Saturday, April 15, 2006.
Today marks Gu Yanning's 15th day as an official employee at Orange Tech.
With less than two months until graduation, she, like most of her classmates, has already set her career path.
The students of her graduating class were fortunate.
When they enrolled, it was still the Institute of Electronic Industry, but their graduation certificates are from the University of Electronic Science and Technology.
The school's standing has risen, and naturally, the employment prospects have improved.
It is well known that there are only two universities in Zhejiang Province.
However, in terms of strength, neither the Institute of Electronic Industry nor the current Hangdian is bad; they are considered rare good universities in the province.
Coupled with the rise of the internet in recent years, students from their school do not have to worry about employment.
Nevertheless, Gu Yanning still feels she is luckier than most of her classmates.
Unlike becoming a coder, she was able to take on the position of CEO assistant immediately upon joining, and although it's a startup internet company, it's a very good start.
Moreover, it's perfectly normal for programmers to join internet startups.
If the company takes off, as a veteran, it's like reaching the heavens in one step.
However, the experience since joining has not been so wonderful.
Gu Yanning knew that startup companies have high work intensity, but she didn't expect it to be this intense.
At the company, there's no distinction between men and women, and no weekends either.
She hasn't rested a single day in 15 days; it's absolutely killing her.
"Qingqing, did Xiao Tan always use employees like this before?"
Today is Saturday, and Gu Qingqing, the nominal CEO, also came to take a look.
In reality, she doesn't understand anything and is still in the learning phase.
The company's specific development direction is still personally controlled by Tan Jincheng.
The tenth and eleventh floors of Building B in Beicang Financial Center, two floors up and down, have been leased by Orange Tech.
The main advantage is ample space; since the rent is cheap, unused areas can have beds placed for employees to rest when working overtime.
With enough space, even the CEO who rarely comes has her own office, which Gu Yanning usually uses.
At this moment, only the two of them are in the office, so Gu Yanning speaks much more freely.
What's more, Tan Jincheng went to Yangcheng today.
It's the opening day of the Canton Fair, and Tan Jincheng had to go and see it.
In addition, Zhang Xupeng is also returning to China, and his destination is Yangcheng.
The two will meet up then.
"Not really. Although the factory was tough before, perhaps because of the two-shift system, the workers didn't complain much, and holidays were given as they should be. But he himself worked very hard, sleeping in the office for half a month at one point."
"So he's always been a workaholic! I wouldn't have agreed so easily if I'd known. You should have told me earlier,"
Gu Yanning said, dumbfounded.
"But the salary is high, isn't it? If you didn't come to Orange Tech, could you get such a high salary? And your classmates, they couldn't either, right?"
Internet companies must offer promises of future success, but to make employees work hard, salaries, benefits, and other perks certainly cannot be lacking.
Tan Jincheng, who has no shortage of funds, naturally would not be stingy in this regard to speed up progress.
"That's true; oh well, a little hardship isn't so bad, earning more money has its benefits too."
Gu Yanning was just complaining a bit.
In terms of salary, Orange Tech offers 13 months' pay plus an annual bonus.
The annual bonus is generally two to three months' salary, meaning an employee can receive up to 16 months' pay in a year.
There are also incentives, with stock option rewards for employees who make significant contributions to the team.
Stock options are an important component of internet companies.
Referring to existing internet companies and information Tan Jincheng knew from his previous life, Orange Tech's stock option reward system is relatively advanced.
After an employee has been with the company for a full year, the options can be vested in batches.
Vesting refers to the employee being able to convert their options into company stock, with vesting occurring annually.
This means that after two full years of employment, an employee can convert a portion of their stock options into company shares.
These shares not only allow participation in company dividends but also enable free internal trading, providing convenience for employees to cash out.
With such good benefits, she actually feels a lot of pressure.
Currently, Orange Tech has two development teams: one is responsible for developing Kaixin Network, and the other is responsible for developing the Kaixin Farm mini-game.
Her classmates, plus her, total 8 people, making up the Kaixin Farm development team.
Compared to these green students who are about to graduate, the project team members developing Kaixin Network are much more formidable.
The game attribute of Kaixin Farm is social, and without Kaixin Network, it couldn't really exist.
Therefore, to maximize the game's benefits, developing Kaixin Network with its social attributes is paramount.
Only with Kaixin Network + Kaixin Farm can the best effect be achieved.
In his previous life, Kaixin Network only appeared after 2008.
It was the first social networking site in China targeting office white-collar workers, offering social tools including diaries, photo albums, dynamic records, reposts, social games, and more.
Frankly, its functions were similar to QQ Zone, but it focused on a different demographic.
Tan Jincheng advanced the development of Kaixin Network by two years.
He wasn't very familiar with Kaixin Network, but he was with QQ Zone.
He knew some functions that hadn't appeared in QQ Zone yet.
Brother Ma often learned from others, so Orange Tech could also learn from him.
But rookies fresh out of college certainly couldn't handle these tasks.
So, Tan Jincheng, who didn't know who the Kaixin Network development team was in his previous life, had a change of thought and poached an entire team from Pig Factory, comprising 12 people, including technical engineers, marketing, and market teams.
