A geek's career change strikes public nerve

A combination photo shows what Xu Jia looks like in the office with his colleagues in 2011 and in his fruit store in 2013.  [Photo by Chaxiaoba]

A former IT engineer has become a sensation on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo after he gave up a promising career to successfully turn into a fruit vendor.

Xu Jia was a PHP engineer for Sina Weibo in 2011 and often worked late into the night. In 2013, he was promoted to a title equivalent to an architect in one of China's most popular social networking sites.

"I was in tears to see my promotion. It was a dream for many years finally coming true. But I changed my mind and wanted to discover the other me," Xu wrote on Weibo.

Xu quit his job to sell fruit in 2013. What surprised Weibo users most is the combination photo showing sharp differences in his looks between the two working environments.

In his high-end IT job, he looked exhausted, wore glasses and had scanty hair on his head. But in the fruit store, he appears vigorous, well-dressed, and in good shape.

The combination photo, uploaded on Weibo by his former colleague, was forwarded more than 6,000 times and received 730,000 comments. Some have urged programmers to pay more attention to their health, and some admired his courage to pursue his dream.

A Weibo user named housepearl commented that "to be happy is more important no matter how much money you earn. Fame and wealth are merely mundane possessions."