About Strong Bear’s Education

Strong Bear graduated from the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in 2010 as the valedictorian of his class. He was given a VEF fellowship to pursue a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at Clemson University in the United States. The fellowship covered all the tuition fee and living expenses. After one semester, Strong Bear decided to change his major to Computer Science and pursue a master’s degree despite being able to continue working on a PhD in Computer Science.

Deep down, he knew that he wanted to become an entrepreneur. After getting his degree from Clemson University in 2012, Strong Bear went back to Vietnam. He worked for BTM Global Consulting for 6 months as a Senior Software Developer. During that time, he spent his nights and weekends collaborating with friends to open Designveloper, a software design and development company, in April 2013.

Since then, Designveloper has grown from a small company with only six employees to a medium-sized business with more than 100 employees.

At the end of March 2019, Strong Bear was accepted to Berklee College of Music, which is the largest independent music school in the world. This was a big shift in his career. We could not wait to see what would come up next after his graduation.

Why did Strong Bear decide to start a business?

This was a big trade-off, since he wanted to start a business instead of getting a PhD.

“If you fall early, there are still many opportunities to get back up,” Strong Bear said. “Because if you wait too long to start something that you are passionate about, your enthusiasm will slowly fade, and you may even lose interest.” He started his own business at the age of 26.

About Designveloper

Strong Bear is the Co-founder and CEO of Designveloper. It was founded in early 2013. Designveloper is one of the leading software development companies in Vietnam. As of 2022, It has two office locations in Ho Chi Minh City with over 100 employees.

• Realizing ideas: The goal of Designveloper is to help small businesses and startups turn their ideas into real, useful solutions.
• Culture At Designveloper: A successful product for Designveloper is one that helps clients solve business problems and acquire growth.
• Designveloper’s clients: Clients bring us their ideas, and we help them design and build applications (web, mobile, etc.).

Initial difficulties in starting a business

During the first two year, Designveloper was in survival mode. Lots of trial and error. Because of lacking experience, mistakes are inevitable. Not only that, the first unexpected incident happened just fifteen days after the company’s grand opening. Strong Bear was in hospital for appendix removal.

Ask your friends if they want to help you start a business. Four out of six initial co-founders of Designveloper are Strong Bear’s friends at Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology. 

Even though all of his partners had little to none experience in both technical and company management, each one had taken a different role in the company, supported each other and avoided stepping on others’ toes. Then together they slowly figured out how to survive the business and move it to the next stage.

The whole team was working all the time. Because of the time difference, the team many times had to stay up all night to work nonstop for clients in the different time zones. But more importantly, the whole company still maintained the excitement to do their best because they loved what they were doing.

Journey to Berklee College of Music

Strong Bear had to take the entrance test in Singapore. There were a couple of testing sites but Singapore was the closest one to Vietnam.

There were only two Vietnamese candidates at that time. It was also the Tet holiday, the Vietnamese lunar new year holiday. Everyone was enjoying the holiday while Strong Bear needed to go through a rigorous process in order to get into Berklee.

The first thing was to perform a tune using his principal instrument, which is the electric guitar. The next thing was ear testing, where he was asked to identify the chords, the notes, melodies by listening to the judges playing. After that, he was asked to sight read a couple of written music. Finally, there was another 30 minutes interview.

Now, Strong Bear is doing double majors in Electronic Production & Design and Songwriting, double minors in Video Game Scoring and Electronic Performance.

Studying at Berklee and living in Boston is expensive. Does Strong Bear think that he would ever get back the money that he invested? To this, he said, “The best investment in yourself is education. Keep studying and add value to yourself.“

Strong Bear’s sharing for young people

To Strong Bear, there are three important things that you should take control of: finance, health, and education.

You must keep investing into these three things and find a balance between them and other aspects of your life. The most important of all is education. Education is the shortcut to do things in the right way. Invest your time and money into education and it will pay off nicely.

Contact Strong Bear

For more information, you can follow Mr. Hung Vo on social media

• Website: https://bear.ceo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongbear.ceo
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StrongBearCEO
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongbear.ceo
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/strongbearceo
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hungvodsv
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/strongbearCEO
• Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongbear.ceo
• Phone number: (+1)773-888-1155
• Contact: strong@bear.ceo
• Address: 39 Thayer Rd, Braintree, MA 02184, USA
• Google Entity https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ACrxj29RJH5WmoTjNNC76E0BKJWYx98k

The post Strong Bear – CEO of Designveloper appeared first on Designveloper.

I am Tran Thanh Tuan, a member of the June 2022 internship program at Designveloper (DSV). In just two short months, I gained a lot of knowledge and had many memorable experiences.

