher) or professor (researcher), and it’s the sa case for school lecturers. It’s a requirent to have distinguished research achievents to achieve promotion.
Xu Chao was almost thirty years old!
It was already late for him to just be starting his career. Most young PhDs that go overseas to study co back as associate professors, and those with significant achievents may even beco professors right away.
That’s the difference.
A PhD from a foreign top-tier university certainly ranks higher than dostic master’s or PhD degrees.
In reality, that’s true.
After decades in education, Luo Zhijin knew very well that there was a significant gap between dostic master’s programs and their international counterparts, and the difference is even more marked at the doctoral level.
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