Category: Alice

After taking some time to evaluate my internship experience, I can honestly say that I am satisfied with my performance. Treating my internship as a real job is what I think allowed me to succeed in my position. I would always show my commitment, be early to work, and take on as many responsibilities as possible (even some that were outside of my comfort zone).  I would try my best to always turn in my best work and sometimes found it necessary to continue working on projects after I clocked out. Striving to network with as many employees as possible was also important to me. This was not a simple task as English was not everyone’s first language in my office, but I am happy with my efforts that ultimately made my workplace feel more like home. Overall, I am proud of my dedication and ability to go the extra mile.

Something that has always been more challenging for me is asking for help. However, I believe that I improved this quality during my internship because I would push myself to ask as many questions as I needed to before starting my assignments. Although I learned so much about marketing during this experience, I now see how much room I still have to grow. One thing that I wish I would have done is taken more time to review marketing strategies and terms before my internship to be more prepared. An aspect of content marketing that I specifically need to work on is writing professional articles. I had to put in so much effort to make my article readable, clear, and ready to be published on my company’s website. I will make sure to improve my writing skills in the future through taking classes.

This experience has solidified my choice of pursuing a degree in marketing. Although I have not had that much marketing experience in the past, I can definitely see myself working in this field. I was also able to become accustomed to the office environment. Sitting and remaining focused for nine hours straight, five days a week is not an easy task for someone who always loves being active. I quickly became comfortable with this more time I spent in the office.

My key take aways are not to be afraid to ask questions and go with the flow. Asking questions permitted me to gain more skills and made me more confident in my professional abilities in general. Also, I learned how to be more spontaneous. Going on impulsive weekend trips to different countries with my friends created some of the best learning experiences. Traveling around a different country without any plans, phone service, or without any knowledge of the language was definitely a challenge, but it forced me to think on the spot and gain some street smarts.

This experience was one of the most significant highlights of my schooling career. I would see myself grow both personally and professionally on a weekly basis, and although this time is coming to an end, I am positive that I the lessons I learned will continue impacting me in the future.

The most memorable moment of my internship was tabling and assisting my supervisors at the World Gaming Executive Summit in Barcelona. I truly felt like part of the company and that I was able to positively represent it at such an influential event. Being able to experience the extensive networking that was occurring between executives in the gaming/gambling industries was an impactful learning experience as it allowed me to understand the importance of forming connections in the business setting. I was also able to document the summit with photos and videos that will be used to create promotional materials shortly as well. In my opinion, it is exciting to think that I played a part in helping to spread the word about my company and that my work will be used to advertise it. This trip was unexpected, exciting, and allowed me to learn so much about event marketing while getting a glimpse into some of the differences between European and Asian business culture.

My most significant professional accomplishment in my internship was having my infographics published on social media. It would take days to search for the proper data online and then actually design and create the info graph. Because it was such a long process, it would be gratifying to finally see each of them online while increasing social media engagement and web traffic.

After spending two months living and working in Vietnam, I have acquired a deeper understanding of the importance of taking risks and agreeing to experience what is not expected. In the past, I would become uneasy if something was not planned thoroughly. After having a few unplanned encounters in HCMC that ended up being incredible experiences, I now know how crucial it is to take every opportunity to get outside of my comfort zone, even if I was not awaiting it. This is essentially what broadens your horizons and makes you a stronger individual overall. Although I used to believe that I was open-minded before this trip, I now realized that I still have a long way to go, but I am getting there one step at a time. For example, before I was not open to permanently living and working abroad one day, but today I am genuinely considering it. I also have more faith in myself because living in an Asian country without knowing the language is not easy, but I was able to accomplish just that.

Spending five weeks working at my company and doing research regarding tech and blockchain has allowed me to understand that the IT industry is booming. At the moment, it has the highest growth potential out of all the sectors and it only continues to expand. There is some uncertainty surrounding the blockchain industry, and it will take time for it to become more accepted worldwide.  

I believe that before conducting a proper SWOT analysis, I would have to spend a few months working for my company. What I have observed in these past few weeks, however, is that my company has many strengths that I am confident will take it far in the future. It is currently the number one dRNG company on the market with the fastest decentralized random number generation (one million random numbers per second). There are some competitors out there; however, they are in their beginning stages, and GINAR is by far ahead of all of them. I also noticed that another strength is a passionate staff that genuinely cares about the company’s progress. GINAR’s team is small, but everyone seems to be hardworking and have a great conviction. This was especially evident at the recent trade show we attended, where they were making considerable efforts to network with as many industry leaders as possible. Although the employees are great, it seems like there could be more team members onboard. In my opinion, a weakness would be understaffing. There is so much potential for the company, and having more team members would make it easier to attain goals and help it progress even faster. An opportunity stems from the changing views about blockchain technology. More and more people and companies are starting to view blockchain in a positive light and are beginning to understand the benefits of it. Because of this, an opportunity is an emerging desire of dRNG to make the iGaming industry safer and more transparent for both users and operators. I would say that a possible threat is emerging competitors. Although there are not very many similar companies on the market, this might change when dRNG becomes more popular.

