Exclusive Interview
Trinity College Dublin｜Computer Science｜Guidewire → Microsoft → Stripe
In tech industry narratives, we are used to hearing success stories about “child prodigies” or “meticulously planned careers.” But Jingren’s story feels more like a massive, real-life debugging session. From choosing Computer Science simply because he “didn’t like writing,” to the confusion of repeating two years in college, to somehow breaking into Microsoft as a Senior Software Engineer, and finally being picked up by Stripe’s precise talent radar—his trajectory has been anything but linear. In fact, it is full of detours.
Yet, it was precisely these detours that taught him how to dig through 1993 legacy code for answers, and developed his communication philosophy of “assuming the other person knows nothing.” We sat down with Jingren to chat about curiosity, fears brought by AI, and why, in Ireland, the most valuable competitive edge often isn’t grinding LeetCode, but an unyielding, pure passion for problem-solving.
“I Don’t Like Writing” — A Reason for Choosing a Major, and Its “Ironic” Reality
At the beginning of the interview, I asked him why he chose Computer Science in the first place.
“Because I didn’t like writing, I liked solving problems, and I liked playing on computers and playing video games,” he said matter-of-factly.
I couldn’t help but laugh, remembering he once mentioned that his current job involves writing a massive amount of documentation. “So with your current job… you don’t have to write?”
He laughed too. “Now it’s about 70–80% written work.”
“What about at Microsoft?”
“Back then, probably around 20%.”
From 20% to 80%—this shift in numbers reflects both a promotion in title and a shift in responsibilities. The young man who once wanted to escape writing now uses words to drive entire engineering projects forward. Life’s path often turns out vastly different from what we imagined at the start.
Why Ireland?
Jingren had several very practical considerations for coming to Ireland: his parents frequently dealt with Irish people in their work, the public safety environment was good, there were relatively fewer Chinese people, and Ireland is one of the few English-speaking countries in the European Union. Before studying abroad, he specifically traveled here and interviewed with several universities in person before making his final decision.
This decision-making style—conducting on-site visits and comparing options thoroughly—already foreshadowed his approach to handling challenges in the future.
Studying: Curiosity and Interest Trump “Competitiveness”
When asked about how he built up his competitive edge during his university years, his answer was surprisingly direct.
“I never considered doing things just to boost my competitiveness. I’ve always just focused on myself.”
He didn’t grind LeetCode or follow trends; he simply followed his curiosity. From his senior year through his master’s degree, he built numerous projects—web apps, web pages, and even taught himself AWS—purely because he wanted to figure out “how on earth those software applications and websites were made.”
Regarding internships, he found a position at a startup called Energy Elevant inside Trinity College Dublin. The professor taught entrepreneurship and was also the founder, while the CTO was the technical core. The company had only six people, and Jingren did everything—improving web pages, collecting customer data, procurement, and more. “An intern was basically just a runner boy doing odd jobs everywhere,” he chuckled.
However, he made one point very clear: “Internships are indispensable for passing HR screening, but projects are what matter most for showcasing your capabilities and acing interviews. They form a combination; you can’t lack either.”
Entering the Workforce: A “Baffling” Senior Engineer
With a college degree grade of 2:2, he was once screened out directly by Ericsson’s HR. After graduating, he first worked as an online support engineer at Guidewire for eight months—a job he described as “too simple.” Every day was spent checking manuals to answer client questions, without the ability to debug code or find root causes. “I really wanted to know where the problem was, but I didn’t have access.” That sense of frustration pushed him to actively look for his next job.
Then Microsoft came along, in a way he never expected.
“Landing the job at Microsoft was a big stroke of luck,” he said. A friend gave him an internal referral, but the referral went through the senior application channel, so he somehow ended up interviewing for a Senior Software Engineer position. During the interview process, he barely passed the LeetCode round; in the System Design round, he frankly admitted he “was completely not senior material”; and in another round, he only knew the approach but didn’t know how to code it, yet the interviewer actually took the initiative to work through the problem with him. “I had already given up hope, but who would have thought the recruiter actually said I was hired?”
Was it purely luck? Perhaps. But an interviewer wouldn’t sit down and work through a problem with someone who lacked logic and curiosity.
Three Years at Microsoft: From Deficits to Growth
Joining as a Senior meant he had to face the gaps in his abilities. Rather than running away, he actively looked up best practices, learned front-end tech, and studied how Microsoft operated. His team belonged to an incubator/startup unit, giving him a complete picture of engineering projects.
He also served as an interviewer and met all kinds of candidates. “Deficits in capability or a lack of understanding regarding required skills will lead to not being hired. But cultural mismatch is equally a primary cause,” he noted. He emphasized that Microsoft places great value on a growth mindset: “People with a fixed mindset have a narrow field of vision. Microsoft wants people who are perpetually exploring.”
Three years and three months later, an unfamiliar Engineering Manager on LinkedIn reached out to him out of the blue. That was Stripe.