Opportunity to participate in the Designveloper internship program:

The June 2022 internship program at DSV coincided with the time for my graduation internship at my university (University of Technology Ho Chi Minh City). I initially consulted some companies with the right stack for my needs, including DSV. I also browsed review sites to learn about the companies, and almost only DSV had positive reviews, especially about the work environment.

As someone who transferred to a new industry to find a better work environment, I immediately felt that this was the place I should choose for my internship, with the hope of both experiencing a good work environment and learning as much as possible.

After preparing, I applied to the company’s internship program. With the support of Ms. Lan (HR Specialist) and the company’s streamlined internship recruitment process, the recruitment process went relatively smoothly. I then received an offer and was ready for my internship.

What I learned after 2 months at DSV:

First, about the DSV internship program, we were divided into groups of 10 members and were guided by mentor Liên Thanh Nhân, and we will be working on a project based on the Conduit application using the MERN stack in these 2 months. During the project implementation, I learned a lot from technical skills to teamwork.

The group’s mentor – Mr. Nhân is a Scrum Master, so our group also learned how to work in Scrum. The process of implementing the project will be divided into Sprints, each Sprint will include specific features, each Sprint will last for about 1-2 weeks. Every day, we will have daily meetings to report on the work we have completed and the challenges we have encountered. From this, the mentor can track the progress of each individual to provide advice and support to keep up with the other members. We were also reviewed by the mentor after each feature to improve code style or suggest additional technologies that should be applied. At the end of each Sprint, there will be a retro for the group to evaluate the entire Sprint process to learn from experience and improve further.

In addition, DSV also has a pairing culture. When working or encountering difficulties, I can pair programming with the mentor or any member in the group. Personally, I really like working in Scrum and the pairing culture because the members will communicate with each other a lot, which will improve work efficiency. In addition, it also helps the members to bond more than just each person working on their own.

In terms of technical skills, before starting my internship, in the projects at school, I only worked on ReactJS, the remaining technologies were almost new to me. Therefore, I really learned a lot. I also learned how to constantly research new knowledge to apply to the project. During the implementation, Mr. Nhân also suggested new technologies for me to apply. Thanks to that, my project has added some features that I am relatively satisfied with, such as automatically translating articles into the preferred language, and push notifications using Firebase Cloud Messaging. Everyone can check out my product here.

Weekly sharing is also an activity that the DSV internship brought me. Each member of the groups will choose a topic to share with everyone. Through sharing, we not only learn new knowledge but also help improve soft skills.

Other interesting experiences at DSV:

I’ve been talking about work so far, right? About the work environment, it’s exactly what I’ve found out. DSV has a young and dynamic work environment. The company’s staff are very open and friendly. Therefore, after just a few days, we have integrated into the company. And from there are the lunch hours playing “Three Kingdoms”, or the afternoons playing table tennis even though the whole team doesn’t know how to play. Recently, the company also organized a minigame. Our intern team also participated with the company’s staff in the latest minigame. Fortunately, a member of the team was the final winner and won the prize. Therefore, we were also happy. Activities like this make people bond more and also help the company culture to develop further.

The company is also relatively comfortable. If you are too tired to sit, you can work on a lazy chair for example. In terms of working hours, the company is also not too strict. The company also supports people to work remotely 2 days a week, but I rarely work remotely because it is very fun to come to the company, and I can meet and communicate directly with everyone. The company’s staff are also very proactive in their work. Therefore,

Here are some additional experiences I had at DSV:

• The company has a strong sense of community. The staff are very friendly and welcoming, and they go out of their way to make interns feel comfortable.
• The company offers a variety of social activities. These activities help to build camaraderie and create a fun and engaging work environment.
• The company is flexible and supportive. The company offers flexible working hours and remote work options, which allows employees to balance their work and personal lives.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to intern at DSV. It was a great experience that helped me learn and grow as a developer. I would highly recommend DSV to any student looking for a challenging and rewarding internship.

Here are some specific examples of the social activities I mentioned:

• The company organizes weekly lunch and learns, where interns and staff can learn about new technologies and trends.
• The company hosts monthly happy hours, where employees can socialize and network with each other.
• The company organizes occasional team-building activities, such as bowling or karaoke nights.

I hope this translation is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.

If you are looking for the same experiences as me, please find DSV!

If you are looking for a challenging and rewarding internship, I highly recommend Designveloper. I had a memorable and rewarding experience that helped me learn and grow as a developer. The company has a strong sense of community, offers a variety of social activities, and is flexible and supportive.

I encourage you to consider an internship at Designveloper if you are looking for a place to learn, grow, and have fun.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you have a great day!

The post Tran Thanh Tuan: A two-month internship at Designveloper: More than just an internship appeared first on Designveloper.

The two-month internship at DSV gave me not only new knowledge but also incredibly valuable memories. I can say that DSV gave me a great start on my career path.

I would like to introduce myself

After graduating from university, I was able to meet and work with highly skilled and energetic people. They have given me more motivation to strive even harder on my journey to pursue the dev industry in the future.

