Personal Statement

Applied Program: Computer Science

It was perhaps that decision-making process of mine, in which I concluded that computer science was to be my lifelong pursuit, that has made all the difference to me. Ten years ago, when the development of the Internet in China was merely in its fledgling stage, I was just a child filled with wild fascinations and fantasies for this “magic machine”, a child who had just stepped into the world of computer. Today, when China has become a country that has the largest number of Internet users in the world, I have grown into one of the innumerable elites in China’s Internet world. Over the past decade, I have made hard efforts in the field of computer, witnessing how China’s industry of information technology has grown into a major industry in national economy. This has been a process of historical significance, and personally this process has also been one in which I grew into full maturity and self-confidence and in which I have made relentless struggles and achieved important successes. Consequently, I have the full faith to apply for a Master’s degree in Computer Science at your most esteemed university. The prospective program, I believe, will make for a period of invaluable experience in my continued efforts to scale new heights of computer science.

In 1992, I succeeded in entering, through a highly competitive nationwide university entrance examination, China’s Northen Jiaotong University where I chose to specialize in computer science and application. The systematic theoretical training in my specialty greatly heightened my understanding of the computer industry which is bound to dominate social development and people’s way of life. In retrospect, everyday that I spent in library or in lab seemed so fruitful and rewarding. The hard efforts that I made at my coursework not only enabled me to development a comprehensive and detailed command of the fundamental knowledge of computer but also helped me enhance my practical ability to meditate on and to solve actual problems. As a result, while achieving very high scores in almost every exam, I represented my university on quite a few occasions to participate in a number of nationwide contests in various subjects. As a junior student, I won the first prize at the Grand Contest of Electronic Design for All-China College Students, the third prize in Sichuan Province at the Grand Contest of Mathematical Model Construction for All-China College Students. As a senior student, I participated in the Grand Contest of Electronic Design for All-China College Students once again and won the third prize. Those research abilities and potentials that I developed in my undergraduate life are still playing an inestimable role in my job at present.

After my graduation I found employment with at the Information Network Center of my Alma Mater where I have been engaged in the construction of all-campus network, the maintenance of network facilities and the system, and software development. It was a major challenge for me, and even for the entire Internet profession of China because, for China at that time, campus network was a new phenomenon with few successful domestic precedents from which to draw useful experiences. Under such circumstances, my colleagues and I had to consult a large quantity of technical materials from abroad and to apply, eagerly yet critically, the advanced foreign experiences. Based on the analysis of application demands, we formulated specific objectives in network design, the distribution of web stations, development & application, network topology and function that were involved in the network construction. In this way, we eventually worked out a perfect technical plan and achieved great success in the actual application. Subsequent to this initial success, I participated in and was responsible for the construction of four campus networks that our university contracted with four other universities. In those projects, I was involved in the entire process of designing the overall plan, installation and debugging of network facilities, the integration of server systems and the software. Through those projects, both my technical level and my project management skills became considerably improved, laying a firm foundation for my later-day career.

In January 2001, at the invitation of the chief technical supervisor of the former Shaling Information Technology (Beijing) Inc., I joined the newly-established ChinaRen.com, the largest youth community website in China at the time. As department manager, I was responsible for the maintenance of the network, system and the database. With the joint efforts of my colleagues and I, ChinaRen.com has become a celebrated website, its pageview increased from one million at the time of its foundation to 20 million at present, with leading technology among its counterparts. Later, ChinaRen.com was merged into sohu.com, the strongest Chinese Internet company which has since become China’s No. 1 ICP. During the two years work at ChinaRen and sohu, I have undertaken the research and the application of several advanced technologies such as the grouping of servers, many different modes of loading balance, distributed file systems, and the area division of the database. Those involvements have considerably deepened my understanding of the Internet technology and have enabled me to develop ample experience in the optimization and improvement of server systems and the utility of the database. In April this year, due to my excellent performance in work, I was promoted to become the senior manager of the company. In addition, I am one of the three members of the newly established CEO Technical Advisory Committee.

Having participated in the development of many important projects, I have come to sense the paradoxical situation regarding China’s Internet industry. On one hand, the industry is developing with gathering momentum. On the other hand, there is a huge gap between China and the advanced countries in terms of the technical level of the information technology. As the mainstream development within 50 and even 100 years of the future, the information technology will exert a vital impact on the growth of a nation. The failure to keep up with the international development will pose a major hindrance to the overall economic growth of that country. I wish that, through my efforts, I can meet the challenges in the computer world together with my country. It is well-known that the University of Waterloo (Toronto, British Columbia, Queen’s University, McGill University) enjoys a high reputation of having a long history in computer science. Its strong faculty and sound conditions for academic research will not only expose me to the most updated technical knowledge of computer science but also allow me to understand the soul and the essence of that science. The subjects in which I am especially interested include computer network, database, operation systems, distributed systems, and wireless communications. In particular, I am fascinated by “Grid Computing”, whose environment can connect differently structured “islands” with different standards over large geographical areas to form a huge global computing system. As an advanced form of Internet development, “Grid Computing” will allow people to utilize IT resource as conveniently as people utilize water and electricity. As predicted by William M. Zeitler, “the future world will inevitably enter the age of Grip Computing.” Against this backdrop, I wish that, through my professional training in Canada, I will become one of China’s leading computer specialists during the third wave of Internet development in China.

When I come to the conclusion of this Personal Statement, it is almost midnight now. In the midst of this great tranquility, I find that I have conducted a close examination of my past and this introspection has given me an unusual sense of fulfillment, which I believe stems partly from the confidence in the choice that I am making and partly from the expectation that I cherish for a even more rewarding future.