An amazing moment that I have had in HCMC has been networking with a group of people that I met during dinner a few weeks ago. I personally love talking to anyone in Saigon, especially expats, because I adore hearing how and why they ended up working in Vietnam. It made me content to see how open they were to discuss their stories with me and we ended up having a very meaningful conversation together.

The most challenging aspect of my internship was gaining a profound understanding of blockchain technology and how it applies to my company. Before starting this internship, I did not have any experience working in the IT industry and had a minimal understanding of blockchain and dRNGs, which are the main aspects of my company. In order to succeed in my marketing position, I found it necessary to learn more about these complicated subjects. I read many articles and attended a blockchain training session in the office in order to gain a better understanding of them. Although I am still far from becoming a blockchain expert, it is definitely easier for me to create infographics and discuss the benefits of this technology with potential clients. Before arriving to Vietnam, I could not imagine myself working in the IT industry in the future. I believed that I would not be able to wrap my head around all of the techy topics in this field, which discouraged me from applying to a few internships. Now I understand that it is not necessary to completely comprehend these topics if you are on the marketing team and that only a general understanding will do. Because of this, I no longer feel intimidated of applying to internships in the IT field, which opens doors to many potential opportunities for me.

A positive feature of my internship is being able to collaborate with my co-worker. I was expecting to have to work independently for the majority of the day, but we actually get to work on similar tasks together and often help each other out. Another aspect that I enjoy is that I am given a wide range of assignments that keep me busy throughout the entire day, so I never find myself bored or uninterested.  As someone who enjoys being creative, I was concerned that I would not be able to use this quality of mine in this internship, but I was wrong. I have been assigned many tasks in which I can use my creativity and digital imaging skills.

I discovered my favorite Vietnamese dish at the office. Every morning, all of the employees receive an email with a survey link to input their lunch selection for the day. A few weeks ago, I decided to be adventurous and select the pork-stuffed tofu dish as my lunch choice, even though I previously did not enjoy tofu. As the name suggests, this dish consists of fried tofu with pork on the inside, drenched with tomato sauce.  It was absolutely delicious, and I am so glad that I tried something that I was expecting to absolutely hate.

At my internship, it is usual for me to be given a few tasks that I can work on at a time. Some of them have due dates, and others are assignments that I must work on continuously throughout my internship. Currently, I have completed two of the six infographics I must create, and both of them have been posted on the company’s social media accounts. I have also researched the businesses that my company will have meetings with during the summit in Barcelona. It was required of me to find specific information on each company such as their target market, industry partners, recent projects, all social media links, and put this all into one organized spreadsheet. Another task that I am currently working on is updating their blog articles by adding internal links using longtail keywords and editing all of the titles to increase click-throughs.

In the last four weeks, I have a few tasks that I hope to accomplish. For example, during the summit in Spain, I will be in charge of documenting everything for social media. I hope to take relevant photos and videos and create posts that will summarize the event. I will also be networking with executives at our booth, so another goal of mine is to network with as many people as I can to spread the word about the company. I hope to learn as much as possible about event marketing and ask my supervisor any questions I may have about it during the summit as well. Also, I would enjoy writing a few blog articles about the conference or online gaming in general. Overall, I would like to continue engaging in any tasks that will help increase my company’s visibility.

I have a positive relationship with my supervisor and co-workers. They are very approachable, and I feel welcome to ask questions, clarify my tasks, and speak up during meetings. We work independently for most of the day but have marketing meetings on a daily basis to go over what we have completed and our upcoming tasks. One strength that we have in common is our ability to work autonomously. Working without a lot of supervision and being able to make our own decisions is a vital skill to have in my workplace. My co-worker and I are able to work ahead without needing many directions from my supervisor, and we both use this mindset to think of new tasks to work on. My supervisor’s strength is mentorship. He spends time going over specific marketing strategies and is direct and clear, making it easy to follow along. I believe that we make a strong, hard-working team.

One thing that I have learned during my time in Ho Chi Minh City is that communication is something that Vietnamese people struggle with both in and out of the workplace. There have been a few instances during my internship in which someone chooses not to convey necessary information, or misunderstands something and does not ask for clarification. Employees seem to always be working on their own, and this often blocks communication. During the monthly all-hands meeting, the CEO told everyone to say good morning and good night to each other to help improve this issue. This is something that is expected in America, so hearing the CEO mention it was eye-opening and confirmed my thoughts and observations. It is important, however, that there are noticeable attempts to improve communication in my company. 