I became more open and sociable with everyone. I was able to integrate with people who share the same passion and enthusiasm. I met new friends and learned a lot from them. Indeed, DSV has helped me to realize my self-worth and accept change to improve myself.

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

What is the culture like at DSV?

Designveloper provides a dynamic, flexible, and non-restrictive environment that does not emphasize working hours, but still produces excellent work efficiency from all members of the company. I still remember playing Tam Quốc Sát with everyone during lunch breaks, which helped me relieve stress and replace the pressure of deadlines.

Or the times when the seniors would treat us to bubble tea, etc. These things will be etched in my mind, like beautiful memories, marking the starting point for a new journey – leaving university and stepping into the world. I am lucky to have worked with a mentor who is passionate about his work – Mr. Liên Thanh Nhân.

You have become an ideal role model for me as a highly skilled programmer, always willing to help and share your valuable experiences with us. I really appreciate your help. In addition, there are also Mr. Cong and Mr. Son, who have always been very enthusiastic in teaching and sharing with me their precious knowledge. Finally, my dear team 1 members, I will always cherish the moments we have had together.

The internship program is over, there will be no more early mornings to get to work, no more late nights fixing bugs. What I have gained after 2 months of working at DSV is valuable experience, both in terms of expertise and life, new relationships that I will always cherish and treasure in the future.

Trần Hoàng Khôi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khoi.tran312

Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/designveloper/internal/internship-130622/group_1/khoith

The post Tran Hoang Khoi: Two Months Internship at Designveloper appeared first on Designveloper.

How did you become one of the interns at DSV?

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

In order to prepare students for the workforce after graduation, the University of Technology and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have partnered with major technology companies in Ho Chi Minh City to organize an internship program. Here, we can learn more about the environment and work at companies, as well as find a suitable path for ourselves. Seizing this opportunity, I submitted an internship application to DSV and had the opportunity to intern here.

How did you become one of the interns at DSV?

To prepare students for the workforce after graduation, the University of Technology and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have partnered with major technology companies in Ho Chi Minh City to organize an internship program. Here, we can learn more about the environment and work at companies, as well as find a suitable path for ourselves. Seizing this opportunity, I submitted an internship application to DSV and had the opportunity to intern here.

What do you think are the pros of Designveloper?

Before this, I had never worked in a company before, so I was quite worried about whether the company environment would be good or not, and whether it would be suitable for me. However, after more than 2 months of studying and working at DSV, I found that the environment here is very comfortable and professional. Mentor Nhân and the other interns, as well as the seniors, are all open-minded and always willing to support interns.

What have you learned after more than 2 months of working here?

Under the careful guidance of Mentor Nhân, I have improved and developed my programming and thinking skills through the issues and advice he has given me. In addition, I have also learned many new knowledge from my fellow interns and seniors through the weekly knowledge sharing sessions.

What do you think about more than 2 months of working here?

During my time working here, I feel like I have grown and learned a lot. In addition to work, the company is also flexible with working hours and provides a space for employees to play and relax.

This creates a sense of comfort, everyone communicates and has fun, opening up to improve the spirit of teamwork. Interning at DSV is a very beneficial and wonderful experience for me.

The post Thuý Ngân, “Bánh bèo” from “Làng Dev” interning at DSV appeared first on Designveloper.

I am Phạm Ngọc Mạnh, a third-year student majoring in Computer Science at the University of Technology. I recently had the opportunity to intern at Designveloper for over two months. During this time, I had the opportunity to experience many new and beneficial things.

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

The working environment

I was very impressed with the working environment at Designveloper. The company has a comfortable working environment, flexible working hours, and creates a space for employees to play and relax. This helps everyone feel comfortable and have a better work ethic.

The mentors

I had the opportunity to work with mentors who were very enthusiastic and dedicated. They taught me a lot about both professional knowledge and soft skills. I am very grateful for their guidance and support.

The other interns

I also had the opportunity to work with other interns who were very friendly and supportive. We helped each other learn and grow.

Conclusion

I feel that my time interning at Designveloper was a very beneficial and wonderful experience. I have grown and developed a lot since then. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have interned at Designveloper.

Here are some specific things I learned during my internship:

• I learned a lot about the front-end development process, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• I learned how to work on a team and collaborate with others.
• I learned how to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• I learned how to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

I am very excited to apply the knowledge and skills I learned at Designveloper to my future career. I am confident that I will be a valuable asset to any company.

The post Phạm Ngọc Mạnh: My reflections on my recent internship appeared first on Designveloper.

A little bit of nostalgia

So, it’s only a week or so before the two-month internship is over. “Two months” is not a long time, but it is enough to leave me with many beautiful memories. Just a while ago, I was still feeling a bit confused when I first stepped into a big technology company like DSV. But now, I feel a bit sad when I think that I will soon have to say goodbye to this great family.

