2022-02 Farewell, Starlinke

Chinese New Year

My family spent the Chinese New Year in Quanzhou. In these days, Ping An (wellness and safety) is all I can ask for.

On the new year’s day, we lost my dad’s phone, an lucky envelope with cash inside, and the cat. All of us were worried, even flustered. In the end we found them all one by one. I guess it could count as a good sign of the year.

White, the Cat

In retrospect, White likely sneaked out of the door while my Dad went downstairs to look after his phone. We dug through every corner of the place, considered all kinds of possible situation, and hand-copied several missing cat posters. While I was about to put up the first poster inside the elevator on the first floor, I caught a glimpse of a white butt running underneath the stairs. We found the White hidden behind a few huge black trash bags. He carefully came out as Mom kept calling his name.

Quanzhou

Quanzhou is a quite interesting place. It was so beautiful to see the fireworks lighting up the historic city, yet so noisy at the same time. It kept raining during the holiday, also considering the uncertainty of Shenzhen’s new COVID cases, I stayed at home mostly. We still managed to catch the short periods between rain and visited the greenway in Taohuashan and the Luoyang Bridge.

Weekends in Guangzhou

Because of the ongoing COVID cases, we still have to spend the weekend together in Guangzhou. I just didn’t know yet that this is the last month of our long-distance between Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Shamian

Probably for the pandemic and overcast weather, there were few people on the island. We went inside the White Swan Hotel looking for bathroom, and had a look around this one of the first five-star hotels in China with forty years' history.

Luhu Lake

It’s almost summer here in the Feburary of Guangzhou. There were a lot of birds in Luhu lake. Two little cabins were built in the center of the lake for the birds to rest on. People with huge cameras along the lake kept their eyes on those birds.

Starlinke

Although my leaving has been agreed on, it still surprised me to be notified that it was my last day on the very morning. Actually it fits the company’s usual style of “just do it, leave the planning for the future”.

I’ve always been curious of how the spelling “Starlinke” comes from, because it perfectly demonstrates the characteristics of the company. Imagine a group were brainstorming on the company name in front of a white board, then someone suggested “Starlink” borrowed from Musk, which showed the high expectation to the company and the great ambition of the team. For unable to use the original word directly, let’s put an “e” to the end, reflecting the Chinese pinyin of the last syllable “ke”. I used to despise this spelling and it reminded me of the famous “shengdiyage” line of Jinkela. However, I gradually growed into the taste of it, which shows not only extremely ambitious idealism but also unstoppable earthy pragmatism. It represents the real unique culture of the company, which attracted me from the beginning to the end. But I felt that we were losing the “e” vibe little by little, and my future in the company became more and more vague to me.

In the two years with Starlinke (and the short period of starting our own business), the greatest reward is a deeper understanding of management. Thanks to the frequent personnel adjustments, I was able to experience different management styles of Huawei, ByteDance, and Alibaba one by one at the same company. As a leader and manager of the team, I also comprehended the scientific side of organizational management, witnessed the impact of management and culture on the productivity of the company, and gradually found my own style of leadership.

It’s an honor to be part of a team of positive and progressive young people. I appreciate the opportunity of training and trust provided by my bosses. I hope Starlinke can find its own way and get on track. Best wishes to all the left and staying colleagues.