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Zhang Kunwei was hotly discussed because of a "friend-seeking post".

He is a 2009 graduate of Tsinghua Yao Class . After graduating from Tsinghua with a master's degree, he worked for JPMorgan Chase and Google ...

Even earlier, he was a NOI gold medalist and had shown his talent in mathematics, physics and informatics very early on. Later, he was recommended to Tsinghua University from Shanxi Experimental Middle School and entered the Yao Class.

But this time the heated discussion has nothing to do with "finding a partner".

Because in this "friend-seeking post" written by a friend, Zhang Kunwei attracted attention for his "unexpected" career choice:

After working at Google for two years, he chose to return to his hometown to teach and became a young teacher at Jinzhong College , a second-tier university in his hometown of Shanxi, with a monthly salary of more than 3,000 yuan.

Some people were puzzled, some felt sorry for him... Some of his students, alumni and even elementary school classmates came forward to explain that he was always a unique person.

It’s just that Zhang Kunwei himself doesn’t want to become the subject of discussion about secular standards of success.

He explained the reasons behind the quantum bit. Between the words, there was the collective anxiety common to the times, as well as the independent thinking and free spirit of a young person born in the 1990s.

He has sixpence on the ground and the moon above his head.

First choice: Give up the unfinished PhD and leave scientific research

Zhang Kunwei was born in Jinzhong, Shanxi Province. After graduating from junior high school, he was admitted to Shanxi Experimental Middle School with the highest score in the province . He soon stood out in mathematics, physics and informatics competitions, winning two provincial first prizes and the gold medal in the National Olympiad in Informatics. He was eventually successfully admitted to Tsinghua University.

Then after another selection, he entered Tsinghua University's Yao Class .

He once thought about pursuing a doctorate, and at the Institute of Cross-Disciplinary Information Sciences led by Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi, he spent one year completing the courses required for a doctorate.

But he soon discovered that scientific research was not for him. Scientific research is often a lonely journey. On the long road of writing a paper, he was not very adaptable to the way of working day and night, and sometimes he got half the result with twice the effort. He soon came to the conclusion that although he had academic strengths, he was not good at scientific research.

In the end, he chose to give up pursuing a doctorate and graduated with a master's degree.

Second choice: quit Google and return to hometown to teach

The next option after graduation is to work.

He soon received the first batch of offers, including from Internet giants such as Alibaba and JPMorgan Chase , a well-known bank in the financial field.

Zhang Kunwei chose the latter.

This may be due to his pursuit of a better life. After all, 996 is commonplace in domestic technology and Internet companies.

JPMorgan Chase is different. The work is done from 9 to 5 and is not onerous. Moreover, talents in the computer field usually do back-end work, such as executing already designed derivatives pricing models in parallel on multiple computers.

In a sense, this kind of job is enviable. You are well-dressed and work in the Second Ring Financial Street.

But Zhang Kunwei soon discovered that this was not the life he wanted.

Despite the fame of JPMorgan Chase, the cost of living and working is not low - for a fresh graduate in the Second Ring Financial Street, he has to pay 1/3 of his after-tax salary for shared housing rent, and it is impossible to get a Beijing hukou.

This situation made him worried, and at this time, the notification of Google's employment came "late", but just in time.

This time, Zhang Kunwei did not hesitate.

At Google, his job was "preprocessing and batch computing of knowledge graphs." The first year went by very quickly, with both the rush of learning and the comfortable environment of being recognized as the best employer in the industry.

When Zhang Kunwei recalls it now, he still praises the life in his former employer. He said that unlike many domestic Internet companies, Google provides every employee with a relaxed working environment and many enviable benefits.

But in this "comfort zone", Zhang Kunwei is not without "worries":

"I can't see my future in Beijing. The prices of houses along the Beijing subway lines have risen to millions or even tens of millions. If I take out a 30-year loan, the annual repayments will basically be all my income. Income can increase, but what if the economy goes down? Will I end up like the young people in Japan when the economic bubble burst and end up on the streets?"

Zhang Kunwei is unwilling to follow the secular standards of success.