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

What did I learn at DSV?

First of all, it must be about code. I used to think that I was not good at programming, and my technical skills were only at a basic level. I knew a lot of things, but only at the conceptual level and had never applied them to any real projects. In comparison, the people around me were really good, which made me feel a little bit insecure about myself. “Will I be able to pass the internship?” That was the question I always asked myself every morning when I woke up. But that was also the motivation that kept me trying harder every day.

The people at DSV

I am very impressed with the working environment at DSV. The company has a comfortable working environment, flexible working hours, and creates a space for employees to play and relax. This helps everyone feel comfortable and have a better work ethic.

At DSV, I had the opportunity to work with mentors, fellow interns, and senior employees who were very enthusiastic and dedicated. I learned a lot from them, both in terms of professional knowledge and soft skills.

I feel that my time interning at DSV was a very beneficial and wonderful experience. I have grown and developed a lot since then. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have interned at Designveloper.

Here are some specific things I learned during my internship:

• I learned a lot about the full-stack development process, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, and Node.js.
• I learned how to work on a team and collaborate with others.
• I learned how to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• I learned how to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

I am very excited to apply the knowledge and skills I learned at Designveloper to my future career. I am confident that I will be a valuable asset to any company.

The advice for future interns

If you are a student who is looking for an internship, I would highly recommend Designveloper. It is a great place to learn and grow. Here are some tips for future interns:

• Be prepared to work hard. Internships are not just about learning, but also about applying what you have learned.
• Be open to feedback. Your mentors and colleagues are there to help you improve.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

I hope that my experience at Designveloper will be helpful to you.

The post Nguyen Van Bao Khanh: Let DSV Lead You to Success appeared first on Designveloper.

I am Nguyễn Trần Hoàng, a third-year student majoring in Computer Science at the University of Technology. I recently had the opportunity to intern at Designveloper for over two months. During this time, I had the opportunity to experience many new and beneficial things.

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

The first month

The first week was spent getting to know the company and the internship topic. As it was the first week, I faced many challenges. The team members and mentors were all new to me. Although most of them were from Bách Khoa University, we were not friends. Therefore, the first week was mainly for socializing and making friends.

For IT people in general, entertainment is very important. After hours of stressful coding, playing Tam Quốc Sát is not a bad choice. We used to play after lunch, which was the most free time of the day because we had to code again in the afternoon. Through playing games together, we also became closer and talked more. From there, we could exchange and support each other on code and technical issues.

2nd month

As the internship progressed, we grew closer as we played games and spent more time together. In the second month, the company installed a table tennis table on the third floor for employees to use for recreation. Of course, we couldn’t resist trying it out.

However, the deadline was approaching, and we didn’t have much time left. This meant that our time together was coming to an end.

After two months of internship, I not only gained knowledge but also many memories. I will never forget the times we played Tam Quốc Sát, or the times we were so tired that we couldn’t even play.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have such amazing mentors and teammates. They made my internship an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait to meet everyone again and play Tam Quốc Sát.

The post Nguyen Tran Hoang: Two months of internship at DSV appeared first on Designveloper.

A little introduction about myself!

I am Nam, an intern participating in the June 2022 batch of DSV. I come from Binh Dinh, a place known as the land of martial arts, but I don’t know martial arts. At the time of my internship here, I was a third-year student majoring in computer science at Ho Chi Minh University of Technology.

What makes me intern at DSV?

At that time, it was during the summer term, which was also my school’s internship period. At that time, I also had quite a bit of knowledge about web programming through major exercises at school and some knowledge I learned on my own online. After searching for internship companies in many places, I saw DSV’s job posting. I was really impressed with it when I saw that the job position was very suitable for the knowledge I had learned about the JS language. So I quickly submitted my CV to the company and did not forget to invite my friends to submit it together. Luckily, we prepared carefully and completed the test required by the company. So we pulled each other into the company with joy and looked forward to a wonderful internship.

Recommended reading: DSV Internship Program 2022

What were the surprises and good things when you first joined the company?

Before joining the company, I also looked through the reviews about the company which sounded very good. But when I started interning at the company, I realized it was much better, for everyone. On the first day of joining the company, we interns were given a party to welcome new members of the company with a warm welcome from everyone in the company. We were introduced to the history of the formation and development of the company and introduced many interesting rules of the company. And after the period of introducing and instructing us on how to work, we were so full that we forgot the way home, in general, we were very full.

The company buys a lot of courses on Udemy for employees and interns like us. There are many courses so employees can freely study. The first week, we were allowed not to go to the company but just stay at home to review basic knowledge. However, I was very excited, so I went to the company for a whole week to ask my mentor for lessons. Overall, the first impression of the company is quite good.

What challenges pose for you?

