Starting from the internship, this is the 4th year for Lily Xu as an IT developer in TSC Nanjing Delivery Hub. According to her supervisor and her colleagues, Lily is a young warm-hearted lady full of energy. She has not only made great progress in developing IT knowledge and skills but also has been active in CSR. Her great personality and engagement let her become one of the 2020 Global Value Ambassador Nominees from TSC Nanjing.
- Lily, you majored in Computer Science. Why did you choose it and what aspects of IT interests you the most?
The decision on CS as my major discipline was a suggestion from my brother when I was applying for university. I found it a little bit challenging at first, but I’ve decided to take it as an opportunity for self-development. After 4 years of college study and continuous endeavor, I was lucky to be recommended for admission as a master student in CS.
During all these years spent on studying and doing research in technology, I found that the most amazing part of coding is that these simple lines of code can create a different world, providing more friendly services for others or connecting people.
- How is your daily work as an IT developer?
I am a developer in MDM (Master Data Management) project, so my main job responsibility is to develop and realize software functions based on business partners’ needs. We have daily meetings to discuss new Change Request (CR), align targets or review progress, which could keep everyone updated about what we are doing now.
Besides, I initiated and am still working on a tentative project with other colleagues in TSC Nanjing. It is an office supply management system facilitating TSC Nanjing Administration Department to do office operation much easier. I spend some extra time in developing this system with the latest technology skills, such as PostgresSQL and Angular 9. It is also a great opportunity to keep improving my professional skills and knowledge.
- You’ve joined TSC Nanjing 4 years ago. What are the areas you have made great progress at since then?
Of course, it’s the technology skills and problem-solving ability. There was a gap for me between university and workplace at the very beginning as an intern. I was not familiar with our product and service and need to implement changes under the guide of others. However, I could take the responsibility for a whole Change Request instead of part of it and I am more confident in expressing my ideas and putting some of them in application development now.
- What is your recipe for development?
I think there are three important things.
First, don’t set limitation for yourself. When I was a fresh undergraduate in CS, it appeared that boys in our class could learn much faster than me. However, I didn’t believe (and still don’t believe now) there would be any difference between genders in IT field and finally I made it with great scores and performance in our discipline.
Second, spend time on improving your communication skills. Even though most of my job is to deal with technical problems in front of a computer, communication with my team members is also of great significance for better teamwork.
Last but not least, keep sharpening your IT skills. Technology is changing so fast that we could fall behind very soon if just focus on what we have now. Learning some new skills could be tough at first but stepping out of the comfort zone will bring me a great sense of achievement.
- Lily, it seems that you are pro-actively participating in CSR activities. Could you please share some special memories with us?
I am one of the members in TSC Nanjing CSR committee. Our committee has 4 main topics and I am responsible for one of them - Children Care. The one activity that impressed me most was visiting the school for children of migrant workers. I took the charge of planning and connecting with school, and I also delivered an English class for children. All the children were very lovely, and their big smile encouraged me to try my best even what I can do for them may be very small.
- You have been nominated as one of the 2020 Global Value Ambassador nominees from TSC Nanjing. Regarding our 6 values, which one or two you love the most and why?
It was beyond my expectation that I was noticed to be elected as the Value Ambassador Nominee from TSC Nanjing, because in my perception what I did in the past is what I should have done or what I loved to do instead of achieving a certain purpose. However, it is a nice surprise that it was perceived special to others. From the list of Schenker values, I love “Push limits” the most. I think it is an attitude toward both life and work, which will guide you towards places full of great surprises - never tag yourselves with any labels!
- What’s your career plan in IT field? What kind of person that you would like to be in the future?
I would like to enhance my technology skills and hope to lead a team together to create more useful applications for business development. I feel lucky that I have many good professional models around me. Some of them could be skilled at IT development and willing to share their experience, while others could show me a good example of how to motivate and cooperate with others. All these abilities and characteristics are what I want to have in the future.
Thank you for sharing your story and inspiring others, Lily!