Coder Lee Yongho

Only after finishing their meal could YongHo listen to the situation. They were all unbelievable.

“What were you going to do if I wasn’t at the company, or I pretended to not know you?”

“This isn’t the company so I can just call you hyung-nim, right?”

Na DaeBang tapped his plump belly as he sipped his coffee.

“Y, yes.”

“Hyung-nim, you should also drop the formalities with me.”

“Yes, let me do that. And so? Really, why’re you even here?”

YongHo was truly curious as to why Na DaeBang came all the way here. If he had any connections, well, it was understandable, but looking at him, it didn’t look anything like that.

“I came to see hyung-nim.”

“…Don’t speak nonsense.”

“It’s real though?”

This time, YongHo tried to stand up from his seat. It was a wordless threat that he would leave if he spoke any more nonsense.

Na DaeBang hurriedly grabbed YongHo’s arms as he was about to stand up. Then, he spoke while changing his expression.

“It’s for real. I really did come here to see you, hyung-nim. I don’t have a lot that I’ve learnt from my parents, but if there’s one thing, it’s the eyes to see people.”

When Na DaeBang spoke in a serious voice, YongHo also asked while sitting down.

“And so?”

“In my view, I don’t think you’re genius-clever, hyung-nim. But sometimes…you also feel like a genius.”

Na DaeBang also didn’t seem to understand completely as his words sounded quite weak. It matched exactly with how Jeff understood YongHo.

That was the truth.

YongHo was no genius. He had only coincidentally acquired the ability to see the bug window.

If he didn’t have such an ability, he would just roll around the SI industry and end his life there as a developer.

“……”

“But there is one sure thing. You’re a trustworthy person. You’re a person who puts in effort. You’re a just person. And lastly, you’re a person with a future I’m curious about. Although you’re not an enormous genius, it’s true that you have some ability. The fact that you’re setting foot in America right now also proves that. Conclusively, I don’t think that you would stop here.”

Na DaeBang quickly mentioned the things he was thinking. YongHo’s changing expression as he spoke, was quite the item to look at. He was embarra.s.sed as if his privacy was found out for a moment. He didn’t look like he knew what to do the next moment, with the continuous praises.

“And so, you came all the way here. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. I came since I want to work with you, hyung-nim.”

“Wow, you really are reckless.”

“Well, if I can’t then I can just go to Stanford.”

“Is that easy?”

“Is it hard for you, hyung-nim?”

YongHo wanted to smack Na DaeBang, who was playing around, but he couldn’t. This guy reminded him of Zhang Fei from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in both stature and looks. He didn’t lose out to black people.

“Anyway, what happened with HyeJin?”

YongHo suddenly thought of Choi HyeJin who dated Na DaeBang. If he really ditched her to come here, he really did plan to smack him on the head.

“It’s not like you’re going to stay in America forever, hyung. I will meet her when I go back.”

“Well, you did come at the right time since I have something to ask you about……”

A worry he had forgotten about came to the surface. Now that he saw him, it didn’t look like he had decided on place to live yet. It wasn’t like YongHo could ignore a person who came all the way here believing in him. It felt right to at least solve his eating and housing. If so, it wasn’t just one or two places he had to spend money starting with housing and living expenses.

‘Hm… should I raise my salary……’

There was one method. This was to raise his current salary of 120 thousand dollars. Since he couldn’t let Na DaeBang into the company as he had no work visa, he thought that the most reasonable method was to raise his salary and cut some pressure off of Na DaeBang.

YongHo, who sent Na DaeBang to Dave’s house first, immediately requested for a meeting with Brad. He planned to explain the situation and ask him to raise his salary.

He was trying to go with a method to give some of the money to Na DaeBang.

As the company was short in finding an image processing specialist, he had the confidence that his request would get granted.

“Then how much do you want?”

“I think I would be fine with 200 thousand dollars.”

“Do you mean that you won’t have to look for an image processing specialists if you do?”

“Yes.”

Silicon Valley’s average salary was 100 thousand dollars per year. This meant that he would need at least 100 thousand to recruit a new person.

However, what YongHo offered was a 80 thousand dollar increase. Moreover, he had already shown his abilities and ensured his value.

Brad’s reaction was very positive. In YongHo’s mind, Brad was already thinking of recruiting this person.

YongHo’s thoughts produced results after the meeting.

Na DaeBang, who came to the company the next day, raised his thumb at YongHo.

“I knew it, hyung-nim, what did I say to you?”

At Na DaeBang’s look full of confidence, YongHo felt the urge to bully him.

“Then we should start working now.”

“Is there no introduction or anything?”

“What introduction when you’re only a part time worker. We have to finish designing the structure by tomorrow so let’s start with that.”

“……”

As he had already promised to work, Na DaeBang had no choice but to quietly sit down in front of the computer.

He already had experience making a library when he was in Shinseki. Structure design seemed to end quite easily with his memories coming into play.

“So, we have to decrease the size of the images and increase the performance, right?”

“Also, we have to solve the pains of having to control the camera 8 times.”

“I need to think about it to give a clear answer but… I think there is a method……”

“Although the current service by Shinseki is rising high, what I got from your words is that just the storage costs quite a lot. Also, even when the sales drop, the maintenance cost would be needed anyway so there might be a time when they have to close the service. We don’t want to meet such a situation.”

