Category: Minh Thy

At GoBear, I believe that my performance was pretty well for a first-year engineering major in a marketing position. Through the internship, I learned that I am very good with time management and asking people for information. I know it sounds ridiculous to say that I am good at asking for information but in my company, you have to hound the person in order to get the information that you need. Moreover, in life, nothing is ever perfect so there is always room for improvement. I believe that there is room for improvement in my technical skills. When I create PowerPoints, it seems bland compared to what my coworkers create even though the content is the same. They have a better way of delivering the message than I do. Also, I can improve my research skills. When I do the research, I am required to analyze the information that I read and that is not my strong suit.

This opportunity has contributed to my professional development because it allowed me to see how a company is run and what startups look like in terms of revenue. It has also given me the opportunity to develop my confidence when talking to people and asking questions. At first, I was afraid to ask too many questions because I didn’t want to be a bother to the other people but I later learned that it is necessary if I wanted to learn and I started to ask a lot more questions. Even though this internship isn’t exactly in line with my career aspirations, it taught me more about the world of finance and business which is something that I need to know in order to become a successful industrial engineer. As I stated before this internship has allowed me to be more confident and voice my opinion where it counts.

There are a lot of things that I learned during my two months in Vietnam but the key takeaways were, I need to train myself to speak slower because it gets hard for other people to understand me and I shouldn’t be shy when I just enter a new company. During this trip, I have learned that I speak really fast from my coworkers who sometimes have trouble understanding me. This is a big discovery because it affects how people listen to me. If I speak to fast they might just get tired of trying to keep up. Also, when I first came into the company I was really quiet because I didn’t know anyone. However, I have come to realize that you need to start off strong and ask a lot of questions. There are new workers at GoBear and they were very active when they first came in which made them adapt to the people around the company a lot faster.

The moment that I felt the proudest in my internship was when I told my supervisor an idea for the Booking campaign and he really liked it. He liked it so much so that he said that the idea is too good for Booking and that instead, we were just going to do a public stunt for GoBear alone. He said that the stunt will be my big project for my internship. I was really disappointed when he told me that it was postponed due to financial reasons after I did almost all of the research for it. Recently, however, he has found the funding to run the PR stunt so they are actually going to go through with the event. I don’t know if he was joking or not but he even told me that I could help, when I go back to the states, electronically.

My biggest professional accomplishment in the internship was writing up the entire plan for the Booking campaign, granted that a few changes still had to be made to it. I felt really proud of myself after this task because I have never planned a campaign much less make the schedule for it and calculate the KPIs. When I first started to calculate the KPIs I got really frustrated and confused but after staring at the problem for about an hour I started to get a hang of it. I learned that in order to calculate the KPIs you just have to make an educated guess and then make sure that the numbers work out and get you the ROI that you want. When I was explaining it to my new coworker that just started, even she was impressed because I have never learned any of this. Participating in this internship has pushed me to do things that I would never have done and I am glad to be able to add this to my list of skill sets. 

Having lived in Ho Chi Minh City for about two months I have developed a greater appreciation for the basic things that we have in the US. As I travel around the city I have become aware that there is trash everywhere, even outside of people’s homes where piles of it can be found. It makes me feel sad because there are people living in these conditions while a few blocks down the street you have apartments that are about $1,300 a month for rent. This gives me a greater appreciation for trash cans and the clean environment that we live in in the US because the roads and land there are pretty much always clean for the most part.

The industry that I work in for my internship is financial technology. So far in my internship, I have learned that financial technology is rising all around the world and it was created to help people improve their financial health. It also helps to give people more access to financial services such as credit cards. My company, for example, has joined into a partnership with Easy Credit in order to provide people with no credit cards to be able to get a quick loan for medical bills or other reasons. This works for Vietnam because the number of people who have credit cards here is slim and by providing this product we are helping lift people’s burdens.

Like every company out there, GoBear has its strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Its strength is that they are a no-cost no bias website that provides users with the opportunity to get the financial instrument that is most compatible with them. They provide over 200 products and offer promotions that go with their using their site. As previously stated they also create partnerships (such as that with Easy Credit) to help benefit the users. The weakness is that the communication in the company is poor causing projects to be delayed. On example would be the booking campaign that I am currently working on. GoBear loses sales because there are a lot of pages that the users have to go through in order to complete a full registration. Their new app forces them to download a few apps before they can finish registration. Also, since they are a startup and have not built a strong reputation yet, they get questioned on whether or not their promotions are legit. Some opportunities that they have are that the industry in Vietnam is growing every day and more people are starting to use financial services. To add, when they grow big enough and have established an ROI of 100%, they could be able to produce their own products that offer their users different and more helpful financial services. Moreover, the threat that they face is that they are a startup and they are not drawing enough attention for their brand to be noticed. Thus, they are currently not even making enough to break even. GoBear also faced a copyright issue on my first days at work.