For me, the required knowledge of the internship is not too difficult because I have already researched and worked on it. However, with the enthusiastic guidance of my mentor, I discovered many things about myself that were not really good and needed to be corrected and supplemented. According to the previous coding style, I only need to care about my website running correctly for its intended purpose and that’s it. Everything went quite smoothly because I’m also a person who loves to code. If I really started working, I could code for many hours without getting tired, so at first I did the requirements quite quickly. But everything is not that simple. After many reviews from my mentor, I saw many bad points appearing for my project such as files being too long, repeating code a lot, etc. Many problems appeared one after another, making me feel quite pressured. In addition, there are also many technologies that I have never encountered before, causing me to spend a lot of time researching and working with them.

How to solve it and what I learned from it?

Seeing those problems, I searched and consulted many places to find solutions and seriously fix them. My code is cleaner than before and I have learned many skills from my mentor. Besides, I also learned more advanced technology to solve my project’s problems from interns in the same course instead of running code that took a lot of time like before. Being young like me, it is impossible for such difficulties to happen, but thanks to the enthusiastic help from mentors and everyone, I have a lot of motivation to continue to develop myself even more.

What’s interesting about working at DSV?

Putting aside the difficulties at work, DSV is truly a truly wonderful place. The company is not too restrictive on employees’ working hours, and working hours are flexible and comfortable. Everyone, from interns like me to long-time employees in the company, interacts with each other in a truly dynamic, sociable, and close manner like a family. The company often gathers together to play during breaks, physical games such as table tennis, table tennis,… as well as intellectual games played in groups such as Tam Quoc Sat, Exploding Cat, etc. Playing like that makes everyone in the company connect closer together. I often play Three Kingdoms with everyone the most, but I often get kicked out early because everyone hates me…!! It’s fun to play, everyone. After coding when you’re tired, playing like this helps developers like me clear your mind a lot.

Advice for interns as well as new employees?

DSV’s environment is really comfortable, open, and dynamic, so anyone who wants to work in such an environment should come here. However, everyone should not spend too much time playing, otherwise missing the deadline will not be good. As for knowledge, it is mainly due to self-exploration and learning, not too dependent on anyone.

Thank you everyone for reading this Blog!

The post Nguyen Hoai Nam: Let DSV Lead You to Success appeared first on Designveloper.

Let’s introduce yourself in 2 minutes!

I’ve been working there for more than 3 years. The first day at work was February 14, so it’s like a long-term relationship, well, longer than I’ve ever thought. Before that, I had chances to work for several companies of different sizes, from SMEs to enterprises, etc. Eventually, I decided to stay with Designveloper for some more while.

At first, I was a full-stack developer like you guys. And during my stay, the company became bigger and bigger, the number of projects was kept steady, and I had more opportunities to prove my skills and got promoted to the current position.

At the moment, I am ODC’s project leader. I did lead some other projects, small ones, Lumin and now ODC.

How about your strengths and weaknesses?

Firstly, I have a great passion for technology, kind of a techaholic. If there is something new or inspiring that makes me interested, I’ll spend time doing research on it. I can also adapt to new technology trends really quickly. Speaking of this, at the moment our team took on ODC, there was no one who had experience in coding with Go. This was a very trendy programming language a few years ago. As a result, we almost refused this project. Just after taking on this deal, we started to study, and join in several tech talks, meetings, etc. to get familiar with it. Finally, we were able to gain trust from the client and upscale ODC to a fairly big project like it is at the moment.

We worked with them on another project, but just took care of a small part of it, about 5% of the whole project. Now, we’re responsible for 100% of the workload that is related to technical matters.

And that’s the first strength.

The second one is that all of my activities are planned strictly. They all follow a timeline organized in my mind. I never write it on paper to show off with anyone but when something happened, it happened just like what I’d imagined.

About my weaknesses, I have issues with internal conflict.

It’s like when I was a developer, I approached the object in a very logical way and put technical factors first. Later on, after being promoted to this position, my responsibility changed to managing team members, working with clients, and solving business puzzles. There are a lot of factors that can affect my decisions.

That being said, some of them are not what I wanted, but what needed opting in to optimize the benefits of all parties. That’s what I hate and also my greatest weakness.

Do you have any hobbies?

Of course! I play sports a lot. And I did join in some check and badminton competitions. That’s an old story. Now, I only play badminton and swim.

I saw that you had a garden, how is it?

This hobby has just appeared lately. I have a small garden at home so I wanted to plant vegetables because there was plenty of free time as the pandemic was at its peak then.

For me, planting was a brand new experience, there are a lot of nice things to learn.

My small garden is all withered now since it rained a lot a few weeks ago. I’ll start taking care of it when the dry season comes. But I am really happy because there were 2 to 3 crops harvested.

How did you know about Designveloper to work here?

