I Write All Night

“I Write All Night” comes from my own experience of preparing for computer science graduate school entrance exams.

The song is built from real scenes I lived through: going to the library at 8 a.m. to work on past papers from top universities, feeling like I had already missed the post-COVID hiring wave, and trying to survive in a system where exams are gradually being overshadowed by recommendation-based admissions, school prestige, and the changing demands of the industry. At the same time, the explosive rise of AI has made the future even harder to trust, especially as more junior software engineering opportunities seem to shrink.

This song is my way of writing down what that kind of pressure feels like — the fear, the frustration, and the quiet struggle of trying to hold on to your future when the world keeps moving the finish line.

Every 8 a.m. bell, seat fifteen in the room. Head down in a paper grave, chasing deadlines in the gloom. Morning was NCKU math. Past papers from '11 and '12. Afternoon, NCTU hardware. Pushing through '12 and '13. After dinner from the Sev. NTU software, '10 and '11 still waiting
Every couple days I hear. That software jobs might disappear. Every couple weeks, a new AI. Makes the future less than clear. Every other post says juniors. Won’t be needed anymore. So I study like I’m knocking. On a half-locked iron door
Grad school odds feel like trying. To buy front row at a show. Never getting VIP. Never even close enough to know. Not even waitlist luck. Not even one more name to call. Just another crowded dream. And I’m too scared to let it fall
It’s not that I don’t try. I just missed the season. When the big firms used to hire. It’s not that I don’t try. COVID took the years. I should’ve climbed a little higher. It’s not that I don’t try. No push-track left. Just one-shot tests and late-night fear. It’s not that I don’t try. Too many people crossing in. And every seat feels less clear
I write all night. Tryna turn these tears. Into a better life. I write all night. Racing every shadow. Tryna beat the time
I write all night. Hold my breath and pray. I get this future right. I write all night. Me and AI. At the finish line
When it starts, my heartbeat shakes. Like the city split apart. Every question turns to war. Hand to hand inside my heart. Which one’s mercy from the prof. Which one’s buried out of range. Which one’s just one tiny miss. That makes the whole set rearrange. One wrong link and all goes down
Chain reaction, watch it spread. Everybody in the room. Feels like a rival in my head. And I hate that I see enemies. In people just like me. But the system makes us sharpen. All our fear into a need
Truth is, I wanna laugh. With everybody else sometimes. Make some memories. Before this student life unwinds. Not run straight to the library. The second classes end. Not spend every weekend. In a narrow room again. But they say a no-name school. Won’t ever buy you a way through. And I don’t wanna scan barcodes. On the graveyard shift at two
It’s scary, I’m anxious. My stomach’s tied in knots. What if I get filtered out. And everything I fought for’s lost? What if all the work I gave. Turns to smoke and nothing stays? What if I end up the same. Just drifting day by day?
No joy, just pain. No prize, just rain. No sleep, no light. Just one more night
Can somebody tell me. What I’m even aiming for? Can somebody tell me. If this road still leads somewhere? Can somebody tell me. Please, somebody. Who? Who?