My supervisor is the head of marketing for GINAR at Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL). He is in charge of coordinating marketing efforts to boost the company’s awareness. Specifically, he sets and monitors marketing goals, helps prepare for events that promote the company, and creates marketing strategies. It is his job to ensure that the company’s message is clear in the different stages of all marketing efforts. Although he works independently for most of the day, he often has meetings with the marketing specialist and myself to discuss our progress, tasks, and how we can help him attain marketing objectives.

I usually arrive to the office about 20 minutes before 9:00 AM to make coffee, prepare my agenda, and to get checked in. I spend a few minutes thinking of my goals and questions I would like to ask my supervisor for the day. I then start working on my tasks, which are discussed and set in my meetings with my supervisor. So far, I have spent plenty of time trying to increase social media engagement for the company. Creating an infographic on online gambling has been my most significant task in the first two weeks. It took about four days to gather all of the data, get it edited and approved, and to finally create it. This infographic is the first out of six that I will have to make, and they will all be posted on our social media channels in hopes of encouraging more people to visit the website and subscribe to the newsletter. I have also compiled a list of over 100 blockchain influencers and their social media links onto a spreadsheet. This list will be used to engage with their posts so that we can spread the word about the company. After only two days of engaging with influencers on LinkedIn, I was able to help the company gain about 80 connections on their account. Since I will be attending the World Gaming Executive Summit in Barcelona in a few weeks, I have been dedicating some time to researching my company and the iGaming industry in preparation for the event. I also helped count inventory for the marketing materials that we will be bringing to the summit. 

Something that has surprised me is that my co-workers are constantly allowing me try local food at work. Almost every day, they either bring me some fruits to my desk or invite me to the eating area of the office for a snack. I am not familiar with most of the fruits they bring, so I have the opportunity of trying something new every day. So far, I have tried rambutan, mangosteen, longan, guava, and a plethora of other fruits that are not as prevalent in the U.S. I was definitely not expecting for everyone to be this this kind and hospitable in the workplace.

After only five days of interning at Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL), I am bursting with optimism and excitement for what is to come in the next six weeks. I have felt exceptionally welcomed since I entered the office on my first day. The warm atmosphere of IBL helps facilitate the networking process between myself and the employees, which has been one of my favorite aspects of this internship so far. The incredible work environment and people have made my experience very insightful.

IBL is a research and development company that focuses on services utilizing blockchain technology. This company consists of six individual labs concentrating on a wide range of topics from FinTech to business development. I am currently a marketing intern for GINAR, a provider of Decentralized Random Numbers Generation solutions that launched in 2018. Although technically not classified as a project, IBL helps propel GINAR’s progress, and the two businesses are located in the same office. GINAR applies blockchain technology to produce tamper-resistant random numbers at rapid speeds, a service that is especially useful for lottery and online gambling operators.

I have been given a wide variety of tasks in the first few days of my internship. In the first week, I have conducted SEO research, gathered a list of blockchain influencers on various forms of social media, edited a website for grammatical mistakes, expanded GINAR’s social media reach by engaging with the blockchain community, brainstormed iGaming infographic ideas (1 of 6 that I will create myself) and researched the content for it, and attended a blockchain training session with the IBL team from Taiwan. I have also been able to make connections with the employees during lunchtime and breaks. On Thursday of my first week, GINAR’s marketing specialist, who I work closely with, drove me to a company soccer match on her scooter. Although it rained during the entire game, I had an amazing time cheering on my team with the other employees. This is just one example of my attempts to network with as many people as possible in IBL. This week, I was also informed that I would be traveling to Barcelona to help represent GINAR at the World Gaming Executive Summit (GES) in July. GES is one of the most exclusive conferences for the gaming industry, and I will be able to network with top companies as well as document the event for our social media channels. For someone double majoring in marketing and Spanish, this opportunity is like a dream come true and proves that anything is possible in Asia.

I would describe the work environment as calm, focused, and enjoyable. There are about 250 employees that include blockchain developers, researchers, marketers, and planners. All of the employees seem very focused when working but are not afraid to take a snack break when necessary or play a game of ping pong during lunch. Because of this, I do not feel very pressured, and I am able to think clearly during my internship. Everyone that works in IBL seems very open they all work in the same room, even the CEO. 

Overall, I believe my first week has been a success. I have learned so much about marketing, business, my own skills, and how I can apply my previous experiences to the IT industry.

In the short period that I have been in Vietnam, the country has already surpassed my expectations. Since day one of culture week, our schedule has been packed with activities that have allowed me to gain a more profound understanding of the Vietnamese culture. 