Actually, I began my career very early. That day, I had no idea what web development was. It’s because I was a BKU student. I had a general knowledge of things but not really profound and could not apply them to work. However, at the same time, I also thought: “Yeah, why don’t find a job and earn some money?” Then there it went. At work, my mindset was what people noticed, not my skills as there was nothing back then.

I worked there during my junior year. Until the last year of university, I quit it and worked as a part-timer for some small businesses.

It was the party after my graduation with Xỉn and Thái –  we were classmates – where I asked them about their plans and company stuff. Designveloper was pretty fun to me and “anh Hùng” was cool too. The company introduced me to a lot of new things and the people here were really young, so we arranged an interview. After 2 or 3 interviews at other places, I decided to work at Designveloper from then on

What are your main responsibilities?

Talking about the client aspect, I’m working like OCD’s CTO. They had a CTO once but he lacked experience, he was really good though. After his leave, I take care of everything relating to technical matters.

And at Designveloper, I am both the project’s PM and technical lead. I make decisions about technologies, human resources, and business to earn more revenue.

Which is the most memorable project?

The most memorable project is Lumin. At the time I started to work here, I coded for internal projects. The size of our company was very small back in the day, only 13 – 14 staff in total. Each developer would work on 2 to 3 projects. When my skill got better, I joined some profitable projects. And the first one was Lumin.

From then on, I started to improve the quality of Lumin and gained trust from that client. I did propose some ideas relating to technologies and their structure too. After a while, I promoted myself to be the project lead.

I was like the very first team lead of Lumin and the first self-promoted lead of the company. ( :V ) I’m really proud of this achievement.

Please share with us all the challenges when you work for Designveloper.

It will be boring if I talk about technical challenges. But well, there is a lot of new stuff to learn. I thought that working on a project – Lumin, at the time – was the best suit for me and I could make profits from it too. So I promoted myself and studied it. It’s quite difficult and took 2 to 3 months to launch the idea I proposed previously. I felt really happy because this was a very hard job in terms of technology.

So it means Lumin is more difficult to handle?

Those two pose different obstacles.

Firstly, when developing Lumin, there was no defined structure at all. Secondly, every team member had equal responsibility. But after becoming the team lead, I had to be in charge more and my decisions could affect others even more. When working with the Lumin team, I was kinda young. Plus, the project had no defined structure and its technology was hard to understand.

And at the moment we started ODC, my skills were pretty good. However, my responsibility for it is way heavier. I have to take on ideas from others too. That’s why it’s more stressful to work on this project.

And the experiences you’ve gained?

When talking about the most practical and precious experience here, I think it’s proactiveness. People have to show that they are proactive by some approaches I’ve just mentioned:

+ First, you have to propose anything you have in mind to improve the project, the workflow, or even the company’s structure, etc. For example, we didn’t have a marketing department at first, so “anh Rắc” (Triệu – HRM) must carry everything. If you believe this is not a good approach, just share it with us! In short, my idea is that you have to actively contribute ideas to let people know that you care and you want to improve things. Not just come to the office, code, then receive the salary, and go home.

+ Ownership is the second factor. It’s shown in many aspects. For example, getting a task means that you have to control it, not just complete, deliver, and voila! Instead, delivering the product is not the final step, you have to take care of it for good and all. As for your part in the team, you have to control your personality to connect with others and connect with each member of the team.

What are the upsides of Designveloper?

I think this is a common compliment for our company: the team is really young. So, we always take on reviews and criticisms, then adapt to it. This culture begins from day one and is still doing well up to now. And that’s the best thing when working here. We should carry this on to retain our talents and attract others.

It’s a bit awkward to talk about the thing that needs improving. So, there was once I talked about our vision for the company with “anh Hùng” and “anh Hà”. Well, “anh Hùng” just wanted to build a superteam with just 30 members who are really talented and can carry multiple responsibilities. As for “anh Hà”, he wanted to expand the team size just like any other tech company, the more projects, the bigger the company is. So, this is the conflict that they should compromise on to create a clear vision so that senior staff can decide if they should continue to work here.

However, after having a convo with “anh Hà”, I think we have a solid vision now. I mean, he wants to expand our company to the size of 60-70 members and establish a strong base. I think it’s good, and this is one of the reasons that makes me stay here.

To you, what was the most memorable event during your time working here?

Because of having had experience beforehand so I asked if I could just be on 1-month probation instead of 2. Back in the day, “anh Hùng” directly worked with us. So, after 1 month of probation, anh Hùng asked to meet me and said: “I don’t think you fit it here”. It was like I worked all alone and had excessive pride. That was why I was not suitable for the company culture as well as the work-in-a-pair concept.

