"The collaboration in establishing digital age not only happens among peers, it also spans generations. Creativity will be passed on among generations of innovators."
—[US] Walter Isaacson
"Innovator"
History of modern computer technology starts 200 years ago.
Story starts with a woman - Eda Loveles, born in 1815. Her father was the 19th century romantic poet Byron . In order to reconcile her romantic temperament, her mother insisted on letting her learn logic, mathematics and machinery since she was a child that was forbidden for women.
Edar became an accomplished mathematician, creating the basic elements in computer programs - loops and subroutine concepts.
In 1842 and 1843, Eda spent nine months translating the papers of Italian mathematician Luigi Minabia on Charles Babbage computer analysis machine. Later in the translation, she added many comments to explain in detail the method of using the machine to calculate the Bernoulli number, which is considered the earliest computer programming, and Edda is therefore considered the world's first computer programmer, .
Adar's articles have created many new ideas that Babbage had not mentioned. She once predicted: "This machine can be used for typesetting, arrangement or various more complex uses in the future."
940s, Alan Turing was inspired by Alan Turing and began to develop the first modern computer. In honor of Edda, the second Tuesday of October is designated “Edda Day” to mark all the forgotten or neglected women in history.
200 Today, more than a few years later, countless programmers use the language of programming to reconstruct the world we are in. Fortunately, in the current technological world, work has nothing to do with gender.
Just as Edda said in that famous paper: "A new, extensive, powerful language has been developed and will be used in analysis in the future. Using its power, it can serve human beings more quickly and accurately, and is more effective than all the means so far. Therefore, not only spirit and matter, but also theory and practice in the mathematical world will be closer and more effectively connected."
In this issue, three female programmers of the WeChat team shared their workplace stories with us. At the forefront of technology, every line of code they wrote will be executed tens of billions of times a day, and their work supports daily video calls and other services for hundreds of millions of WeChat users. How did their careers reach today, what troughs and highlights they have spent in their respective positions, and how did they pass on creativity to the next generation?
The following is their story.
"Technology gives a stage for fair competition between men and women"
Xu Miaozhi
Tencent expert researcher
Become a programmer 18 years
Xu Miaozhi has been deeply engaged in video technology for 18 years and has never been shaken. When he was doing his undergraduate degree in graduation design, Xu Miaozhi joined the JDL laboratory, the most famous domestic video encoding field, led by Academician Gao Wen , and engaged in video encoding technology research. After graduating from graduate school, Xu Miaozhi officially joined Tencent and has been focusing on the research and development of practical video images. Nowadays, the WeChat video calling function is used by hundreds of millions of users every day, and the video technology sector has been led by her. In addition, this technology has also been used in various short videos, pictures, live broadcasts and other businesses on WeChat.
Xu Miaozhi still remembers that when she and her team made the first WeChat video call version, the highest configuration mobile phone on the market was iPhone4. "Now, iPhone 14 is on the market." From the original 2G and 3G networks to the popularization of 5G networks, mobile phones have undergone rapid updates and replacements, and the performance of hardware devices has been continuously improved, which requires the technical team to use higher compression efficiency technologies to increase the video volume under the same bandwidth.
The pressure mainly comes from massive users and their diversified needs.
WeChat’s user base is very large, there are huge differences in equipment and network, and the needs of different users are also very different. For example, some users need clearer images, some users’ network conditions are not that good, and some users need smoother transmission, and some users hope to save more power outdoors... User needs are difficult to adjust. After working for many years, she found that to make a technology stable and large-scale application of in the product , the technical difficulty and time it took is even much greater than the initial pre-research technology.
Inspiration for technological breakthroughs has never exploded suddenly. They come from long-term technology research and development, and are inspiration from keeping up with hardware updates and applications, insights into user needs, and day-to-day use of related product business functions.
In addition to the professional field, Xu Miaozhi's original role model was her grandmother. Xu Miaozhi's grandmother was born during the Republic of China. When she was young, she gained the opportunity to study medicine through personal efforts. Her superb medical skills are well-known in the local area. "Grandma is my earliest role model. She did not have to be 'in-law' as traditional concepts say. She also has her own career and can take care of both sides. Grandma made me think that women must have their own career." Xu Miaozhi recalled.
In his later studies and work, Xu Miaozhi met more excellent technological women. Along the way to this day, Xu Miaozhi has never felt the prejudice that gender brings to his work.
In Xu Miaozhi's view, the field of technology has given men and women a fair competition stage. They are also writing codes in front of the computer, and there is no difference in ability due to physical strength.
Nowadays, she even feels that the label of "technology women" has a certain encouragement effect on women in this industry. "When you reach a certain level, you can attend a speech or report and defend it at work. It may be easier to remember because there are few girls," she said.
Compared to the time when Xu Miaozhi just joined Tencent, more and more female faces have appeared in the WeChat technical team.
Li Ran and Qiu Yaoyao are two of them.
