Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

More than a month later, at a factory in Beijing.

Zhuang Zhongchen and his group climbed onto a crane and began conducting safety checks. Only after all the checks were completed did they return to the ground…

The recent torrential rains caused disasters that kept the General Affairs Department extremely busy. On the one hand, there were numerous collapses and electrocution accidents; on the other hand, they expedited the establishment of safety officer training courses.

As a result, the two engineers were already extremely busy and overwhelmed. In the end, they had no choice but to let Zhuang Zhongchen step in.

According to national regulations, many safety testing projects require the signature and approval of an engineer; other people are simply not qualified.

Therefore, Zhuang Zhongchen needs to stand out here. Regardless of whether he's a fake or not, that signature is at least very important.

Of course, Zhuang Zhongchen is completely different now. Even if he's never eaten pork, he's certainly seen pigs run, right? This kind of simple test is nothing new to him.

Under the anxious gaze of the factory leaders, Zhuang Zhongchen said, "I've discovered the following issues, Xiao Wang, please make a note of them."

A young man in his early twenties nearby quickly pulled out a pen and paper. This was Xiao Wang, one of the three vocational school graduates assigned to the General Affairs Department this year. Actually, he was older than Zhuang Zhongchen.

Just seven or eight years ago, someone with only a primary school education was considered an intellectual? Five years ago, someone with only a junior high school education was considered very cultured.

For example, Gu Qiming, a junior high school graduate, was also promoted to deputy section chief. This included many other units as well. Junior high school graduates of that generation generally received significant promotions and later held important positions such as police station chiefs.

However, nowadays, junior high school students are not so rare, and vocational school students have become precious (at this time, the treatment of high school students and vocational school students is about the same).

As for college students? We won't discuss that here. They're always precious!

Of the new employees in this batch of the Labor Bureau, there was only one college graduate and three vocational school graduates. The college graduate was directly assigned to the Bureau Office, while the three vocational school graduates were all given to the General Affairs Department.

Take the field of safety supervision, for example. Later on, it was all engineers, right? Without education, it was impossible to carry out the work.

Speaking of which, have you noticed? In less than ten years, the value of domestic academic qualifications has rapidly depreciated. This demonstrates the frenzied investment that governments at all levels have made in education!

"Areas requiring rectification: lighting does not meet requirements, many lights are missing in the workshop; several windows are broken..."

However, at that moment, someone nearby hurriedly defended themselves, saying, "Engineer Zhuang, the light tubes and glass must be purchased according to the plan; the factory simply can't buy them!"

To be fair, this is indeed the objective situation. In those days, there was too much regulation; everything had to be planned and scheduled. Therefore, purchasing agents had relatively more power, and they could procure some unplanned supplies.

Zhuang Zhongchen nodded: "How to overcome these difficulties is something your factory needs to figure out itself. Our labor bureau is responsible for inspections. But insufficient lighting leads to poor visibility, which can easily cause workplace accidents. What if the windows are broken? What will happen in wind and rain? What will happen in winter? You should at least find a way to fix them, right?"

After a few seconds of pause, Zhuang Zhongchen continued, "A safety lane needs to be marked under the vehicle, and clear anti-slip paint needs to be applied. Also, why don't you have a logbook? How do you usually check and maintain your equipment?"

"Don't worry about that. We're all maintained by experienced masters. But most of them are illiterate; how are they supposed to keep the accounts?"

"If you can't read, drawing circles is fine too. But you must have the original records of daily, weekly, and monthly inspections. Otherwise, how can we conduct spot checks? How can we prove that you've performed the inspections and maintenance?"

Seeing the factory workers exchanging bewildered glances, Zhuang Zhongchen softened his tone: "Factory Director Zhang, there aren't any major problems. I can sign off on this one. Actually, our Labor Bureau doesn't want to make things difficult for you, nor do we want to disrupt your factory's normal production. But safe production is also very important. How about this? We'll issue you a rectification order, and we'll send someone to follow up in two weeks."

"Oh, welcome, leaders from higher up, to guide our work." The factory workers were overjoyed. As long as normal production could be guaranteed, everything was negotiable. "Engineer Zhuang, and all you leaders, please forgive our poor hospitality, how about we have a simple meal together?"

"Hehe, then I won't be polite."

"..."

After finishing their "simple meal," Zhuang Zhongchen and his group left the factory. Zhuang Zhongchen then instructed a middle-aged man who was not yet forty years old beside him: "Old Hu, the follow-up visit after the rectification in half a month is entrusted to you."

Old Hu nodded happily: "Okay!"

Inspections like these are almost always lucrative jobs. A meal and drinks at the factory, plus some cigarettes as gifts—that's the standard procedure.

Old Hu is one of the technicians in the General Affairs Department. Currently, the technical ranks include Trainee Technician, Technician, Senior Technician, Assistant Engineer, and so on. Below Engineer, there are also many ranks. However, none of these ranks have signing authority.

"Zhuang, I heard you received a commendation at the awards ceremony a few days ago?"

"It's just that a child was caught in a fishing net. Don't you all know that?"

"That's still an act of bravery. So, your promotion to section chief should be secure, right?"

"I don't know. I'll follow the instructions of my superiors."

"How else can we arrange things? Only you have the right to do so, right? Take your work these past few days, for example; it's nothing like what people are saying outside."

"Hehe. My theoretical knowledge is passable. But when it comes to practical application, I definitely need to learn a lot from Engineer Cheng and Engineer Cui."

"That's true, they're all veteran engineers. You've been learning since you were in the womb, so your learning speed would never be that fast. But being able to talk about it theoretically is already quite good."

"..."

After more than a month, Zhuang Zhongchen has made quite a few gains.

Firstly, in terms of translated academic papers, Zhuang Zhongchen published two more.

一篇就是标準电路板的论文。这篇有6000多字，但只拿到千字8元的稿费，差不多就是50元出头。可是系统却给了5技能点；另一篇有8000多字，拿到了千字10元的顶格稿费。但系统却只给了2技能点？

Of course, success wasn't guaranteed every time; another paper was rejected. So Zhuang Zhongchen revised it and submitted it to another journal. He also re-translated one paper and submitted it there as well…

In any case, Zhuang Zhongchen suddenly became much wealthier. He simply upgraded all his life skills to level 1, leaving him with 4 skill points. He didn't rush to pay off his debts with the royalties, saving 100 yuan as a reserve.

The shopping coupons are still only 2. Why haven't the coupons for the old lady and the naughty child been refreshed?