“That’s true. Even before I left, there were a lot of talks since 20% of the profits were going to maintenance costs. There were also complaints from the users that taking those photographs were such a pain.”

“So, we need to fix those two points first. If we speed up the process of fusing 8 pictures into one to have a look from 360 degrees, then it will be for the best.”

“I understand what you’re saying.”

“If any bugs occur, then speak to me. They told me you can meet the specialists in our company if you don’t know anything so don’t worry on that.”

YongHo spoke while patting Na DaeBang’s shoulders. One of the reasons that he went to a good company was because he could meet several people with ability.

YongHo was planning to use that point well.

They decided to add a container called Docker on top of LInux and put a web server called Nginx inside it.

They confirmed using MySQL and NoSQL for the DB, and decided to use java to develop the web application.

The big picture was completed with the libraries developed by Na DaeBang being added. When the software structure was decided, now the design to implement it started for real.

‘To think we have to name a cla.s.s and explain the functions before we even code it……’

To code with the language known as Java, one had to make a file called x.x.x.java.

A cla.s.s was a name that was used to call x.x.x.java logically. In these cla.s.ses, methods and variables would be used. (T/N: That’s like… the most basic thing about java. This should be explained at the the very beginning of a novel, or not at all…) (E/N: Hush most of us scrubs don’t know squat about coding. Even if I can read javascript. I’m still learning here)

The functions of a cla.s.s had to be decided in order to design the methods and the variables inside it.

‘I should write in as much detail as possible, right?’

Of course, one could make a cla.s.s while coding. However, this was no different from making a building without the blueprints.

One would know what the results would be of a building made without a design.

‘It’s not that detailed.’

In YongHo’s view, the doc.u.mentation for the design was very lacking. When he was working in Korea, detailed explanations about a cla.s.s filled a whole page of A4, if not more.

It would go over a single page of A4 if he just wrote down the explanations on the various functions of the cla.s.s and the important  variables.

And when he did, sometimes, the design specification doc.u.ment went well over 100 pages.

‘Well, it’s good that we’re beginning with the specification doc.u.ment anyway.’

Sometimes, there were cases where the doc.u.mentation was written after the development was finished.

In the industry known as SI, the last stage was inspection. What happened in inspections were code and doc.u.mentation checks, and they put more weight into checking doc.u.mentation.

YongHo vaguely remembered the times he made the doc.u.mentation after the development was finished and it was just before the inspection.

‘Compared to those days, this is heaven.’

A black shadow was casted over YongHo, who was drawing the UML and was writing down the explanations of each cla.s.s.

Then a rock-like face suddenly appeared.

“J, James, what is it?”

Next to James was Na DaeBang. Since two people with huge bodies were standing next to each other, it was like looking at two huge pillars.

“This guy keeps following me.”

“Okay, I will talk to him.”

Even at YongHo’s answer, James seemed to have more to say as he didn’t leave.

As such thing was quite rare for him, YongHo asked.

“What? Anything else to say?”

“The design YongHo does is too complex. It’s not practical.”

“……”

“UML(Unified Modelling Language : Language used in designing) is too complicated. You will spend the entire night while doing that. It’s easier to write on the whiteboard. There’s no reason to write common knowledge stuff in the doc.u.mentation.

When James continued, Dave, who was looking for something interesting as he was bored with work, jumped in towards YongHo as if he found some prey.

“Huh? Did YongHo make this?”

“Y, yeah.”

“But you sure went crazy with this. What are you going to do if there are things to change as you go?”

On the screen YongHo was looking at, rectangular boxes were drawn everywhere. To show the relationship between those boxes, between them were riddled with lines.

There was not even a 1cm gap. As he made it with too much detail, the screen looked like some ink was thrown at it.

“R, really? I always did it this way.”

“The most important thing is to divide the components(A set of important functions) according to the situation… Like this, I think it will only get more complicated.”

“……”

At Dave’s words, YongHo couldn’t say anything. While writing up the UML like mad, he never considered components.

“Shouldn’t you… do it again?”

Dave spoke carefully. These words basically made YongHo’s effort into soap bubbles. The screen with riddled with rectangular boxes and various line to the point that white couldn’t be seen anywhere.

However, he had to accept what he should accept.

To be stubborn about a wrong method was what idiots (T/N: Literally, since idiots basically mean people acting like 3 year olds) did. YongHo thought of his initial motivation when he first arrived here.

Let’s learn even one more thing.

“O, okay.”

YongHo powerlessly replied. He couldn’t help the fact that he was disappointed. Fortunately, there was no need to delete everything.

“You don’t have to start from scratch, and you just have to categorize them into components… And it will be hard to edit if you draw here, so I think you should use that wide whiteboard over there, how is it?”

“Ok, I will do that.”

“Well, then, please pick.”

“Huh?”

“We should do it together. It’s already nighttime, when are you planning to go home?”

“……”

Dave spoke as if it was obvious. This place was where individualism was dominant. When people finished their work, they would not mind other people’s business.

“Hyung-nim, there’s also me.”

“I’m also here.”

Na DaeBang and James too… As if she had predicted it, Jessie was coming from afar with her hand full of coffee.

His heart felt emotional.

He wanted to stay with these friends in the future as well.