Behind Green Steps: Sam Xichao Zhang

  Green Steps Team is international and diverse. You can meet some of us during our events. Others maybe are working behind the scenes, or even in another continent, but we all play a part to succeed in our mission. This is possible thanks to individuals and their hearth, which is something that goes beyond their job description.
To make you all feel closer to our community, every month we post a short introduction to one of our Team Members, to celebrate the people behind Green Steps.

Green Steps is a start-up working at the intersection between ecology, education, and technology. But what does that mean? While our nature guides raise awareness about the environment and facilitate awesome outdoor activities, our team is also working to develop a digital learning platform to improve the quality and the exponential effect of such activities on a global scale. Our vision is strong, but how to put it into our hands? Well, we have a full team working on that. The first on this list is Sam Xichao Zhang.
How should we call you?

 I don’t really have a nickname, but Sam is very short already, I think 

If you have been following Green Steps long enough, you might have started reading about the ARK, the name of the learning platform we developed. The work on that is continuous: what is your role in that?

 I am a fullstack web developer, which means I take care of both the front end and back end development of the ARK web platform. I also do some troubleshooting and code testing in development process. I don't do this all by myself, but I am responsible to keep the functions work and the platform performing well.

Sam is hard-working, passionate, and has a quiet personality. What happens in the switch from onscreen and offscreen life?

 I start my daily coding routine checking out Gitlab issues: if there is any issue onboard I break it down into several mini processes or tasks. Then, I implement the features with real code or troubleshooting the problems in the code.

  When the weather is nice, I like to go running in the evening, and reading books if I have some spare time left. What my coworkers might not know is that I enjoy listening to different types of rock music to inspire me and give me energy. I also like singing along to some of those songs, but only when I’m alone. 

Working in an international team is stimulating, and Shanghai is a global metropolis. Everyone has a special story to be told: how did you end up where you are?

 I come from Changsha, in the Hunan province, and grew up in a little countryside town. I started my programming journey during college, after learning how to use proxy to explore the free Internet. Internet was the place where I began to grow my interest in the ideas of free software and open source. Disappointed by the education system, I started to develop my independent thinking and my learning through the internet and books, only. Since everything I know about programming and web development is self-taught and the Internet was my main source, I always have gratitude towards this media. But my attitude changed after I started to realize that the rise of problems like information fragmentation on screen, attention disorder and depression are caused by technology platforms with the extractive business model to gain user's attention. That’s why I also nurtured passion and interest in the impact of Technology on Society, mainly about issues like ad-based attention economy, social media, fake news, etc.
My interest in the intersection of technology, society, and education led me to join Green Steps: working on a scalable solution to address social issues on a global level. 

If you had to choose a work of art to speak for yourself, what would it be?

  That would be “1984” by George Orwell. Why? Because this book shocked me when I first read it. While reading I was always wondering: how could he already know that, by that time? It was written back in 1949, but in the present day, I still can find many connections. 

Joining Green Steps means contributing to a bigger picture. This also means that your personal expectations match with this vision: how does this picture look in your mind?

 I wish that my skills will grow together with Green Steps value, I want to help to make the world a better place. Exploring the intersection of technology and society, the meaning of technology and humanity: we will be on the same track, Green Steps and me, towards the accomplishment of this vision, and we will surely enjoy the shared path.