From an almost illiterate girl to a Google engineer earning $ 115,000 / year

The story of a poor girl becoming a Google contract software engineer with an salary of $ 115,000 / year inspired on the Internet.

Sun Ling was born into a poor family in Hunan, China. They were so poor that her mother had to sell her blood to sustain herself. 13 years old, she was illiterate. Graduating from high school, Sun went to work instead of going to college.

However, at the age of 29, she became a software engineer for Google in New York, USA, receiving a salary of $ 115,000 per year to generate code during her work days and to play disc throwing weekends.

The incredible journey attracted Chinese media with headlines like “the most inspirational story of all time”. Internet users praised her for “positive energy”.

“I do not consider myself a successful person, nor do I intend to be an example to anyone. I just share the story so everyone can see that even if you have a low starting point, you still have a chance in life, ”the 29-year-old engineer told the South China Morning Post.

Workers instead of going to college

Sun Ling’s story became known in China after she answered the question “How to study abroad if you are too poor?” On Zhihu (Chinese version of Quora). To answer this question, Sun details his 10-year journey to make the seemingly impossible possible.

“This is not a formal way of studying abroad,” Sun wrote in a post that received nearly 35,000 online favorites. Her responses were also posted on other social media and received positive feedback.

In Sun Ling’s hometown, people think that girls only need to finish high school. Photo: NVCC.

For Sun, the story is not a textbook about an “American dream” or “Chinese dream come true” experience. It is merely a journey driven by the desire to create a better life for yourself.

When Sun was born in 1990, her parents were farmers in a small village, 2.5 hours’ drive from the capital of Hunan province. Growing up in the countryside with the notion that girls only need to finish high school, Sun had to temporarily give up his dream of going to school when he was 13 years old to reduce the financial burden and put money on his brother to continue.

“I kept asking until my father allowed me to return to school. But to be honest, my strong desire to go to school at that time was mainly because the farming was too heavy. Farming leaves calluses on hand, ”said Sun Ling.

Out of her 11 village friends, she is the only one to graduate from high school. But the knowledge she received from a remote rural school was not enough for her to enter any university. So, like her peers, she went to Shenzhen to become factory workers.

The work shifts just repeated checking the battery quality made her depressed. “I have no idea how I want to live, even now. But I am sure that is not the life I want, ”Sun said.

She quit her job at the factory after eight months, enrolled in a computer training program because she considered it a necessary skill if she wanted to escape from the life of manual labor. In order to have enough money to complete the training to become a non-professional software engineer, she works part-time, including distributing flyers, waitresses at restaurants and living on 3 debit cards.

After more than a year, with a debt of 10,000 yuan, in September 2011, Sun Ling was hired as a software engineer at a company in Shenzhen, specializing in developing online payroll system.

A small room of their own, a salary of 4,000 yuan / month and a weekend, this job meets all of Sun’s expectations of the office worker life. But the excitement for a new life did not last long. She began to feel small in a big city, where “everyone around was very talented and had a high degree.”

To overcome the disadvantage of education, she enrolled in English training program and distance learning program of Shenzhen University. She went to school while maintaining the software engineering job.

To practice English, in 2014, she played frisbee – a popular game for foreigners living in Shenzhen at the time. With a new group of friends who mostly worked abroad, Sun began to dream about a life outside of China.

60 job interviews

In early 2017, Sun Ling learned about the master’s program at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. She applied and was accepted into the school’s Computer Science program. The curriculum is very appropriate. It allows students the opportunity to practice or work on a visa to study and work after a few months of attending classes at the school. The rest of the degree program can be completed remotely.

After 9 months of study and 60 job interviews, at the end of last year, Sun accepted a job offer from EPAM Systems, a retail provider for Google.

With a salary of $ 115,000 for contract software engineering jobs, Sun Ling continues his efforts to become an internal software engineer. Photo: NVCC.

Sharing about the work of contract software engineer at Google’s Manhattan headquarters, Sun feels lucky because many colleagues are PhDs or have studied at prestigious universities.

“No one is treating me in a way that is not worthy of all this. That’s what I like in America. They appreciate what you can do more than where you go, ”the 29-year-old engineer said.

That unbelievable journey is definitely controversial online. Supporters constantly send messages of thanks to Sung Ling for the inspirational story and seek advice for important decisions in life. Skeptics thought she was lucky. Some have even criticized her as a promotional tool for Maharishi University of Management.

“At first, I was angry. I don’t think I deserve criticism for sharing my real life experiences. But later, I realized that not everyone has the same attitude in life, ”Sun said.

She added that she had no conditions and very few options. She understands the psychology of many people who think that such a change of life is very difficult or impossible to do. But in reality, for her, just constantly learning and trying new things step by step, day by day, it will come true.

Sun Ling’s journey continues. Sun is improving her English and trying to integrate herself into life in the US by doing short interviews on the streets of New York. She also took an online course on artificial intelligence.

“My next goal is to become an internal Google software engineer. It is not that simple. But life can start at the end of your comfort zone, ”said Sun Ling.

Source : Zing