Back then, the pair programming technique was applied absolutely. So yeah, I couldn’t work in a pair, and that’s the main point of all of this. Then, “anh Hùng” went on, “Unless you change to adapt, you can resign now.” At that moment, there were many things happening all at once, so I had to change myself. Well, that one month went pretty well But I had to be on probation for 1 more month and didn’t receive any salary or only a half of it.

At that point, I started to live independently in terms of financials, so it was pretty tough. However, it was “anh Rắc” who helped me a lot, both with work and money. And that’s what makes me volunteer to be in this long and complicated “relationship”. Anh Rắc still helps me a lot up until now.

So it must be really strict back then?

No, the environment was not that serious or something, but the pair programming execution was. So we really focused on work, but work hard, play hard.

Zone 8 is just the same. People often think that we always work silently and seem to be boring. Actually, it’s not.

We do focus on work, however, we still party hard. That’s called the micro-culture that I want to build up here. Not something that people always talk about like “it’s so silent there” or “does Cong force them to act this way?”

Once you work at Zone 8 or have a conversation with people here, you will understand that this silence is a normal thing. Because you have to choose between your comfort and your focus. One of them must be more important. It’s difficult but I decide that focus should win. That’s why Zone 8 is different from Zone 5.

Who is the DSV-er you respect the most?

Just like what “anh Hùng” said – I like to be a lone wolf and don’t want to depend on people so I don’t really idolize anyone. But if we are talking about the one that I respect the most here, it’d be “anh Rắc”. I did mention it right? He helps me relentlessly from the day I started working here.

I am a proactive person, whenever I think of an idea, I’ll propose it at once. After all, this is a “safe-to-fail” environment. It’s really annoying if we don’t have an opportunity to test our idea. However, at the time, reaching out to “anh Hà” and “anh Hùng” was a hard task, that’s why I always shared my thoughts about company stuff with “anh Rắc”.

What is your future plan?

As mentioned before, I’m a plan-driven person, there are short-term and long-term plans. I also talk about it when discussing it with the BOD. 

In a short term, for 1 to 2 years, I will still work here, of course. And in 5 years, or the long term, I don’t really know it for sure. However, I want to start a business related to my strength which is a technology with my own idea, and maybe partner with some insiders too.

Do you have any advice for us?

First of all, let’s talk about freshers. They often care only for technical knowledge and skills and just ignore soft skills. I made the same mistake too. I graduated with a technical major and was really bad at teamwork, and presentation in front of clients, or even team members. You might be stressed because of studying at school, of course, but my suggestion is that let’s spend some time on improving your soft skills during your 3rd or 4th year.

For DSV newbies, I think you should be proactive. Try to propose your ideas related to work, technology, the working process, etc. Leadership and ownership are needed to climb the career ladder in this field. It is just like how you express your personality, the more, the better. But if you just want to work as a knowledgeable robot, then stay the same. This applies to other teams too.

Is there anything else you want to address?

So, could I talk a bit about the culture of our two zones?

We moved to Zone 8 because it was too crowded in Zone 5 and not only ODC went there but also the design team. Our team had only 4-5 members back then.

At that moment, our culture stayed the same. However, as we expanded, we accounted for 80-90% of members there so our culture was defined and a huge difference arose.

Since then, people from Zone 5 just don’t want to come here and vice versa. I’m aware of this issue. But as mentioned before, it’s impossible to achieve the work-fun balance. And the kind of culture that I want to structure here is to focus.

Actually, it’s comfortable to be here because I don’t force people to work or play in a certain way at all. After all, I hope that the event and marketing team will be able to create a shared environment to communicate more. It sounds a bit generic but the idea is to help people understand each other because when there is such an environment they may share things like: “Well, how you doing? It feels weird here!” or “People spend too much time playing around! I need silence!” And people have a chance to know which environment they like more to choose the most suitable culture. That’s the thought of me as well as my team.

Thank you for sharing your valuable opinions. Have a great day!

The post Cong Pham: “It’s Like a Long-term Relationship!” appeared first on Designveloper.

Let’s have a talk with them to know more about him and his time in Designveloper!

So, let’s start by introducing a bit about yourself.

I’m Son Nguyen, 24 years old, and have been working for Designveloper for more than 2 years.

How about your hobbies?

I love playing games and money. Everybody loves it, right?

How did you become one of the DSV-ers?

While I was an intern for a company named Z, Tuan Dinh and Tai Kim – they are my college friends –  just recommended me to join with them and start working in Designveloper. These two told me that the company asked developers to work in pairs or pair programming, and this was a very productive method. Also, they’d learned a lot here. So I just thought this sounded really fun.

And I felt that a small team could empower me to make decisions and take control of things. Otherwise, if I had worked for a large-scaled company, all I could do would have been what people told me to.

What do you see as good points when talking about Designveloper?

