on the last day of 2024
8 min read
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tl;dr:a look back at 2024.
Today is December 31, 2024. As usual, I want to write something to sum up the year. My first year of work after graduation was about running, parting, and change.
A brief career in algorithm development
At 11 p.m. on Christmas Day 2023, I had just left the factory for an on-site project. Suzhou was cold in December, but I did not feel it. I had only recently passed probation at my first post-graduation company and carried the title of algorithm developer. I often worked with engineering code and learned many coding conventions. The salary was not high, but I was highly motivated.
I was working on several projects at once: deploying a visual-inspection system in a factory and deeply integrating a language model into software. Working with two major deep-learning areas at once was exciting. After work, I could spend three or four hours watching videos and reproducing code.
The sudden wave of layoffs
At the start of 2024, we delivered two projects in succession. One received a project bonus, but the other—into which much hope and resources had been poured—was not accepted by the client. The chain reaction came quickly: pay cuts first, then layoffs.
Some colleagues who saw it coming resigned quickly; more were unexpectedly let go. Desks and chairs were soon cleared, and the already small company became cold and empty.
It was the first time I felt the cruelty of layoffs. A colleague I had eaten with one day might be arguing loudly with HR in the office the next. Sensing the future was not promising, I began sending out résumés in April and soon found my next role. In June, I said goodbye to colleagues I had known only briefly and moved into the next stage.
A short reunion
In February, Fangfang returned to China and I visited her family in Fujian. We later returned to Suzhou together, hoping to find her a job she liked in China. We rented an apartment in the Industrial Park and spent a long time making it as warm and comfortable as possible.
It was the easiest and happiest stretch of 2024. After work, we cooked at home, then walked through a nearby night market. On weekends, we bought candied hawthorn and strolled through gardens, occasionally cycling around Jinji Lake. We also went to Hangzhou to see mutual friends and attended concerts and music festivals.
Those happy days did not last long. I had heard that China’s architecture industry was in a slump, but only experienced its decline when looking for jobs. Even a master’s graduate with a registered architect qualification could earn only an 8,000-yuan starting salary. It became a divide between China and overseas. During this period I became increasingly determined to earn more, which was also an important reason for leaving my previous company.
In July, Fangfang left Suzhou and returned to Madrid. I moved out of the home we had arranged together and returned to a long-distance relationship with a seven-hour time difference.
A new beginning and pressure
After countless interviews, I narrowed the choice to Alibaba Cloud and iFlytek. I had even completed Alibaba’s medical check, but hesitated when filling out the employee directory. After careful thought, I chose iFlytek: it was closer to home, and I still wanted to work nearer to technology.
I have mentioned my work at iFlytek before. For a long period, the product’s performance was disappointing, which brought considerable pressure. My technical blog largely stopped; more time went into business analysis and reports.
After a bumpy six months, I passed probation successfully.
A trip to Yunnan
In October, the company team-building trip took us to Yunnan—my first visit. The scenery and food suited me perfectly, especially mushroom hotpot. In a few days we visited Dali Ancient Town, Lijiang, Erhai Lake, and climbed Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. I do not normally enjoy traveling, but this trip loosened my long-tense nerves a little.
Technology
I wrote 66 technical posts this year. In the first half, topics ranged from Python development to language models and YOLO, then Docker, distributed training, and search systems. After joining iFlytek in the second half, I turned to PySpark, machine learning, and recommendation systems.
Recommendation systems are not strongly tied to my work, but they contain useful ideas. For example, item-level features can be incorporated into a model.
Next year’s work will probably focus on risk-control algorithms, PySpark, and statistical machine learning, with occasional new topics. I have recently wanted to study ModernBERT.
Playing basketball again
Before returning, I had not touched basketball for a long time. After moving, there was a court downstairs, so I quickly resumed the habit. The start of rehabilitation was miserable: after being inactive for so long, my vision went dark after just a few steps. Fortunately I soon got to know the other players in the neighborhood. After adjusting, I gradually returned to playing for an hour after work every day—one of this year’s important gains.
Games and films
This year I finished two major games: the remasters of The Last of Us Part I and Part II. Both far surpassed many major releases this year in gameplay and narrative depth. As stories, both deserve to be called the best-written games of the year.
Ellie and Joel’s earlier story did not move me as much in the first game. Instead, several scattered scenes involving Joel in the second game affected me more deeply. I only sampled other games, such as Dead Space and God of War, and lacked the motivation to continue. During the National Day holiday, I also finished the Chinese RPG The Legend of Heroes: Path of Wuxia. Despite its plain pixel-art style, its systems, main story, side quests, and gameplay were thoroughly engrossing.
Nearsightedness and laser surgery
This year I had femtosecond laser surgery, probably my biggest procedure in a decade. It let me take off glasses I had worn since primary school. The decision was less complicated than expected: one Sunday afternoon I suddenly thought of laser vision correction, booked an examination, and had surgery two weeks later. My corneas were too thin for a full femtosecond procedure, so I could only have the less-invasive version. The operation itself is mature; lying in the machine, I could smell the faint burnt scent as the laser reshaped my cornea. My eyes hurt badly that afternoon, and the discomfort eased only after two days.
Hardware updates
My major upgrades this year were a 4K HDR monitor, Harman Kardon speakers, and a MacBook Pro. I had wanted the first two for a long time; the MacBook was an impulse after the M4 release. Adapting to macOS was easier than I expected. Aside from keyboard shortcuts and scrolling, its interaction patterns were almost identical to the iPad and iPhone, so I entered the Apple ecosystem quickly.
It took about five years to move from Samsung plus Windows to an all-Apple setup. Apple’s ability to train users is formidable.
Looking ahead
As I said earlier, 2024 was a year of running, parting, and change. I have no particularly detailed wishes for 2025; I only hope everything goes smoothly, both work and life.
December 31, 2024, Suzhou