Let’s learn more of him through today’s talk show. As a senior software engineer and department leader working at Shinetech Qinghuangdao Branch, Tiandong Song is well known as a responsible and reliable man. Though he has multiple identities, he arranges both his work and life in good order easily. From him, we see a man that pursues technology with an earnest heart, a model that takes high efficient use of time and an example that loves sports and life.
Tiandong Song
Rejoined Shinetech in 2013, with 13 years’ experience in software development, Tiandong Song has rich experience in software architecture and project management. He has a deep understanding of .NET framework and is good at Web and Windows development, as well as veteran experience in Database and Report development.
Q: Can you talk about your skilled technologies and familiar field?
A: I have been engaged in software development for many years and have been exposed to a wide variety of technologies. Generally speaking, I mainly focus on .net technology. The industries involved are also diverse, I’m familiar with production execution, e-commerce, warehousing and logistics, smart property and so on. At work, besides coding, I’m also a department leader and doing project management. Every day’s work is fulfilling and full of surprises, such as winning a new contract, getting familiar with a new customer, team members blazed a new technical area, a man loves software industry joined our team, etc.
Q: Would you like to brief your team to us?
A: It’s my pleasure to introduce my team here. So far we have 20 team members, consisting of experts in .NET, Java, mobile development and frontend development. In the near future, we plan to explore more in IoT and Big Data.
Q: Can you share with us your most impressive project or story with your client? What have you learnt from that project or client?
A：My most impressive project named Symposium Bookstore, the first project I did when I joined Shinetech in 2006. That was not a big project, but doing that project was a brand new experience for me and changed my way of work.
Firstly it was a brand new way to work with people—-the client is from the United States, far away on the other side of the globe, we communicated requirements via IM tools and email, and managed the development process via PM tools. A long-term relationship could start with a one-week free trial, I can’t stop thinking that only a company that with good faith and the programmer that with strong skills and self-manage ability can win client in this way.
Secondly it was a brand new development model for me—before I came to Shinetech, our development model was the traditional waterfall method: there’s a lot of meetings and various kinds of documents in the early stage of the project; enclosed development during implementation; a lot of overtime work; kinds of shifting responsibilities; project ended with lots of complaints from end users and endless bug fixing, however, we still held a lot of celebrations because the project finally delivered. At Shinetech, the process is totally different: quickly respond, rapid feedback, embrace changes, most important is accurately delivery. I have to say this is the model that tailored to a man who aims to do things right. There is no waste of time and no apathetic behaviors during the development.
What’s more, when I got to know Agile philosophy, I not only used it at work but also used it in my life. For example, I help my child do a homework list and priority the “tasks”, we used to write it down on papers, but now my child can do it alone without writing it down, just became a behavioral habit.
Q: How do you improve your ability during work and in life?
A: I think it’s very important to have an Agile mind and use it during actual learning. No matter at work or for self-learning, planning is important, but we should not spend too much time doing the plan. When a plan is made, it should be specific and carried out strictly. Of course, the motivation is most important, such as making more money.
Q: Is there any conflict between your work and life? If so, how do you solve the conflict?
A: So far I don’t meet any conflicts between my work and life. Here is my daily routine: get up at 5:30 am–play basketball between 6:00 am and 7:30 –take my child to the school–go to work. I always take full use of 8 hours’ working time, only efficient work can ensure you relax after work, that’s it.
Q: Usually people are still asleep at 6:00 am and 7:00 am in the morning, why do you have the willpower to get up so early and play basketball every day? Besides basketball, do you have any other hobbies?
A: You must have a healthy body if you want to do a good job. Because of programmers’ job nature, most of us are in the sub-health state. It may be not that obvious when you’re young, however, many diseases come along with age growth, such as scapulohumeral periarthritis, cervical spondylosis, three highs, which will affect our lives and work seriously.
As for myself, I was overweight for a long time and got three highs and serious fatty liver when I was young, I didn’t care about it until it actually affected my life. Then I realized I must take care of my body. Fortunately, it’s not too late, after a few years’ continuous exercising, all the diseases disappeared. Most of my hobbies are related to sports, such as go hiking, riding. I can stick to playing basketball every day because I have formed a “six o ‘clock basketball club” with a group of people of the same age. I wish all our colleagues have good health and live a happy life.
Q: I know that you joined Shinetech in 2006 and left one year later, and you came back again in 2013, can you share the story of your leave and return? What’s the specialty of Shinetech that attractive to you?
A: The first time I joined Shinetech, I was working at the headquarter in Beijing. However, my family is in Qinghuangdao. In August 2007, my first child was born and I need to go back to take care of my family, that’s the reason I resigned from Shinetech. I remembered clearly that the day before I left office, our CEO Jerry had a long talk with me, saying that I could come back at any time if the family was stable, not busy, or the child gets older, I was really touched. Over those years, Shinetech has been the most influential company to me, it’s a company where people are earnest, no waste of time, no pretentious. So I came back in 2013 when I got a call from Alan, the branch manager of Qinghuangdao Branch.
Q: You have changed a lot during these years compared to the very beginning you came to Shinetech. Now you are a father, an "old" programmer, a department leader. How do you feel most about these changes? What expectations do you have for your future work and life?
A: Along with my age growth, I’m getting in touch with more clients and more technologies, and I more feel that I’m just a junior student in IT industry, there’re too many things to learn.
As a department leader, I think more every day: how to ensure clients’ satisfaction to our work, how to provide workmates a happy work environment, how to make the company become better and better. Because only the company becomes better and stronger, its staff can get a better work and a better life.