There have been many amazing moments during my time here in Ho Chi Minh City. One of the most amazing ones was when I was in a room filled with CEOs during my company’s annual event, BearTalk. This experience gave me insight into how c-level executives talk and act around one another. To my surprise, everyone was very chill and laid back. They were just conversing with each other like you see when a group of friends is joined together. The experience also allowed me to see how these events are set up as well as let me be a part of that process. I was also able to see what they talk about during the events and how the CEO and COO try to sell the brand. One of the best parts of the night, however, was the dinner. I had an amazing beef tenderloin and the best part of it was that it was paid for by the company.

The most challenging aspect of my internship is that everything always changes from a day to day basis. One day the idea will be this, while the next the idea will be that. This has to do with the new ideas that are presented as well as the logistics. Sometimes an idea can’t be performed because what we are asking for is not supported by the partner. For example, on the GoBear and Booking project, the idea has changed about three times already. Each time it changes I have to create a new plan for the campaign. Also, sometimes the idea does not fit the budget so it has to be amended or thrown out altogether.

The best features of my internship include creating the campaigns and seeing it be put into action. It gives me an opportunity to see how partnerships are formed between two companies and how they both benefit from each other. This experience also allows me to come up with my own ideas on different campaigns whether it be for GoBear and a partner or just GoBear. It tests my brain and makes me think creatively. This opportunity also helps me see from the perspective of the costumer; to be able to put myself in their shoes and see what would appeal to them and their needs. When I first went into the internship I thought that it would just be a bunch of research to help out the other employees but being able to put my own ideas together has been a pleasant surprise and a great learning experience.

Being Vietnamese, there aren’t that many common Vietnamese dishes that I have not tried. However, at my company, someone brought in a snack called Banh Chuoi that I really enjoyed. It is basically a type of fried banana snack that you buy from the street vendors. However, during my time in Saigon, there has been plenty of other foods that I have tried (whether it be new or old) and in my opinion, the food that you can buy on the streets are usually the most authentic ones as a lot of the restaurants have been influenced by the changing culture. For example, tofu pudding is a really popular dessert here in Vietnam but you can hardly find them in any restaurants nowadays. The version that is in the restaurants are mixed with fruits and other foods; it’s not the authentic tofu pudding with only caramelized sugar and ginger.

Working in the city has gotten more tedious over the last week. As of right now, we are still in the middle of the BearTalk event, our largest event of the year. As for the other campaigns, I am no longer a part of them. I was only tasked with the research. However, we have started a new campaign and my supervisor put me in charge of it since I proposed the idea. He says that this will be my big intern project. In my last four weeks, I hope to be able to finish setting up this campaign and see it through to the execution. It would also be amazing if it became a huge success because it would bring more users to the brand as well as be a great accomplishment.

As far as I can tell, I have a pretty good relationship with my supervisor as well as co-workers. They are all very busy and good with creating contacts with new partners to help spread the brand. In relations to their strength, I am tasked to come up with the campaign ideas alongside them. Whatever requires more skills and connections is usually left to my co-worker and supervisor while I do the research since that is what I’m better with. For example, for the blog post, I was tasked with researching and coming up with ideas while my co-worker, Thu, writes the actual post. Thus, everything goes pretty smoothly since everyone has their own thing.

Moreover, one thing I have learned from living and working in Ho Chi Minh City is how to cross the street. Even though I’ve come back to Vietnam multiple times, I usually never stay in the city for more than a few hours and even then, my family walks with me across the street so they are the one blocking traffic. When we went out for lunch, my co-worker told me that to walk across the street all I have to do is slowly cross and if there are a lot of cars than to raise up my arm. Even when I see a car coming, I should not stop since the people on the mopeds are used to the pedestrians and stopping may confuse them. I have also learned that when I am walking across the streets with foreigners, I should have them stand on the outside and me on the inside because there are more repercussions to hitting a foreigner and I look 100% Vietnamese. Also, some of them are a lot taller than me, so there’s a better chance of them being seen by the cars that try to cut in front.

At my internship, my supervisor’s name is Dung Tran and his role in the company is as the Marketing Manager. Thus, he is in charge of maintaining the company’s image and setting up events that will help the brand grow. On an average day to day basis, he goes to work from 9:30 or 10:00 AM to after 6. I’m not sure how long he stays because I leave at 6. As soon as he comes in, he gets to work and he’s on his laptop working until he leaves work. However, like everyone else he does take breaks; he goes on a smoking break twice or three times a day and he also has his coffee break (he has two coffees a day). Unlike the other members of the team, Dung is the only person that does not have lunch, he works through it. Even though he sounds very work oriented he also jokes around with the other members of the team and company, and he is very chill about the work. He lets me set my own deadlines and does not care if someone in the team takes a break when they are tired (this goes for everyone in the company). They are all very down to earth and fun to talk to. They don’t make me feel less because I am an intern; instead, I was told to reach out and learn from the other departments as well.