Technically, the first good thing I noticed is that I’ve learned a lot here. Since the team size is small, so to deliver a feature, its members have to do the research themselves, for example, the technical stack. Thus, every team player can be involved in the working process. This way, your knowledge will be obtained faster. As for big companies, there are PMs and they will study and design everything beforehand, then give us specifications and have us working based exactly on that.

Secondly, I have a lot of chances to communicate with clients and other staff. Of course, people from other firms do talk to each other but this is not as open and direct as it is here. It means you can contribute to others’ decisions. For example, if there is a design that makes you feel not right, you can say it straight away. That’s the case when you work here. In other companies, you just code according to the design, no more or less.

How about the challenges?

An environment for self-study gives you a lot of chances but it poses challenges too. To learn enough or more than that, you have to work very hard and sometimes things go wrong. It’s very different than when there is someone to lead the way. So, your knowledge will increase fast but there are obstacles too.

And after 2 years of working here, what did you learn?

As I have been involved in many projects, the first thing would be my communication skills and English skills. It is thanks to all the opportunities to discuss with foreign clients. And it’s verbal communication not just messaging.

Except for the fact that now I’m more confident when talking to foreigners, I’ve been acquiring knowledge as every project has its own technical stack and up to now, I’ve joined a lot. So, even though I cannot claim that I know a lot but a bit and piece of everything, back-end, front-end, database, DevOps, etc.

And last but not least, of course, it’s the workplace. It’s flexible in terms of time and place. You can work at the company or from home, whatever. However, I like to go to the office as my productivity is better here. The environment is open and fun as people are about my age.

What’s your responsibility here?

I’m a full-stack developer for the AHA project. This is an e-commerce website working just like Tiki: a marketplace that sells their and their partners’ goods.

So, which is the most memorable project for you?

Most memorable project? Let me see, there are a lot. Switchboard maybe, This was the longest and most difficult project. It was also the project that used the oldest technologies I’ve ever known.

As I said, this project was really difficult. The client works in the energy industry. At the moment I took part in, Switchboard had been developed for 5 years. At first, the client just used it for internal purposes. Later, they wanted to scale the software up to sell the service to other companies. 

Switchboard was developed 5 years prior to the time I joined in, so the plan to expand it was a hard mission. And we just couldn’t build everything from scratch. This approach would cost a lot of time, capital, and effort.

This is the project making me aware of how I should pick up technologies so that the software could be upscaled in the future.

I just heard that you were the mentor that coached most mentees last year. How do you feel?

The main purpose of this is, of course, to instruct them but partly, this is an activity that gives me a chance to look back to basic knowledge.

As a mentor, you have to understand the working process, technologies, and basic stacks, only then you can pass the knowledge to others.

And if there are some issues in the middle of the project, you have to research to answer, explain, or study with them. This is a win-win situation.

I like to work with mentees. I can share knowledge and best practices that I keep coming back to with people and they will give me something useful.

What do you think about the 2 years of working here?

Well, this is a young company and suitable for people who want to develop themselves. But nothing is 100% perfect, thus, Designveloper has some downsides but we, employees, are listened to, and things are gradually changing. You must know that changes cannot be done overnight.

Is there any other things that you want to address?

For me, many colleagues care a lot about their benefits and perks to improve their living standards. That’s the first thing.

Secondly, I did talk about the working process and at the moment, everything is fine as we’ve started to apply Scrum for more than a year. However, I’d love to apply to Kanban too.

I personally adore Kanban and Kaizen. There is a physical board and you will divide it into several columns and use sticky notes to write on it. Team members will take a look at the board every morning to learn if there are any changes made in the project. This way, everything is more visible and intuitive. After several sprints, there will be a meeting to look back at everything and improve our performance.

Recommended reading: Cong Pham: “It’s like a long-term relationship!”

What is your most unforgettable moment with Designveloper?

I’m a forgetful person so every moment just feels the same. Oh, there is one, that one time I traveled to Thailand with our company. I was tricked to buy some supplements here. These things cost me 3 – 4 million VND. I planned to buy these as a gift for my parents but turned out, nothing was nourishing like what they promoted at all.

Such a pity! So, to end this interview, do you have any advice for newbies who want to work in the software development industry?

Well, once you decide to join this field, it’s important to develop your self-study and researching skills because this is always an ever-changing industry.

Secondly, you guys should have a good technical base as it’s required to learn things fast. For example, even if one just graduates from school and starts a software development career, they must know how to submit forms, render a standard website, etc. Basic knowledge will help you understand advanced ones easier.

Lastly, you should go for common technologies, don’t just blindly follow trends. These trends might be put to an end soon, therefore, it would be difficult to maintain and expand your product. Besides, when you master widely-used technologies, high chances are that you’ll find a job easier or resolve a problem faster as there are a lot of documents and the community is large.

Thank you for all the insightful inputs. See ya!

The post Son Nguyen: I’ve Learned a Lot Here appeared first on Designveloper.