"I don't want to give up everything for success as the success theory says. I want to integrate my hobbies into my work and have my own life outside of work."

So after working at Google for the second year, he finally decided to resign and leave.

Returning to hometown to teach, choosing "ordinary"

The policies in his hometown of Shanxi have eased his worries about big cities.

In Shanxi, freshly graduated master's students can enter provincial universities as young teachers within three years.

By coincidence, the year Zhang Kunwei left Google was exactly three years after he graduated with a master's degree.

He decided to return to Jinzhong and teach at the local institution, Jinzhong College.

As for the salary, it is naturally not comparable to that in big cities. His monthly income was only 3,000 yuan in the first year, which would increase to 5,000 yuan from the second year.

However, Zhang Kunwei remained calm:

"There should be some local talent introduction subsidies, but since Jinzhong City does not provide monthly subsidies to provincial universities, that's all. Doctoral students will be better off, with a one-time settlement allowance."

When he told this, it was as if he was telling someone else's story.

Of course, perhaps out of fear that his old friends and mentors would be worried, he added that he had some other income:

"In my spare time, I give classes at my alma mater Experimental Middle School and take one-on-one competition coaching online. Add it all together and I can probably make tens of thousands a month."

The only issue that worries this 28-year-old young man is: partner, marriage, and family life.

When you return home, do as the Romans do, although in Beijing this is not a pressing issue.

But Zhang Kunwei admitted that in his hometown, most young people of this age have already entered the marriage hall.

When he was in Beijing, he posted a dating post on Tsinghua BBS Shuimu Community. The thought and sincerity behind his writing touched many people, and he eventually found his ex-girlfriend among the responders.

But later he chose to return to his hometown, and his relationship also faced a choice - his girlfriend went to the United States to study, and the future interactions between them continued to shrink. After rational analysis, he had to break up.

Recently, Zhang Kunwei wanted to replicate his successful experience.

So I posted a dating post on several forums, but since I was in Shanxi, many people turned away and I didn't get many responses.

Earlier, he also accepted his parents' advice and went on blind dates through introductions from relatives and friends.

"But there may not be many people with similar academic qualifications as you in the local area. Do you mind?" "I don't care."

But he never expected that his "friend-seeking post" would become popular in another way. But the onlookers were more surprised at why he was willing to choose to be ordinary and common.

On Zhihu, Zhang Kunwei’s former classmates and current students also stood up to "defend" him.

The user who received the most likes, Mu Xin, is a student in Zhang Kunwei's computer class at Jinzhong College. He expressed his deep appreciation for the abilities and spirit he felt from Zhang Kunwei.

Students like us can't go far on the ACM road, but if we really have such a good teacher to help us, even if we personally experience the pleasure of doing questions on this road, it may be of great help to our future development. Teacher Zhang said that he cannot influence society, I will definitely disagree. There are many students in our school who are interested in pat/ACM/algorithms, and many of our students love him very much. Whether leaving Google, JPM or coming to Jinyuan, as a former student, I respect him very much, and his style of doing things will affect the rest of my life.

His schoolmate Zhao Tianqi spoke up for him:

Academic qualifications should give a person the right to have more choices, rather than being a shackle that restricts life.

"A Man and His World"

Zhang Kunwei thanked the classmates and students who spoke up for him.

But he said that he didn't want to say anything more, and he said he didn't care about the worldly discussions about success or failure.

Those who know me say that I am worried, and those who don’t know me ask what I am looking for.

Recently, more local schools have contacted him, hoping that he can coach juniors who are interested in informatics competitions in their spare time.

Zhang Kunwei lamented:

"When you see the curious eyes of children, you will forget all your worries and unhappiness. If I can devote myself to the basic education of my hometown, I won't have wasted my life."

So what about finding a partner?

"Let it be."

At the end of the conversation, Zhang Kunwei also shared his insights from Chateaubriand's "A Journey to Italy", which resonated with him and seemed like the truth after his practice:

Every man carries a world with him, a world made up of everything he has seen and loved, and even if he seems to be traveling and living in a different world, he still keeps returning to the world he carries with him.