Sail across the sea

Chapter 546 Not a single word was wrong
"Seventh Brother, you're not serious, are you?"

As soon as Gao Fan spoke, he felt that the words sounded familiar, as if Pan Chang had just said the same thing to him, only with a different subject.

Chen Chuanlin smiled somewhat awkwardly and said, "Whether I take it seriously or not depends on what President Gao thinks."

"Do you want to change jobs?" Pan Chang asked.

Chen Chuanlin said, “If there’s a suitable opportunity, I’ll definitely jump ship. A while ago, Lao Gao called me and asked if there were any engineers in our company who wanted to switch jobs. I guess he also gave you guys a heads-up, right? I wanted to volunteer myself, but I felt it wouldn’t be clear over the phone. So, I took advantage of a meeting in Beijing and came over. Who would have thought that Lao Gao wasn’t in Beijing a few days ago? I was worried that I had made a wasted trip.”

"Didn't you just say that you were sent because no one else wanted to come?" Gao Fan exposed.

Chen Chuanlin retorted, "It's because others didn't want to come; otherwise, how could it have been my turn?"

"Alright, you win." Gao Fan was too lazy to argue about it, and instead focused on what Chen Chuanlin had just said. "What's wrong, Seventh Brother? Are you having a bad time at work?"

"Isn't this how all state-owned enterprises are? Overstaffing, everyone eating from the same pot, and I'm even worse off with the additional charge of being jealous of talent and ability," Chen Chuanlin complained bitterly.

"What's wrong? Is someone jealous of you?" Wu Zixian asked with concern.

Of all his roommates, only he and Chen Chuanlin stayed in research institutions. In comparison, the environment at Peking University was quite good; at least there were some colleagues around who shared his research ideals.

Wu Zixian's unsuccessful career is essentially a consequence of his own actions. If he had been willing to undertake some quick and effective research projects, with his talent and hard work, publishing a dozen or so SCI papers a year would have been no problem, and becoming a professor before the age of 35 would have been a certainty.

The places Chen Chuanlin went to certainly couldn't compare to Peking University; at the very least, the people around him were of much lower quality.

Chen Chuanlin sneered, "I graduated from Peking University with a master's degree, and I already had two high-level papers during my graduate studies. Some of the older staff in the design institute haven't published papers of this caliber in decades. It's no wonder they're jealous of me."

“A mediocre person is one who doesn’t attract envy,” Gao Fan said. “However, if you can publish a few more good papers that overwhelm them, they won’t be jealous of you anymore. Jealousy is only directed at achievable goals. If the difference is too great, they can only admire you, not be jealous.”

Gao Fan's words were somewhat meant to comfort Chen Chuanlin. Human nature is diverse; some people can choose to admire and submit to colleagues who are far more capable than themselves, while others will become more jealous, without reflecting on why they are inferior in skill.

Furthermore, the workplace environment also has a significant impact. If the leader has the ability to recognize and promote capable individuals, those harboring jealousy will be unable to cause any trouble. Conversely, if the leader is only focused on maintaining a balance, then capable people will find it difficult to thrive.

Hearing Gao Fan's words, Chen Chuanlin said, "Old Gao, if our leader were like you, I wouldn't be afraid of others being jealous. The problem is, our leader is one of those people who are jealous of me. To be precise, now he's not just jealous of me, he hates me. If I don't leave, I'll be in big trouble."

Gao Fan was surprised: "Really? How did you manage to offend the boss?"

Chen Chuanlin sighed, "It's also my fault for being too inexperienced. When I first arrived at the design institute, the leaders said that I was a top student from Peking University with solid skills and a broad vision, and asked me to give more opinions when the project review meeting was held."

"So you brought it up?" Pan Chang asked with a smile.

Chen Chuanlin said, "The leader told me to bring it up, so of course I have to. Some of the designs done by the engineers in the design institute do have a lot of flaws. How could I not speak up when I saw them?" "The leader is just using you as a pawn," Pan Chang sighed.

"What's the use of telling me now!" Chen Chuanlin snapped irritably.

He only realized this after suffering a loss. In fact, the engineers in the design institute are not so bad. Even if their academic qualifications are not as outstanding as Chen Chuanlin's, they have been immersed in the industry for many years and have enough experience.

Some flawed designs are obvious to everyone. Especially the leaders of design institutes; they don't get to that position without considerable expertise. How could they not know about the problems in their subordinates' designs?
Knowing is one thing, but saying it out loud would offend people. If there are design flaws, they'll naturally surface during application, and then everyone can fix them. At worst, the country loses some money; what does it have to do with individuals?

If you criticize your colleague's design before the problem is exposed, how can they not resent you?
You also have design work to do. Can you guarantee that there won't be a single mistake? If you point out someone else's mistake this time, they'll point out your mistake next time. Wouldn't you be embarrassed then too?
As you can see in various project review meetings, experts give nine parts praise and one part criticism, and when they criticize, they only target trivial issues. No one dares to directly say that the design is garbage, and that's why.

The phrase "blending in with the world" is used in this way.

Chen Chuanlin had no experience within the system. When his superiors asked him to find fault, he meticulously did so, which resulted in offending everyone.

"You mean you offended someone, and your boss isn't helping you?" Wu Zixian asked.

Chen Chuanlin said, "Later, the leaders stopped asking me to participate in the review."

"Isn't this great?" Pan Chang said. "Your leader is quite humane."

Unexpectedly, Chen Chuanlin's next sentence was:
"Because during the review process, I rejected a project led by our leader, and there was absolutely no room for negotiation."

"Oh my god..."

Pan Chang rubbed his forehead, not knowing how to even begin to complain.

Chen Chuanlin said, "Our dean and vice dean have always had conflicts. Once, when a project that our vice dean was in charge of needed to be reviewed, the dean asked me to go and talk to him. As a result, I found a lot of problems in the project, which made the vice dean lose face."

"But afterwards, the vice president not only did not blame me, but also called me over and praised me highly, saying that I was very serious about my work and dedicated to my job, and that our institute lacked comrades with such a sense of responsibility as me."

Pan Chang sensed something amiss and added on his behalf:
"Then after a while, your dean's project needed to be reviewed, and the vice dean asked you to review it. You then completely rejected the dean's project."

Chen Chuanlin gave a wry smile: "Old Pan, you're just like you were there, you didn't say a single wrong word."

Pan Chang turned to Gao Fan and said, "Sixth Brother, why don't you take Seventh Brother in before his boss kills him?"

(End of this chapter)