Guo Quji said that he was the first computer doll to be "caught". In the fourth grade, Guo was fascinated by computers when he first came into contact with them in the school computer room. During my primary school years, I participated in many computer programming competitions in middle schools and won the second and third prizes.
Later, Guo Quji finally "made a positive result" and was sent to the legendary juvenile class of China University of Science and Technology with the first prize in the provincial computer programming contest. This is another story.
Talking about childhood memories, what impressed Guo Quji the most was not the delicious cakes in Chengdu, nor the bad smell of formalin in parents' hospital, but an experience of hiking to the Children's Palace to learn computers.
"Now think about it, it was actually quite hard at that time. My parents can't come back to take care of me because my work is far from home. I go home from school every day to eat instant noodles and walk for half an hour to the Children's Palace. " In the fifth and sixth grade of primary school, young Guo Quji walked back and forth between the Children's Palace and his home for two years.
But Guo Quji didn't feel tired at that time, because he was deeply attracted by the computer. "At that time, I didn't have too ambitious goals, thinking about what I would do or make it look like in the future. It was just a simple interest," Guo Quji told reporters. 1978 The juvenile class founded by the University of Science and Technology of China opened a precedent for higher education for gifted children in China. Because there were several "prodigies" in the 1970s and 1980s, including Zhang Yaqin, now the global vice president of Microsoft, HKUST juvenile class was called "prodigy concentration camp".
It is reported that students in juvenile classes are generally younger, which has caused some psychological and life ability problems. Later, a group of students admitted to the normal college entrance examination were developed, and Guo Quji just caught up with this wave.
Accurately speaking, Guo Quji is not a "juvenile class", but a "zero class". It is reported that this is a class composed of dozens of "top" freshmen who receive intensive training together with the "juvenile class".
In fact, Guo Quji is not only a "computer prodigy", but also a "learning madman". When the reporter searched for "Guo Quji" on the Internet, he found a student named Guo Quji in Shishi Middle School. From elementary school to high school, he participated in more than 30 competitions in various disciplines and won almost every prize. It was rated as "Top Ten Future Builders of Rongcheng".
The TV station gave him an exclusive interview. When asked how to achieve such excellent results, the "award-winning professional" shared the importance of making a review plan with his partners.
Or maybe he is good at learning. This computer-obsessed teenager didn't choose computer major in college, but studied electronic engineering. In Guo Quji's view, the major of electronic engineering is more challenging. "The computer has been drilled almost." . Five years in college is not a long time for Guo Quji. During this period, I worked as a monitor for two years, a school BBS moderator for one year, and participated in various competitions, essays and speeches. In order to understand the social situation, he also tried to be a part-time promoter in his junior year.
The most wonderful story of Guo Quji University lies in more than 200 letters from studying abroad. Kai-fu Lee's "You Have the Right to Choose-The Fifth Letter to China Students" once took Guo Quji as a typical example, saying that when his "young friend Guo Quji" graduated from HKUST in 1999, he received many admission notices from top American universities, but none of them had scholarships.
In order to be accepted by university professors as research assistants and get financial aid, Guo Quji began to write letters to professors in these American universities. He wrote 200 letters a month. Although many professors were interested, they all refused because of his lack of research experience.
Guo Quji thought that this kind of "hardship" was not too unbearable for outsiders, and called it a "short process". It is reported that before graduating from college, Guo Quji has received an Offer from Huawei, and the other party can solve the Shanghai hukou for him. So going abroad is not the only thing for him, but finding a better platform.
Guo Quji, who has achieved excellent results since childhood, has the belief that "life is worse than death". In the application for going abroad, he chose the most popular major-electronic engineering instead of the unpopular majors such as mathematics and physics, which are easy to go abroad.
At that time, I worked as an intern in the laboratory of Huawei University of Science and Technology, and received Offer from famous universities such as Columbia and Stanford, but none of them provided scholarships. Until one day, he received a reply from a professor at the University of Illinois, and the professor readily agreed to fund it.
It is reported that when the professor asked for Guo Quji's materials in the department, he found that the department was preparing to send a rejection letter to Guo. Guo Quji still remembers the Offer that day.
"I found it when I checked my email in the laboratory. Americans always like to turn around when writing letters. First of all, he told me a lot about how fierce the competition is and how many applicants there are. Finally, the topic suddenly changed, saying that even so, we chose you. "
After reading this letter, Guo Quji called his parents, and then rode around the river alone. "I like to entertain myself like this.".
Guo Quji thinks that faith is very important. "If you think you can do it, you can do it." . He revealed that he later met a product manager who graduated from Tsinghua in Google and wrote thousands of letters about learning. The word "something for nothing" seems to be particularly suitable to describe the fate of China people. After more than 200 letters, Guo Quji ushered in two years of sunshine life at the University of Illinois. This also made the reporter try to listen to his desire to "study hard" outside.
Because being an assistant researcher and a professor's assistant can get subsidies, Guo Quji doesn't need to work in his spare time like many international students, which can be considered as "a better life". He brought a "Sichuan cuisine" from China to teach himself. Later, "one person can cook for ten people."
While studying for a master's degree in electronic engineering at the University of Illinois, Guo Quji studied at Microsoft Research Institute. A year later, he graduated and went to Microsoft's Seattle headquarters as a programmer.
"I have done the development of MSN, IE and Windows; In 2004, he went to China with Amazon to buy Excellence, and he was the only China person in the team; He joined Google in August 2005 and returned to China in June 5438+that year 10. " Guo Quji said that he had participated in the maintenance of Kaifu Student Network in his early days, and had also worked in the early public relations work of Google China.
Applying for an MBA from Stanford University was Li Kaifu's suggestion to Guo Quji. "Kaifu feels that I have a unique view on business and strategy. Studying for an MBA at Stanford should be a good life stage. " So Guo Quji himself felt that engineers had learned a lot after working for so many years, so it was better to challenge new fields.
From 65438 to 0995, two graduate students of Stanford University came up with a way to find information on the Internet. They decided to give up their studies and commercialize their ideas, and soon the new company went to Wall Street. This was the case when Jerry Yang and david filo founded Yahoo.
1998, two computer science students of Stanford University founded the Internet search engine Google in their dormitory. They are Google founders sergey brin and Larry Page.
"Stanford is a very open school, and the culture here is full of keywords such as innovation and adventure." After being successfully admitted to Stanford University, Guo Quji "did the same thing again" and walked by the river near the school. This time, however, the bicycle was replaced by a car.