My internship role is to help promote the GoBear brand. So far, I have been involved in two projects. The Facebook marketing project and the backlinks project. I have also been tasked with coming up with a marketing idea for our new campaign and figuring out the mechanics of it. As for my daily schedule, every day I get to work at 9:00 AM and I do the work that they assign me. At lunch, I eat with the female workers and we sit in front of the TV in the office and watch a Vietnamese game show, Chạy Đi Chờ Chi. However, there are also other times that we go out and eat at restaurants around our work area since we work in a mall in District 1. Around 4:00 each day everyone in the company also starts to eat snacks. I leave work at 6:00 or whenever I finish my tasks. On Monday, however, the schedule is a little different because we have a group meeting on that day to keep everyone up to date on each department.

When I imagined my first movie premiere I did not imagine it being in Vietnam. However, nothing ever goes as planned in Vietnam. My supervisor was given Men in Black movie premiere tickets and he did not want to go so he ended up giving me both of his tickets, and I decided to go with Claudia, a friend that I met on the program. Before going, I was doubtful that I would meet any celebrity that I would actually know since I only know the more popular ones as they are more well-known and talked about in the US. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew the first celebrity that showed up. What was shocking about this was that I only know of that celebrity because he is on the gameshow that I watch with my coworkers during lunch. I even got to take a picture with him.

The name of the company that I am interning with is GoBear. It is a startup financial technology company that is based in Singapore; Vietnam is just one of its seven branches. Their goal is to be an unbiased site where customers can come and compare rates of different financial institutions such as loans and credit cards. Last year, GoBear was rated as the number 1 comparison company in APAC by google. My goal when I first signed up for this program was to be an engineering intern but I ended up getting a marketing internship.  At first, I wasn’t excited about the placement because I only got research projects. For example, I had to research different Facebook pages and dig into their marketing strategies so that GoBear VN could see where they were going wrong with the page. Aside from that, I had to use keywords to search up different websites in order to come up with an idea for a blog post. After my first week of work, I find the work to be a lot more bearable and the people at my workplace are all very kind and friendly so the experience is really starting to get fascinating.   

When I first walked into the office I was really nervous because I did not know how the other workers would react to me or what type of work I would have to do. However, as the day went on I felt more and more relaxed. The people there were very welcoming and the workload was not too bad for the first day. In the evening, I was also taken to the German Embassy building because that is where we will be holding our annual event, Bear Talk. The next few days I felt that it got kind of awkward because I never knew what to do for lunch, but Thu, another member of the marketing team, helped me out and always invited me to eat with her. On Friday, half of the company even went out to eat Thai food and ice-cream together. Overall, I had a good experience during my first week.

Given that I researched the company beforehand, I thought that it would be bigger than it actually is since the brand is quite popular in Asia. However, I was in for a shock when I found out that there are only 13 people in the Vietnam branch. Since there are so few employees everyone is very close-knit; even the country director is very chill when it comes to making jokes around the office. Also, unlike in America, where the workspace layout is in cubicles, the workspace at GoBear is very open. About eight desks are pushed together to form two rows and everyone has their own area. The country director also sits in the same room but with his own desk and there is a smaller office for conference calls. Aside from the open layout, the company is also very open about the time that the employees show up to and leave work. Some show up at 10:00 A.M. and some leave at 3:00 or 4:00 A.M. When the employees are tired they are also allowed to take naps; some even bring sleeping bags. In general, the workplace for GoBear VN is very casual and easy to adapt to.

When I first learned that we would have a culture week in Vietnam, I thought that I would not learn much being that I am Vietnamese, and my parents are pretty traditional. I was surprised to find out that there were everyday things that I did not know. One, for example, was that the restroom sign that we were taught as a child in America is insulting here and no one ever uses it. Also, going to different temples taught me things I never knew before. I grew up watching a Chinese drama called “Journey to the West.” In the show, it talks about a magical monkey and his journey. When we visited the Hoang Am temple in Saigon (what the locals Ho Chi Minh City), I realized that the monkey and the other characters in the story play a part in Buddhism and that people pray to them. In Vietnam, there is also a religion called Cao Dai that combines multiple religions like Buddhism and Catholicism. This was informative because I never knew that such religions existed, although I did know that some Vietnamese, such as my mom, likes to pray to each religion when visiting their temple as a sign of respect.

Going to Vietnam again after two years, I did not expect to see many differences. However, I was shocked to know that I was wrong. From what I remember, the streets were more crowded and the wash closets (bathroom) were less developed. Last time when I came back whenever I was in the city I was always stuck in traffic for more than thirty minutes and the bathrooms that I went to along the rest stops never had toilet paper, and some were even squat toilets. I was also surprised to see that more people speak English (but that might be because this time in Vietnam I am going with a group of American students, so the places that we visit are more westernized).

As I was growing up, my parents were always worried about losing face, and I never thoroughly liked the concept because it made me very self-cautious about how others viewed me. So, my question is, why are Vietnamese people so worried about how others see them? Also, why do they always judge the parents by their children’s actions even when the children become adults and have their own mindsets? Additionally, from what I can see, Vietnamese people are superstitious, and I grew up learning that talking about your death is bad luck. However, northern Vietnamese people plan out and buy their casket before they die. Why is that?