Weekly - CW45 (Nov 4 ~ Nov 10)
This week has been packed with meetings. Maybe it’s because of the nature of my work lately, but my day now starts with meetings from 8:30 in the morning. Since I’m collaborating with teams in China and India, most of the meetings are scheduled in the morning, which gives me some focused time in the afternoon. However, most of that time ends up being used for follow-up work from the morning meetings. Whenever I have a moment, I try to make time for learning new technologies.
Work
On Monday, we wrapped up a two-month-long leadership program. It was a period of deep reflection, and I’ve shared a summary of it here: https://yocto.tistory.com/350. Next year, I’m set to enter the next stage of the leadership program.
I’ll soon be traveling to China for a two-week business trip. I applied for a visa in advance, and it was issued this week. Ironically, I later learned that starting next year, South Koreans are exempt from visas for trips to China (up to 15 days, including business trips) until the end of the year. Despite the extensive personal information I provided, even going to city hall to get proof of residence, it turns out I didn’t actually need it—quite frustrating.
In China, the first day will focus on analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of various Chinese EV companies. Starting from day two, we’ll proceed with hackathon-style sessions with colleagues from China and India, focusing on two main projects. At the end, we’ll demonstrate our work on cars and test benches for top management.
There has been a lot of discussion around virtualization lately. We’ve had about three to four meetings with vendors as well as internal discussions, primarily about defining the scope of the PoC to be conducted early next year. After returning from China, I plan to take a 3-4 week vacation within a couple of weeks, bringing my work year to a close.
I’ve purchased the books mentioned above and plan to go through them one by one while taking some time off at the end of the year. I also feel it’s time to think about what I want to focus on next year. I anticipate there will be a lot of changes, and I’m considering what might be best to pursue in that context.
Life
Every Thursday, I play tennis with my coworkers for three hours, and on Saturdays, I play for another three hours with members of a Korean tennis club. This Tuesday, I also joined coworkers for some indoor soccer. So far, nothing extraordinary to note. Now that daylight saving time has ended, it gets dark by 4 PM, really marking the start of winter. I don’t have any major plans for this winter—just planning to use my remaining three weeks of vacation to relax and recharge.
On a disappointing note, the government-supported Open Source Frontier program is coming to an end this year. Thanks to this program, I was able to delve into open source a bit more, and the funding helped cover some costs for books and courses, so it’s a shame to see it go.
While not this week, I did give two online guest lectures to students at Kookmin University last week. The topics were automotive trends, infotainment software development, processes, and integration. It was a bit tough doing it online so early in the morning, but it gave me a chance to organize my own thoughts, which was rewarding.
Concern
It’s always the same question I wrestle with: what should I focus on next year? After completing the leadership training, I’m still debating whether it’s better to move toward management or to live more independently, pursuing what I want on my own. In the end, I think I’ll eventually return to Korea, so I’m leaning toward gaining experience in management as a way to broaden my background.
Tasks for Next Week
The top priority is preparing for the workshop in China. I need to coordinate with the team in China to set up and test the bench, vehicle, and development environment in advance. Additionally, I will define the tasks for the workshop and make sure to align well with the MBUX team and the vehicle network team, with whom I’ll be collaborating closely.