I haven’t written much about work so I think it is time.
When I arrived in Beijing 3 weeks ago, I was very skeptical about whether I would like working here. China was so overwhelming, and I was not sure how I was going to enjoy – let alone contribute – in 4 weeks at Kijiji. I was also probably more excited about working in India than in China. But I realized this week that this sentiment has reversed. Work here has been much, much better than expected.
First and foremost the people here have been great. Our CEO, Jian Shuo, is really impressive. He is in his very early 30s, worked for Microsoft for about 6 years before becoming Kijiji’s first employee, and basically built the business from scratch. He is also one of the biggest bloggers in China and his English blog is definitely worth reading.
Second, everyone else here has been extremely nice and welcoming, even though I cannot communicate in their language at all and need help doing the most basic things. We are a small office of about 20 people, and everyone is really friendly. I can’t always get across 100% of what I mean to say, and I definitely don’t understand 100% of what is said, but everything is working out well and we are having a lot of fun. People have taken me out to countless different lunches, dinner places, home to their apartments, to Hangzhou. It has been amazing.
Third, I think both the online classifieds business and my project here at Kijiji are both very interesting. I will write about both in more detail in separate posts.
Finally, I haven’t worked for a “real company” since an internship after my freshman year of college over 9 years ago. It has been pretty cool doing actual work, instead of consulting or investing, even if is only a summer hiatus. It’s also been fun working for a start-up – lots of exciting things happen, you can make real changes in the business really quickly, and most importantly I wear flip-flops every day.
Another photo from Hangzhou:
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