Stripe: A Well-Designed Encounter
He speculated that he was noticed because his steady progression of getting promoted every year caught their attention. But he also mentioned an interesting detail: he was once invited to a seminar hosted by Stripe on risk management. He later realized that all the invitees had been deliberately targeted by Stripe’s screening. “I truly admire them; I have no idea how they perform their candidate profiling.”
He took two months to deliberate before replying to that Engineering Manager. At that time, Microsoft was going through major layoffs. Seeing colleagues around him get laid off affected his mood, and he started wanting to try something new. The manager’s team was already full, but she referred him to another team. Ultimately, he successfully joined Stripe.
“During Stripe’s interviews, because I had worked on legacy 1993 C++ code at Microsoft, Stripe’s technical interviews felt much easier by comparison.”
What Does a Top Engineer Look Like?
I asked him what the most impressive engineer he’s ever met was like. Almost without hesitation, he described a colleague: exceptionally strong technically, completely unbiased toward projects with no personal preferences or dislikes, lightning-fast comprehension, and at the same time, extremely humble. “While I was still drowning in work, he already had the mental bandwidth to play around with 3D printing.”
However, he added that this colleague had much more seniority and experience. “He was willing to break down tough problems for me and guide me step-by-step—people like that are rare.”
When it comes to things not taught in school, he feels soft skills and social abilities are the most crucial. “I’m an introvert, so dealing with people is relatively difficult for me.” But he also said something worth pondering:
“The title means less than you think. A higher title or position doesn’t make someone superior. I can directly communicate upwards and express my opinions or suggest improvements to my superiors—nobody is stopping you.”
The AI Era: Only Those Driven by Fear Will Be Replaced
When discussing the impact of AI on the IT industry, his answer was concise yet powerful:
“Those who are fearful will be replaced; those who proactively embrace and adapt won’t.”
He added that AI doesn’t take jobs away; rather, it frees up time spent on repetitive tasks, allowing engineers to focus on higher-value work. “Now with AI, my PR (Pull Request) throughput has increased from 2 a day to 10.” At Stripe, the tool stack his team currently uses includes Claude Code paired with internal proprietary models.
For fresh graduates, his advice is equally straightforward: “People who can’t find a job just haven’t found the right direction. Without genuine interest, you won’t take initiative, and opportunities will be scarce. Starting from self-learning AWS and building hands-on projects is far more important than grinding LeetCode.”
Communication: “Assume Everyone Knows Nothing”
Jingren is an introvert, but he has a clear philosophy on communication centered around a single principle:
“Assume everyone knows nothing.”
When encountering people who pretend to know things they don’t, he doesn’t call them out aggressively. Instead, he explains repeatedly and uses questions layer by layer to press the other party until everything is crystal clear. “It’s a game of who can be more persistent! Just keep asking. You won’t do my task? Fine, do I need to have my COO come speak with you directly? First tell me, which part of this work falls outside your scope?” It sounds assertive, but he says communication usually succeeds in the end. “Whether you achieve the goal is the ultimate purpose of communication, not how smooth the process felt.”
I noted that this sounds very much like the “5 Whys” in management theory—continually digging for the root cause. He hadn’t heard of the term, but laughed and said the logic is identical. “Once you reach the bottom, if it turns out the person just doesn’t like me, that’s actually even easier to deal with.”
The best partner he ever worked with was a Project Manager (PM) who didn’t know much tech. “If he didn’t understand, he wrote it down and asked clearly, defined the impact and goals, and focused on the core points. A PM doesn’t need to know how to do everything technically; just lock down the budget, timeline, and project phases, and deliver the project on time and in full.” Professionalism isn’t about knowing everything, but about being clear about your role.
Career Switching to IT: Powered by Love, or Powered by Money?
I asked if he would recommend non-CS backgrounds to switch careers into software engineering.
“If you have genuine interest, do it,” he said crisply.
I joked that he’s a “pure love warrior.” He chuckled and added: “You need to ask yourself clearly why you like IT first. If you lack background support, getting a Master’s degree and doing more projects is a viable path. But switching purely for the money won’t take you far.”
If someone needs to complete a career switch within 12 months, his advice is to start with self-studying AWS, build projects with tangible outcomes, and leverage prompt engineering. “The trend in IT has shifted now. It’s not about you solving the problem yourself, but having AI solve it while you fine-tune the solution. Practical, hands-on capability matters vastly more than how many LeetCode questions you know.”
The most common failure point in career switching? “Getting stuck in the same spot—lacking passion.”
If I Could Go Back to Freshman Year…
At the end of the interview, I asked him what he would change if he could turn back time.
He seriously mentioned three things: play fewer video games and socialize a bit more; think carefully about why he was pursuing this university degree instead of just doing it to escape the college entrance exam (Gaokao); and study hard so he wouldn’t repeat years.
“I repeated two years. Although age anxiety isn’t as prevalent abroad, if I could turn back time, I’d study properly—there are actually many subjects in IT courses that deserve serious attention.”
A two-year “detour” ultimately brought him a unique perspective and composure. From a young man who disliked writing to an engineer driving technical changes through written words at Stripe, Jingren’s story tells us: as long as the direction is right, the detours count too.