From previous experience, I have learned that going to markets is one of the most effective ways to gain insight on a country and its culture. This was definitely the case for the Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho. Being on the river, viewing locals buying and selling goods, and purchasing an item myself helped increase my awareness of the local culture and how it has adapted to the surrounding geographical features. In fact, the entire Cai Rang Floating Market Tour was culturally informative starting from the early morning bus ride. During the ride, I noticed that the city was very much awake at 6:00 AM. There were already plenty of locals walking on the streets and some even doing outdoor morning exercises. When we arrived to the river at around 7:00 AM, the market was flourishing with boats and people working arduously to sell their products. Observing this proved to me that Vietnamese people are determined, hardworking, and start their days earlier than we do in America. I also enjoyed seeing the traditional rice noodle factory at one of our stops at the Mekong Delta and how packaged products are put together by hand, something that is not as prominent in America. Roaming through the village gave me a sense of what life truly is like in the less developed areas of Vietnam, a stark contrast from the commotion of Saigon.

When I mentioned to others that I was planning to travel to Vietnam, I received plenty of negative comments. Instead of taking these remarks into account, I strived to arrive without any expectations, causing me to be very impressed with the country as a whole. Saigon is much more modern, diverse, clean, and even larger than I initially expected. Although I am a foreigner, I have only been treated with respect and feel safe even in the more hectic areas of the city. I also imagined there to be a single hub with most of the shops and nightlife (like a downtown area in American cities). However, areas like these are spread out throughout the entire city, and this makes it simple to always find something to do. In addition, the skyline of Saigon left a lasting impression on me from the rooftop of a tall building. The city appeared vast and there were evident contrasts between building heights. This represented the rapid development of the country to me and I am eager to see how this view changes over the years.         

Because of the advancements that Vietnam is experiencing, it makes me wonder how this rapid development has been affecting the culture. Are Vietnamese traditions still strong amongst young people? Which countries have had the most influence in regards to culture in Vietnam? What do people my age enjoy doing in their free time, and are these activities changing alongside Vietnam’s development?

Studying about Vietnam from a diverse variety of sources in the first week of class allowed me to get an inside look at this often unnoticed yet incredible culture. I quickly became aware that the Vietnamese culture is rich, unique, and evolving alongside the nation’s rapid development and social changes. Although Vietnam is advancing and becoming more global as time goes on, there still are unique cultural aspects that must be considered when adjusting to this country’s way of life.

Many differences emerge when comparing Vietnamese and American business culture. One of these contrasts that were unexpected to me is that before any serious business conversations in Asian societies, it is essential for those involved to establish a trustworthy relationship. Because of this, it is common for co-workers to get to know each other both inside and out of the workplace. I would not have predicted that relationship-building and networking would be as prominent in Vietnam since it is common for individuals to be introverted and indirect. In contrast, Americans are known to be more extroverted and outgoing yet American business is very impersonal in comparison.

One similarity between Vietnam and the U.S is that are regional cultural differences in both countries as a result of historical events. North and South Vietnam have many cultural variances including those surrounding language, cuisine, and business culture. In the U.S., cultural differences also exist between the North and South because, just like Vietnam, the country was once separated into distinct regions. In Northern Vietnam, the people tend to be more conservative and distant, whereas the Southern Vietnamese are seen as more cordial and open to changes. There are similar generalizations in the U.S but they apply to the opposite regions.

Another specific cultural difference is the significance of hierarchical levels in society. In the United States, the socio-economic structure tends to have fewer hierarchical levels. Asian cultures, however, have a precise class structure and everyone is aware of where they belong within it. This structure is visible when analyzing the teaching styles in both countries. In Vietnam, classes are usually more disciplined and focused on the teacher rather than the student. Students must completely abide by what is said by the teacher and have little freedom to share their own thoughts and opinions. Classroom discussions are rare as a result. In America, there is more emphasis placed on the students who are seen as having a similar level of significance as the teacher. Classroom participation, like asking questions and analyzing what is learned, is expected. This proves that there is plenty of distance between teachers and students in Vietnam, but this distance is reduced in the United States because there is not as much pressure placed on the importance of hierarchical levels.

This cultural difference extends to the workplace and will be something that I will have to keep in mind during my internship. In Asian businesses, there is a well-defined class structure as well. The manager, very much like the teacher, has the most control over other employees and they are expected to obey his/her instructions completely. In America, it is more common for employees to share their own ideas and perspectives when they disagree with their boss or add their own personal touch to a task. I am often someone who enjoys thinking of creative, new approaches to add on to my assignments. However, I will have to become accustomed to following all of the instructions given to me in Vietnam and should not expect to have as much creative freedom.

The pre-departure course made me realized that there are so many more reasons to intern in Vietnam than I have previously considered, and I completed it with a revived feeling of excitement to experience the Vietnamese culture on the journey ahead of me.