Draping the national flag over his shoulders, 26-year-old Chen Jun'an celebrated winning gold in the optoelectronic technology event at the WorldSkills competition in Lyon, France, in September.

Graduating from the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen in Guangdong province in 2020, majoring in communications engineering, Chen gave up several lucrative job offers from industry titans like Huawei and Xiaomi to become a teacher at the Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology in South China's Guangdong province.

"Many of my college peers chose to take jobs as programming or algorithm engineers at the time. However, I was born and raised in a small village in the eastern province of Jiangxi, and growing up I received a lot of help from my teachers. I enjoy sharing knowledge with other people, so I made the choice of becoming a teacher when I graduated," he said.

Chen said his first thought when preparing for the WorldSkills competition was to gain more confidence, facing students not much younger than him at the time.

"I was not that confident in myself as I had theoretical knowledge but not much practical experience of the knowledge or skills. I never thought that my attempt at self-improvement would see me standing on the WorldSkills award podium," he said.

However, it was not all plain sailing. He missed out on the opportunity to compete in the special edition of the WorldSkills competition in 2022 because of some mistakes at domestic selection trials. The special edition of the WorldSkills competition was organized in several countries and regions such as Switzerland and Japan from mid-September to late November that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I was lucky that I got the chance to compete in the competition in Lyon before reaching 25 years old — the maximum age for the optoelectronic technology event," Chen said.

"I took no holidays and weekends during my training period. I remember I only spent a few days celebrating Spring Festival and returned to the school for training. I was the oldest of all the Chinese competitors for the competition in Lyon and I cherished the opportunity a lot."

Recalling the competition, Chen remembered the intensity and stress. "The competition sets four modules such as designing and producing an optoelectronic application terminal and installing and debugging a smart lighting control system. Each of the modules was highly competitive and there were very strong rivals from South Korea and Brazil. Nobody could predict the winner until the last second of the competition."

His efforts eventually paid off." Standing on the podium, holding the gold medal with the national flag draped over my shoulders was a very touching moment. I remember the time was about two weeks before China's National Day, and I thought the medal I gained would be the best gift I could give to my mother country.

"The gold medal is not the end but a new start for my life. The competition has shaped me into a better teacher, enabling me to master not only theoretical knowledge but hands-on ability and the spirit of craftsmanship," he said.

"I've seen many talented students who will embrace more diversified career possibilities in the future. The nation has also channeled greater efforts to producing skilled workers, and optimizing vocational education. I will face challenges, but I will not give in and I hope I can inspire more young people by guiding them to use skills to win themselves a better future," Chen said.