Ward Zhou
Shenzhen
hi@wardzhou.art
+86 180 1859 4432
Professional Summary
- Adept tech reporter with a strong background in Chinese consumer hardware and gaming narratives.
- Academically trained in Journalism and Communication from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.
- Garnered hands-on experience reviewing dozens of gadgets, showcasing a keen eye for detail and technical knowledge.
- Dynamic and adaptable with a flair for innovative problem-solving and effective communication.
- Expert in Matter, the unified smart home standard.
Work experience
Portfolio links available with each position.
Products Editor & Writer - MatterAlpha
December 2024 - Present| Part-time
Matter is a unified smart home standard to bring all brands together locally and securely. Major brands including Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Google are major promoters of the standard.
- File in database for Matter-enabled smart home products.
- Pitch and write up stories about Matter.
Overseas Content Planner - eWeLink (smart home solution provider)
December 2023 - March 2025 | Full-time
- Manage eWeLink official forum site.
- Write user guides.
- Edited product text provided by product managers and translators for accuracy, clarity, and consistency.
- Follow up product development progress and write up PR copy for distribution.
- Research in rival products and assist product team to plan product updates in early phases.
- Assist testing team to troubleshoot and debug from user’s perspective.
Tech reporter/Gadget Writer - PingWest
April 2023 - November 2023 | Full-time
- Pitch and file daily news brieives and features in the Chinese hardware industry.
- Review gadgets from Chinese vendors, including audio devices, smartphones, smart home, and XR.
- Undertook product photography to complement reviews, enhancing article engagement.
Tech reporter - Caixin Global
December 2022 - March 2023 | Full-time
- Pitch and file daily and feature stories with style based on AP.
- Report stories based on Caixin’s Chinese ones, with reworking and extra works to have it readable for English native speakers.
Tech reporter - TechNode
February 2022 - December 2022 | Full-time
- Pitch and file stories with AP style on both daily and long-term deadlines.
- Upload articles and work with SEO optimization.
- Connect with major Chinese consumer electronics makers and review products. Also responsible for product photography sometimes.
- Help to develop tools to improve team workflow.
Contributor - NetEase
September 2019 - Present | Part-time
- Work with editors, designers, and programmers to collect data and write data-driven articles for the DataBlog channel (NetEase shu du, in Chinese).
- File commercial content with NetEase’s clients.
- Work on a short video channel with over a million subscribers across all platforms, managing tasks, translating, and making videos.
Editor - Fortune China
June 2021 - September 2021 | Internship
- Work with the Chinese team to do localization of content from the US site, translating, and recompressing subtitles for videos.
- Help to operate their official Weibo account.
- Assist with plans to market Fortune 500.
- Do data visualization for Fortune 500 analytical articles.
- Write short business comments for their UGC platform Fortune Plus.
- Produce video content for Fortune’s events.
Data Journalist - The Paper
May 2020 - September 2020 | Internship
- Assisted in producing data stories in all forms, including H5, video and article.
- Scripts writing, data process (collect, label and analyze), assisting designer in working on data graphics.
Assistant Director -Shanghai Media Group
December 2018 - Janurary 2019 | Internship
- Worked with 2019 Spring Festival Eve Program. Make rundown sheets and timetable and cooperate with crews in all departments.
Contributor (in Chinese) - ITHome & Gcores
Education
Shanghai University 2021 - 2022
Master of Art in Journalism and Communication
- Secured top scholarships based on academic merit, subsequently withdrawing after prioritizing professional opportunities.
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology 2017 - 2021
Bachelor of Art in Communication
- Actative in academical research, lead and participant in numbers of projects, and published one paper.
- Top 5% among peers in GPA and rewarded with dozens of scholarships, certificates of honor, and competition prizes.
Skills
T-shaped skills set with proficiencies in content creation, data analysis, and media production.
Media & writing
- Familiar with AP Style.
- Have PR connections with major Chinese hardware vendors and gaming firms.
- A typical Gen-Z and a heavy user of both Chinese and English social media with sharp intuition of news ideas.
- Familiar with WordPress backend.
- Passionate in tech, especially in the hardware and gaming industries.
Programming
- Expert in R for data processing, text mining, sentiment analysis, network analysis, and data visdulization.
- Beginner of frondend development with knowloadge of JS, CSS, and common JS libraries.
- Beginner of backend operation and maintance with capality to build website, and deploy apps with Docker and Linux(CentOS prefered) with ssh.
- Beginner of Processing.
- Familiar with website operation and basic SEO tools like Google Analytics.
Creative creation
- Expert in Adobe Creative suits, including Photoshop, illustrator, and Indesign. Capable of creating stunning data visdulization and neat publications with them.
- Have good knowledge of user experience and design to creat UI prototypes with Adobe XD.
- Experienced in photography and Lightroom.
- Advanced user of Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.