After the great success of Fantasy Westward Journey, Pig Factory's focus increasingly shifted to gaming, and its social attributes began to weaken.
Cheng Hao, one of the earliest employees to join Pig Factory, had risen from engineer and department director to deputy general manager of wireless technology.
After being transferred to deputy general manager of enterprise services in early last year, he became increasingly disheartened.
Pig Factory didn't need talent like him, but that didn't mean other places didn't.
As the saying goes, a tree dies if it's moved, but a person thrives if they move.
Following a headhunter's recommendation, Tan Jincheng personally went to Hangcheng in mid-March and convinced this technical expert to join Orange Tech, responsible for Kaixin Network's development, with a promise of high salary + stock options.
At the same time, Tan Jincheng also promised that Cheng Hao could bring his team, and once they joined, they would receive preferential treatment.
Tan Jincheng also gave him a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) position, responsible for all of Orange Tech's technical work.
Both the Kaixin Network and Kaixin Farm projects are directly managed by Cheng Hao.
CEO Gu Qingqing is currently still a student, merely a nominal figurehead to try and secure some university resources.
Cheng Hao's influence at Orange Tech is undeniably significant; apart from the boss Tan Jincheng, he is the next in command.
It was both a challenge and an opportunity.
If the Kaixin Network project succeeded, Cheng Hao, as the de facto second-in-command of Orange Tech, would gain both fame and fortune, no longer being a marginalized figure at Pig Factory.
This was also why he accepted the challenge.
Born in 1972, Cheng Hao is only 34 this year.
While the "35-year-old elimination system" wasn't a thing yet, it was undeniable that he was facing a turning point in his career and had to seek change.
Without Orange Tech's recruitment, he would have sought other opportunities.
Otherwise, his fate would only be to be swept out the door one day.
The images of major companies collapsing and layoffs during the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century still occasionally appeared in his mind.
Without Tan Jincheng's specific oversight, Cheng Hao and his team, this group of disheartened individuals, got themselves into an intense grind.
Although they were poached, it wasn't much different from being swept out the door.
If they didn't achieve something to prove themselves, their careers would probably be over for good.
On one side was a disheartened team eager to prove themselves, with work experience and overtime experience, caught in endless grind.
On the other side were green youths about to enter society, their naivety still lingering.
Comparing the two, the members of the Kaixin Farm project team were absolutely crushed, completely outclassed by the Kaixin Network project team!
The eight-person group led by Gu Yanning, who were initially arrogant and thought they were the chosen ones, were immediately hit hard.
They had originally thought that the new company's boss didn't understand technology, and they could independently develop a project right after joining, thus enjoying high-level treatment.
But they didn't expect the boss to have a backup plan, finding a bunch of seasoned workplace veterans!
Just one week after joining, including Gu Yanning, their confidence was severely shaken, and they even feared being swept out by the boss if they didn't perform well, which would be a great disgrace.
Fortunately, Tan Jincheng had experience as a boss, and Cheng Hao also had experience managing a team.
After some reassurance, these people finally settled down and became more honest.
They cooperated with work arrangements, worked overtime when asked, and were incredibly obedient.
And indeed, Tan Jincheng's move was quite effective.
Although it was a bit unethical to immediately crush fresh graduates, there was no other way.
Project development couldn't stop, and there was no time for them to slowly develop.
Although Kaixin Farm was to launch after Kaixin Network, both Kaixin Network and Kaixin Farm are complementary and indispensable.
The progress cannot be delayed for too long, otherwise, both projects would fail.
In his previous life, Kaixin Farm was developed by a few university students, comparable in qualification to Gu Yanning and her classmates.
At that time, they had no money and no people, yet they managed to create it.
Now, Tan Jincheng not only provided them with development ideas.
At the same time, there was substantial financial support, and a seasoned team of excellent engineers helped them with code quality control.
All they had to do was unleash their potential, which was much simpler than the team in his previous life.
The early stages of the internet are all about burning money.
The longer the development time, the more money is burned.
By the time development is complete, the market might have changed, and if a competitor launches before you, your market might be gone.
Therefore, Tan Jincheng would not give Cheng Hao and his team too much time.
The internal testing must be completed by the end of July at the latest, which is four months, and launched into the market in early August, promoting it during the period when students are on holiday and white-collar workers are reluctant to go out due to the hot weather.
The summer holiday period has always been an important time for promoting many products, and this is true for social networking sites and games alike.
Cheng Hao also made a military pledge that he would complete internal testing before the end of July and launch into the market in August, as this concerns not only Orange Tech but also himself and his team.
If this one project of Orange Tech failed, there would still be room for survival, but they would have none.
This summer holiday is their last chance to turn things around.
"Hey, do you feel any pressure being CEO? I heard Uncle also invested 3 million?"
Gu Yanning asked Gu Qingqing, somewhat curious.
"Pressure? Of course there is. After all, I don't understand anything right now, and I also have to go to school, so I can't handle the company's daily affairs."
Gu Qingqing was somewhat apprehensive about Tan Jincheng pushing her into the CEO position.
Not only did her abilities fail to convince the staff, but she also couldn't often be at the company while everyone else was working themselves to death.
Fortunately, she had strong backing.
(End of Chapter)