Ningsheng Liu (pictured above with Derek and a Lijit shot glass) is one of the newer faces you’ll see around the Lijit offices. He’s only in the office a few times a week, so when he comes in, it’s like seeing a long-lost friend…that you’ve only just met and don’t know very well. In the process of composing this post, I was able to find out that besides reading, Ningsheng also enjoys taking long walks through Cherry Creek State Park and traveling back to China to visit his family. Let’s hear what else the man has to say for himself…
- What is your Lijit contribution?
I am Database Architect at Lijit, responsible for data modeling, database design and database maintenance, in addition to participating in database application development. I am hoping that I can apply my knowledge and 15 years of experience in data and database to daily work to make Lijit application backend healthier in terms of performance, scalability, stability, and maintainability.
- What is your least favorite sound and why?
A few days ago when I was working in my study at home, all six smoke detectors suddenly fired up, almost at the same time. I was completely terrified, running from the upstairs to the basement and the basement to the upstairs, trying to figure out what was going on. I knew people outside would hear it and I just didn’t want somebody else to call 911. After making certain there was no noticeable smoke and any danger, the first thing I wanted to do was shut down the sound by disconnecting the power, but unfortunately I couldn’t, since I had unsaved work on my computers. Guess what? The only thing I could do was physically disconnect the smoke detectors, one by one. Finally, it all stopped and my small world was back to normal. I then realized that I had never really appreciated the normal quietness we get every day. I don’t want to hear that sound again ever.
- What is your favorite word and why?
I am pretty sure ‘lijit’ is not officially an English word, at least one I cannot find in a dictionary for now. That’s fine because ‘google’ is not either. At the time I’m writing this, spellcheck keeps complaining about ‘google’ as well as ‘lijit’. I know I can let spellcheck keep silent on ‘lijit’, but I would like to see the day that ‘lijit’ is officially a word and no longer a problem with spellcheck. Is that possible? Certainly. How soon can it happen? Well, it depends…we need to work harder and smarter.
- What is a profession, other than your own, that you would like to attempt and why?
I taught for a number of years before becoming an IT professional. I enjoyed teaching as that is one of a few ways we can influence people, especially younger generations, for their future lives and careers.
- Something you’re guilty of…
Every time I drive to work, I see people driving from an opposite direction and wonder how nice if all of us could work around our neighborhood. On the one hand, I burned 4 gallons of gasoline for a round trip, contributing to the lack of resources we have been experiencing globally. On the other hand, I produced carbon dioxide for every mile I have driven, contributing to global warming.
We’re excited to have Ningsheng on the Lijit team, even if we only get to see him every now and again. On an interesting side note, Ningsheng mentioned that he had a ping-pong table at home. He went on to tell me that his family only played on it for a month after they bought it…twelve years ago. Perhaps Ningsheng will want to dust off that table and donate it to the Lijit offices?
