Allied Architects Inc. has a mission to connect people and companies, which I agree with. In the company, my mission is to create services for our customers by utilizing technology. Nowadays, many people use SNS. At the same time, there is an increasing number of corporations who want to hear feedback from users and interact with them. I'm building a system for our customers (corporations) to make sales campaigns and interact with the fans of their products and services. The biggest job I have ever done was to be involved with the development project of our main service. There were several occasions when the project did not progress smoothly. When I encountered problems, I returned to the basics, had a rethink, and tried other methods to proceed. When problems occur, I do not run away from them and meet them head on because I think that process helps me learn. I would like to increase the interactions between people and corporations by utilizing SNS and technology.

In Vietnam, many jobs for IT engineers are downstream processes with tough deadlines which means there is no time to learn. On the other hand, jobs for IT engineers in Tokyo require a high level of skills and wide range of knowledge so that they can be involved with the entire work cycle from upstream processes, such as the planning and design of services, to development and review. My manager politely teaches me new work and technologies, and I am learning everyday through my work. It is still difficult for me to communicate with my colleagues. As I did not study in Japan, I'm learning Japanese while I work. When I encounter unfamiliar terms at work, I check the meaning of the term immediately. The company also provides me with training to improve my Japanese language ability. In six months since I started here, my Japanese colleagues have been making a "one-on-one communication space" by rotating for 30 minutes everyday, and we have been talking about many things such as work and life. I am getting use to it bit-by-bit and now can understand practical Japanese.

When I started going to a university, I saw a Japanese robot and became interested in advanced Japanese technologies. I wanted to work at a Japanese company and passed the HEDSPI Project* exam in the ITC Department after enrolling in Hanoi University of Science and Technology. While studying Japanese, I learned IT technologies, such as Ruby, Java, and C programming languages, in order to gain employment in a Japanese company. In the summer of my fourth year at university, I participated in a career open house for Japanese IT companies that specialize in such areas as SNS and games, and listened to the business details of my current company (Allied Architects Inc.). As I wanted to get involved in the growing market for SNS marketing, I took the entrance exam and was accepted by the company.
As I had more than six months from receiving the official job offer until graduation, even though I still had yet to join the company, the company invited me to Tokyo for five days to tour the company in Tokyo, and my colleagues took me sightseeing such as Asakusa. My first impression of Japan and Tokyo was that there were no motorbikes and people were walking!! (Laughs). After returning to Vietnam and graduating university, the company took care of my visa and residency status, and I was able to come to Japan.
*Higher Education Development Support Project on ICT (HEDSPI): A joint project between the governments of Japan and Vietnam to cultivate IT engineers at universities in Vietnam who can support the Japanese market.

When I started living in Japan, I struggled with Japanese food. The taste of Japanese food is different to Vietnam and I had a trouble with raw fish and could not eat it. After spending three months in Japan, I got used to it and can now eat anything. At the moment, my favorite food is shoyu ramen in Ebisu where the company is located. I use trains often to get around. At first, it looked a bit complicated as there are many train lines. However, I'm now totally used to it as there are applications on smartphones that I can use to find and get to my destination. Life in Tokyo is quite convenient as there are many shops, like as convenience stores, and I can get anything I want anywhere. There are a lot of greenery and big parks in the city. I often walk in Ueno Park with my friends on the weekends.