At Grab’s headquarters in Singapore, about 100 Vietnamese engineers are working, a relatively high number.
Many of the engineers went to Singapore to study and have worked there since finishing school. Others graduated from universities in Vietnam and applied for jobs from Vietnam.
Vietnamese engineers also work for large corporations in Singapore.
Ditesh Kumar, chief engineer of Grab, talking with Buu Dien’s reporters, affirmed that Vietnamese engineers at Grab have very good coding skills and work hard.
He said they are among the most industrious workers in the company and it is not by chance there are many Vietnamese engineers at Grab.
Kristine Phung, Product Director of Grab, said that engineers trained in Vietnam have good technical foundation and are capable of handling complicated works like engineers from other countries.
Vietnamese engineers now have many opportunities to work for large technology firms.
Kristine studied abroad many years ago and has been working for many European companies. In Singapore, she finally decided to choose Grab after nine interview rounds.
“The income of Vietnamese engineers in Singapore is high enough for them to live well,” Kristine said.
As for the weak points of Vietnamese engineers, Ditesh Kumar, an 8X generation worker, said young developers missed the first development stage of mobile devices. They grew up when smartphones mushroomed. Therefore, when developing products, they have forgotten about old-generation devices.
Kristine said English skills and self-confidence are what Vietnamese engineers need to improve. Good English skills allow them to communicate well with colleagues and have more career opportunities.
Vietnamese engineers’ English skills have improved considerably as many of them are trained overseas, while there are many teaching programs in English in Vietnam.
Kristine speaks standard English. Her team is in charge of developing apps for the drivers in the entire region.
At Grab in Singapore, most positions related to technology development are undertaken by Indians, while Vietnamese are not in high positions like Kristine.
India has a long history of doing software outsourcing and has experience from working with global technology firms. The gap between Indian and Vietnamese engineers is expected to narrow as Vietnamese more deeply integrate into the global technology sector.
In Vietnam, about 70 percent of managerial officers at Samsung Vietnam are Vietnamese. The figure would rise to 90 percent in the near future. S Pen, the stylus for Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, was created with the significant contribution of Vietnamese engineers.