There is no career resume that is only related to work. With the advancement of video encoding and decoding technology, algorithm complexity and machine computing capabilities, the code developed by Xu Miaozhi provides users with an increasingly rich video experience, and their lives have been lush and gradually enriched over the past few years.
"The child and the classmates in the class said that the video calls you used were made by my mother"
Li Ran
Tencent expert researcher
Become a programmer 16 years ago
When he was a student, Li Ran did not show a high interest in programming. "At that time, the little boy programmed and realized a function, dragging a small square to move back and forth on the screen. I don't know what was fun about that thing." After filling out the college entrance examination application for , she chose to communicate. At that time, each of the "adults" around her had a mobile phone. She vaguely felt that maybe communication would be a "very good direction" in the future.
communications courses are more hardware-oriented than computer majors. Although she has studied C++ language and data structures, the courses that Li Ran jokingly called "soldered circuit boards" are still fascinating her even more. During his graduate studies, Li Ran began to study the direction of video coding, but it would take a few years to truly fall in love with this field.
Like the job of a programmer because he discovered the beauty of work and realized his true heart. Tencent provides a platform that can follow his true heart to work.
"Why did I choose the Internet industry at that time? When I came to Tencent for an interview, I entered the office, wow, it was so cool. beach pants , beach shoes , a large vest, no need to put on makeup or perm hair, it was so comfortable, do whatever I wanted." It can be said that is the "free feeling" of the Internet industry that attracted Li Ran.
Moreover, in the next few years, the dilemma of those "rumored" working women almost never appeared in Li Ran's life. "Our group has always been in a state of 'supply and demand' for manpower. There is no situation where you say that if you have a child, you will have no job when you have to give birth to a child."
In Tencent, ability is the only assessment standard, and no one cares about gender differences.
's sensitivity to cutting-edge technologies and curiosity about solving problems are the real key to engaging in this field.
When Li Ran first joined WeChat, the number of WeChat's product technology team was not large, and the increase in user volume was the focus of my colleagues' concern. The day when WeChat users exceeded 100 million seemed to be yesterday. Nowadays, as the business division of labor becomes more and more refined and the team becomes larger, Li Ran focuses more on improving product experience. She has not deliberately paid attention to numbers like "WeChat users grow to xx billion".
From QQ video to the quality optimization of the image in WeChat, and then to WeChat video, Li Ran's work has always revolved around how to improve the quality of video/pictures and how to compress the network bandwidth they occupy. In short, the kernel is to enable Tencent users to achieve "quality improvement, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement" during the transmission of video/pictures. In Tencent for 12 years, a sentence often encouraged her: "Study hard is like the seedlings of spring, but it will not be able to improve it every day; dropping out of school is like a stone of sharpening a knife, but it will not be able to lose it every day." Looking back at the first few years of work, although the progress bit by bit is very small, over time, the experience improvement brought to users is huge.
The sense of competence and value of work also comes from this.
When Li Ran's child is in kindergarten, he will introduce to his friends in the class: "My mother is doing video calls." Specifically, "Mom's job is to 'flat' the video, upload it to you on the Internet, and then restore the video. Mom must ensure that the videos before shaved and after the restoration are the same."
When the child was born, Li Ran also had a long time of "parenting anxiety". "At that time, the WeChat public account just started, and then there were public accounts pushing it every day, saying how mothers should take care of their children, how mothers should treat children, your child is finished. At that time, we had fewer people and were busy. We often went back late at night, and the child was furious again in the middle of the night. We often hugged him until dawn before falling asleep. We didn't have to get up again after a long time to go to work. It was really a breakdown during that period. I felt that I was not competent for work, and I couldn't take care of my children."
Later, she finally adjusted her mentality: "The child is the child, and I am myself."
thought it out, and I got better step by step.
She did not deliberately let the children come into contact with or deliberately not to contact programming, but took the children to learn about the world as much as possible. Playing Sudoku , climbing mountains, talking about pea experiments about discovering genes... What parents and children communicate most often is what the world is like in their own eyes, rather than the parents unilaterally telling their children what this is and what that is.
Many times, Li Ran felt that being with her children was actually growing more.
"Programming is a basic skill,
helps you realize various ideas"
Qiu Yaoyao
Tencent expert researcher
Become a programmer 11 years
Qiu Yaoyao studied computers and had no special stories.
"When choosing a major, the people around them did not understand what computers would develop in the future and what directions they would be subdivided into. They just felt that compared with chemistry, civil engineering, the office environment for computers should be better and more suitable for girls, so they chose computers."
From undergraduate to graduate school, Qiu Yaoyao's interest in the direction of video encoding has gone from nothing to something, from understanding to deep cultivation. Qiu Yaoyao, who is only dedicated to studying technology, did not expect that a few years later, short videos will sweep the world with such a flood and become a hot direction. "At that time, people always asked me, what's the use of learning this in the future?"
