This early reviving spring saw the annual Career Exploration activity for SHBS students. Due to the recent surge of Covid-19 cases in Shanghai, this year’s activity had to be online. The Career Exploration activity, which is an advising and tutorial program independently developed and designed by SHBS, aims to help students better explore themselves, know about their own interests and hobbies, personality traits, and strengths, enlighten them about how to make good choices of their future majors and career paths, and help them raise their awareness of career development so that they can get well motivated and make proper plans for their high school years.

Led by the college advising department, students embarked on a month-long career exploration and planning journey. It included three phases: self-exploration, career exploration, and career follow-up.

During Career Exploration, based on students' interests and the trends of social development, this year the college advising department invited 16 elites from different industries at home and abroad to share with SHBS students. Each student could talk to guest speakers from the three industries he was most interested in. Guest speakers shared their education experience and career stories, as well as the current status, prospects of the jobs they were engaged in and the qualifications required. With their wisdom on life and career development, they inspired SHBS students to better plan for the future.

Let’s have a look at the briefings brought by student editors about this CAS session on March 21st. 

Software Engineering

Eric Wang & Alice Wei  

With a bachelor's degree from University of Science and Technology of China and a master's degree from University of California, Los Angeles, Mr. Zhang Hong once worked in a first-class Internet company in the United States for five years and, domestically, worked as the CTO of a telecom company and the general manager of a big data company, and a partner of a business incubator. In this sharing, Mr. Zhang, starting from the meaning of software engineering itself, introduced the characteristics, requirements, and application range of skills of software engineering personnel. He not only introduced the “boring” characteristic of technical work, but also put forward his opinions on the necessary skills of logic, co-planning, and teamwork. Software engineer is a technical profession, with problem solving and teamwork skills as the hard core and team management and project development coordination skills as necessary supplemental skills. Secondly, software engineering is involved in almost all fields, such as aviation, banking, government, etc.

Then, since software engineering is essentially information processing, he speculated on the prospects of quantum computing; photonic computing; miniaturization, marginalization, automation, and intelligence of devices in the future, and looked into the future of software engineering profession. In the Q&A session, Mr. Zhang recommended that students who want to be engaged in software engineering should study computer science in college to lay a solid foundation. At the same time, he also mentioned the facts that currently the United States has the strongest research and development ability, and India has the strongest practice skills in the world.

Mr. Zhang’s sharing fully reflected the strong logic of a software engineer. He not only introduced the necessary professional skills of software engineers, but also pictured the trends of this field, refreshing us with many novel concepts such as silicon-based life. Talents are the engine for a country to become prosperous. Whether it is in the software engineering industry or other industries in China, the implementation of the talent development strategy is necessary, to seize the opportunity of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform. As the young generation in this new era, we have the obligation to continue to work hard and contribute to the rejuvenation of our motherland.

Art

Crytal Liu

Ms. Liu Yi is a young artist who received her bachelor's degree from the School of Transmedia Art of China Academy of Art in 2012 and her master's degree from the same academy in 2016. Her masterpieces include A Crow Crows all Day, Chaos, and Into the Void.

Ms. Liu presented some video clips to introduce her process of making bamboo needle ink animation: drawing many manuscripts, and finally connecting them together to make the animation. It was rich in details and very smooth, embodying the charm of the combination of Chinese ink art and animation. Ms. Liu also introduced many of her works and exhibitions to us, most of which are creative creations based on life and imagination, so that we could feel the charm and fun of artistic creation.

Previously, I thought arts belonged to artists and a small group of people who enjoyed arts, far away from us commoners. However, I learned from Ms. Liu that if we carefully observe and feel life, arts are everywhere. The most important thing in arts doesn’t lie in the techniques, but the way we see the world and the emotions and ideas we want to express. From Ms. Liu, I also felt the happiness of finding what one loves and carrying on with it, which inspired me to think and explore my love and passion.

Law

Jessie Wang

Ms. Dong Tieying received her LLB and LLM degrees from Peking University Law School and her LLM degree from the University of Nottingham. During her nearly 35-year career, she has worked on numerous large sino-related cross-border deals and provided legal counselling for several Chinese state-owned and private enterprises. Ms. Dong has 26 years of experience of legal practice in both companies and academic fields. She has worked in different well-known law firms and has been recognized as a leader in the energy industry for years.

Ms. Dong also introduced the professional services provided by lawyers in various fields and the operation of law firms. In accordance with her own experience as an international lawyer, Ms. Dong also introduced the professional qualities required, including the ability to understand and analyze affairs, to design feasible solutions for clients, and to reasonably define one’s roles in multinational projects; work ethics, psychological qualities, language and cross-cultural communication skills, etc.

Ms. Dong believes that, as a qualified international lawyer, one should constantly examine his development direction and business model. In addition, laws are constantly updated. With the development of the times, laws will be endowed with new connotations and missions. Thus, we must understand the importance of continuous learning. Thanks to Ms. Dong’s sharing, I have learned more about the legal industry, and also know how to plan my university study and practice if I want to develop in this direction.

Game Operation And Design

James Bai

Ms. Shaogan Suli is a game operation designer. She made up her mind to quit her financial job in a state-owned enterprise years ago and went to New Zealand to pick grapes and kiwifruit for one year. It was during this year that she re-examined herself,  especially on lifelong goals. After that, she returned to China, dedicating herself to the game industry. She used to work in XD.com, Youzu.com, and Momo Technology. She has in-depth insights and long-term practice in game development, operation, marketing, and other fields. Now she is the brand director of Boke City.

Ms. Xiao introduced the future trends and potentials of the game industry and listed pros and cons of the old big game factories and the emerging game companies. She also shared a lot of experience in game publicity, exemplifying several successful related cases, such as joint promotion with offline physical stores, integration of Chinese traditional culture, etc. The controversy over games has never stopped over the past years. Some media outlets even commented that video games are like “spiritual opiates". However, she mentioned that an educational game called I Am an Astronaut, where players can learn about aerospace through playing. It also made me realize that games are more of a medium, and if they can be combined with education, our learning will be more productive and interesting. 

Through Ms. Xiao’s sharing, I also learned that for the purpose of attracting players, game manufacturers endeavor to adopt various marketing methods to seek players' attention, which also reminds me of the importance of self-discipline. Meanwhile, I also see great potential in the combination of games and education. However, what touched me the most was her personal experience of study and career development, from initial frustration and confusion to re-examining herself and finding her own strength and passion. I also need to grasp this opportunity to reckon on myself and find out my strengths and interests so that I can plan my life ahead. 

Many thanks to all the guest speakers for their generous sharing sessions, which have helped students broaden their horizon with their wisdom on life. They also encouraged students to keep exploring. We will keep helping students better plan for their future. Besides, thanks also go to the members of SHBS Parents & School association for their support and the valuable resources they helped find for the development of kids!

【From：Shanghai Hongrun Boyuan School】