Chapter 220: Trend of Entrepreneurship

Those who were attentive would realize that there seemed to be some elements of a deliberate nature that had led to the series of layoffs. A deliberate provocation of the IT companies’ bosses to the point that they had decided to fire their staff.

Xing Hai Technologies!

If not for the company’s Work Assistant and the free increase of 100% for every package of computing speed, there would not be so many programmers who had lost their jobs. This was all the fault of Xing Hai Technologies! Many programmers who had fallen on hard times were burning with rage and blamed Xing Hai Technologies. They had completely forgotten that they were praising the company for being reasonable and ethical just a few days ago.

But many more quickly accepted their reality and started looking for new opportunities. Liu Xiaoping had no strong feelings regarding his unemployed status. On the contrary, he felt more relaxed, as if he had been freed from his binds. His mood was light and happy. His current vision even seemed to have expanded. Although, it might be very difficult to find a job. There were virtually no IT companies that faced a shortage of programmers. In fact, companies had a surplus of them.

However, Liu Xiaoping and other programmers in his situation had three options that they could choose from, all with good prospects. The first option was to change his career path and go into Star Cloud App development. Xing Hai Technologies announced that they would hire 10,000 outstanding programmers and provide a generous salary for them. They would help to perfect the Star Cloud System, and expand and increase its functions. In addition, the company would allocate another 10 billion and set up 200,000 motivational awards. If one could produce a complete Star Cloud app with satisfactory functions, he would be awarded $50,000. There were 200,000 places allocated. This meant that if one put in some effort and produce a passable Star Cloud app, he could easily be awarded $50,000. If he put in even more effort, he would be able to get the grand prize of 1 million.

Moreover, the development software, “Star Cloud Studio,” was equipped with the lite version of the Work Assistant. It supported the development of Star Cloud apps and did not slow down the speed of the software at all. Programmers who worked fast could even create a Star Cloud app within a day. The key was that the Work Assistant equipped in the “Star Cloud Studio” was free! There was no need to pay thousands or even hundreds of thousands to use the program. Most of the unemployed programmers would not continue to pay the monthly fees anyway. Instead, they specialized in Star Cloud app development. In short, as long as the 20 billion set aside by Xing Hai Technologies had not been spent, it was a good choice to switch to Star Cloud app development.

The second option was to change careers entirely by doing game development. They could fork out some money to start a new business and establish a studio. After which, they could apply for free usage of Xing Hai Technologies’”Starry Sky Game Development Engine” and create games using that technology. Liu Xiaoping had received an invitation from many good friends to develop games together. However, Liu Xiaoping shook his head. “I know nothing about games, count me out.”

“It’s okay, you can slowly pick up the skills. I’ve never done any games too. But, the most powerful thing about the Starry Sky Game Development Engine is that you can create a game even if you know next to nothing about game coding. Most of the codes are automatically generated. You can query the Work Assistant if there’s anything unfamiliar. You almost don’t even have to write a single line of code. I’m now a game developer.”

“Xiaoping, come and join us. We currently have the greatest shortage of artists. We need someone to create huge quantities of design source materials. I remember that you have decent photoshop skills. If you don’t think that game development is not right for you now, can you help to do some source materials for us?”

“Forget it, I’m a program developer, not an artist. I’m not doing this.” Liu Xiaoping was somewhat swayed by the persuasions of his friends, but upon hearing that it was for an art and design project, he rejected them immediately. As it was a joint partnership as founding members, not only would he have to work for free if he joined the game development studio by his friend, he might even have to pour money into the business. This was the primary reason behind his rejection.

The third option was to join Xing Hai Technologies’ plan of “Million Entrepreneurships.” Xing Hai Technologies had announced hundreds of specialized software categories, including video editing and production, music editing, special effects production (more towards fantasy movies), office software, databases, medical software, industrial software, etc. In order to attract the vast number of aspirants to join, the company forked out 10 billion to build more than 20 software incubators across the country in their preparations to support thousands of small and medium software enterprises. The subsidies given ranged from 500,000 to 100 million.

In addition, the government would also provide discounts in terms of rent, taxes, etc. to support these small and medium software enterprises. The government also planned to invest huge sums of money into some major projects, such as those of the industrial software, in order to support enterprises with good potential.

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So, how could one get the subsidy support from Xing Hai Technologies? Firstly, there must be a minimum number of people. A project had to consist of 20 people or more to qualify for the first tranche of funds by Xing Hai Technologies. After which, it would depend on the progression and results of the project. Xing Hai Technologies would follow the situation closely and invest based on the observations. Alternatively, they would provide the necessary technical assistance. Lastly, was the post-development phase. If the app was useful, Xing Hai Technologies would help to distribute it. The company would take a cut of the profits gained from the app.

The best thing about this model was that Xing Hai Technologies did not have to do a single thing. The company did not have to personally attend to any shortcomings of the project and become too over-sized. However, the effects of this model were not necessarily better than the effects of the startups that struggled independently. For most entrepreneurs, starting a business was a battle of life and death! Although Xing Hai Technologies would provide financial and technical support, entrepreneurs must rely primarily on themselves. If they failed, they would become bankrupt just the same!

If one had the attitude of win all or lose all, one might actually achieve success in the end. And Xing Hai Technologies was willing to fully support these hard-working entrepreneurs who were ready to give their all.

In short, they had three excellent options. Each option could attract hundreds of thousands of programmers to seek success for themselves in their respective possibilities. Millions of unemployed programmers could find career paths that would be the most suitable for them.

Then, which option should Liu Xiaoping choose? He repeatedly pondered the options for some time. However, after he had received this particular invitation, he firmly stopped considering his options and agreed to join the team.

“Liu Xiaoping, I heard that you have decent photoshop skills and you also know how to develop Star Cloud apps. Come and join us. We’re still short of one person in my company.” His colleague, a female programmer who was a minority in the male-dominated occupation, Xu Ningshuang, extended an invitation to him. She was also an Android app developer with two years of experience in app development. She was single with average looks. As the two were frequent work partners, they had a friendly relationship.

Liu Xiaoping was astonished. “I thought that you were excluded from drawing lots because the boss wanted you to stay? Why did you quit too?”

“I’m not happy with the boss and I want to work for myself. I’ve even persuaded Song Xiaoling to quit and become my business partner. Also….” Xu Ningshuang snickered and said, “You know our company’s art designer, Ren Jiaojiao? The girl that you’ve chased for so long to no avail? I’ve persuaded her to come with me. Now, my boss really hates me. If you join my team, you might really have a chance to win her over by simple proximity. Do you want this chance?”

What?

A tremor went through his body. He was almost crying. He had pursued Ren Jiaojiao for more than a year. In order to get closer to her, he had tried his best to teach himself Photoshop and other art and design skills. He would get her to mentor him whenever he had a chance. In the beginning, she was quite agreeable about it and was willing to give him some attention. However, his Photoshop skills surpassed hers with time and he became the one to guide her. Then, she had stopped paying any attention to him. This had become a running joke in the company. He never imagined that he would get any chance to see her again and work together with her.

“Yes, yes, yes! Xu Ningshuang, I’ll join you!” Without even taking the time to think things through, Liu Xiaoping agreed to join the Star Cloud app development team set up by Xu Ningshuang. Together with the three women, including the one that he wanted to pursue, they would work happily.

…

Under this turbulent and fiery atmosphere, the programmers were caught up in a wave of entrepreneurship that swept across Z country.