Just left campus, Qiu Yaoyao's first stop in the workplace was Huawei , studying the technical standards of video decoders. Later, I gradually felt that I still like to make products, so I came to the WeChat team and stayed there for four years.
After coming to WeChat, the biggest change is that it is closer to the user. Qiu Yaoyao, when he was a student, the fun of the code world came from completing a program by himself. After clicking "Run", the program can be successfully run without bugs, and serves hundreds of millions of people every day. "Working with App, Qiu Yaoyao can often feel the sense of accomplishment of technical people: "Technology updates can be used by a large number of users, which can truly improve their experience of using products, such as the quality of the call video and the quality of uploaded videos in the circle of friends have been improved."
As Xu Miaozhi said: "Video image technology is a field of depth that requires a long period of accumulation of knowledge and experience in the early stage, and needs to endure loneliness, so that certain technical achievements can be achieved in the future. . After accumulating in a field for a long time, practice makes perfect. Many things that seem talented are actually the result of long-term efforts. " For Qiu Yaoyao, every step of his career is a fate. What I have always insisted on is the direction I chose in the first place, which is a kind of luck.
Her child is just 6 years old and has no idea about his mother's work and has no contact with programming.
Qiu Yaoyao, who has studied hard all the way from childhood to adulthood and became "other people's children" step by step, is not so anxious about the growth of his children.
The child’s recent ideal is to be a chef, and Qiu Yaoyao also thinks it is very good. "If he truly feels the hard work of being a chef and is willing to persist in doing it, then I will support him." She said, "You asked me to tell me what hobbies I have, or what I am most interested in? I don't think I can say it. I just think I have to follow the crowd from childhood, study hard, and find a job after graduation. Nowadays children have their own ideas. I think it's good. I hope to protect his interests. "
This generation of children is much richer than their parents and ancestors. The parents are struggling hard and the children are within their reach. When parents "upgrade and fight monsters" all the way, the end point is only the starting point of the children. How should parents of this generation grow up with their children?
To some extent, the development of technology is determining the future of mankind. When programming changes from a technology that only a small number of people can master into the basic skills of the new era, how to improve the technical literacy of young people as "mobile Internet aboriginals" is the proposition that technical experts, educators, Internet practitioners, parents and teenagers answered through continuous practice.
200 years ago Ada has the talent to appreciate the beauty of mathematics, and Qiu Yaoyao hopes that children can discover their interest in programming.
is just like Professor Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics quoting the parental viewpoint in her book "Parenting under the Digital Future": "Programming is the Latin language of the new era, and programming is a new and valuable classic form of knowledge, which is what children need in the digital future." Qiu Yaoyao believes that programming is a basic skill in this era that can help people realize various ideas.
Tencent Youtu Laboratory senior researcher and project leader of the Star Discovery Program Wang Yabiao expressed it more directly in his speech at the first Youth Artificial Intelligence Innovation Education Summit. He said: "Youths are the masters of our country's future. They have the ability and desire to use technology to do something cooler. As digital pavers in front, we lead them to a simple and romantic world of technology, which is a responsibility and an obligation."
In order to practice the social responsibility of the Internet industry to the youth group, lead future strategic technology, and inspire innovation awareness, since this year 5 Since the release of the "Green Seedling Plan", WeChat has successively helped improve the online literacy of young people through a number of measures such as free open programming courses, organizing global youth programming competitions, holding youth programming summer camps, and recruiting youth scientist mentor groups.
"Use dreams as code to light up the future" Artificial Intelligence Theme Exhibition
Among them, Tencent WeChat and Zhongfuhui Youth Palace cooperated to develop the "Use dreams as code" artificial intelligence innovation course. Based on the WeChat visualization platform, it gradually explained the mini program programming, helping teenagers quickly master this programming environment created by the Chinese themselves and publish their own mini programs.
This set of courses is divided into introductory, intermediate and advanced levels of difficulties, and will benefit more young and young children in the future.
Understand the world, design products, and develop mini programs. More than 100 official WeChat courses can also be started from this entrance to learn.
The first Youth Artificial Intelligence and Future Media Innovation Challenge, jointly initiated by the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University, the Youth Palace of the China Welfare Association, Tencent WeChat, etc., has started in July.
The young people participating in the competition will think about how artificial intelligence technology can change and improve human society for a period of time, and create product prototypes of the project in accordance with the basic requirements of the competition, form creative documents and hold the finals in the form of expert debates. The
competition is divided into two groups: primary school group and middle school group. All students in primary schools, junior high schools, high schools, secondary schools or vocational high schools can participate before 12 months in 2022. Youths participating in the competition can register through the competition WeChat mini program portal and submit their entries before October 20. The national finals will be held in late November. According to the competition organizing committee, the prize money for this event is as high as 20,000 yuan, and outstanding participating teams will have the opportunity to receive visits, internships and recommendation letters provided by Tencent.
Learning is a journey that lasts a lifetime. I hope every child can go farther and see more beautiful scenery.
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