Nguyen Nhat Quang, born in 2002, is a former student of Computer Science at Rice University (USA). About 4 months before graduating, Quang received a letter of acceptance to Microsoft as a software engineer.

Despite having the opportunity to work at a leading technology company, Quang admits that the job market in the US is very harsh, especially for international students. Before being accepted to Microsoft, the male student had to send out about 600 job applications over 7 months.

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Nguyen Nhat Quang is a former student of Computer Science at Rice University (USA). (Photo: NVCC)

With the goal of working in the US, right from the beginning of university, the former student of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted started looking for internship opportunities to gain experience. However, Quang admitted that for first-year students, applying for an internship in the US is relatively difficult. Therefore, the male student changed direction to apply for the school's software engineering club called Rice Apps.

“Luckily, this club gathered most of the best students in the department. I learned how to work scientifically and devote myself to my work,” Quang recalled. In addition, many of the seniors in the club were also working in large companies, so the male student learned how to do professional projects.

What Quang is most proud of in his first year is contributing to the school’s website project to help with credit registration. In addition to improving the interface and tools, students can create their own 4-year study plans on the website, view information about each class, and review previous students’ reviews of the class.

During this time, Quang participated in writing code. In his second and third years, he became the project leader and then the president of the Rice Apps club. According to Quang, participating in clubs at school is also a very good environment for students to gain experience when they do not have the opportunity to intern at businesses.

But when he entered his second year, Quang set a goal of getting an internship at all costs. The male student at that time sent out about 150-200 applications, mainly searching for information through LinkedIn, Handshake, job fairs and company websites. The position Quang was looking for was usually a software engineering intern.

Luckily, the former president of the club Quang had joined was working at Facebook, and recognized Quang’s potential and efforts, so he introduced him to the company. “Having someone from the company introduce you will increase the chances of your resume being viewed,” Quang said. The student applied to Facebook in August and was called for an interview at the end of November.

Typically, internship interviews at tech companies in the US will have two rounds related to algorithms and data structures. Thanks to the basic knowledge of computer science learned in his first year at Rice University and self-practiced programming skills online, Quang received a 3-month internship invitation from Facebook.

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Quang studied at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted (Photo: NVCC)

Working for the first time in a large company, Quang felt overwhelmed when everyone worked professionally, independently and had a high capacity for self-research. “There were days when the whole team had to meet continuously and work with other departments to build a certain feature. But thanks to that, I learned more communication and teamwork skills,” Quang said.

After his internship at Facebook, Quang also realized his strengths and weaknesses. With more experience, in the summer of his third year, Quang focused on applying to large technology companies. The male student sent out about more than 200 applications, and about 10 companies called for interviews, including the technology corporation Nvidia.

During the interview, while Facebook only focused on solving problems, Nvidia also cared about how to handle situations and the projects the candidate had participated in... After passing the rigorous review process, including a 60-minute programming round, the male student was accepted to intern here for nearly 4 months.

As a software engineering intern at Nvidia, Nhat Quang works on environmental simulation software for self-driving cars. Quang works about 12 hours a day. To meet the demands of his job, the student also teaches himself many new languages, such as C++.

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Quang is currently a software engineer at Microsoft (Photo: NVCC)

According to Quang, technology companies are always looking for a well-rounded student with experience in the job position they are recruiting for and leadership skills. Therefore, Quang pushes himself to complete the assigned tasks with the expectation of being officially hired after completing the internship.

However, during that period, many “big guys” were laying off a series of technology engineers. Nvidia was no exception. Quang’s direct manager said that the group had no new recruitment targets.

“It was an extremely stressful time for me,” Quang recalls.

In that context, the male student had to pull himself together and prepare his resume early to apply for many different positions. In addition, “because he did not know when the opportunity would come”, the male student often practiced interviews and attended many career seminars to look for opportunities.

In the 7 months since July 2023, Quang sent out a total of more than 600 applications. The male student received responses from 37 companies and was accepted into 4 companies, including Tiktok and Microsoft, after going through a series of rigorous interview rounds.

Quang chose Microsoft because he considered it a technology company with a good foundation and opportunities to learn and develop. In addition to salary, the Vietnamese guy will be supported with an H1-B visa (temporary work visa), support money transferred to the head office, airfare...

Receiving the news of being accepted to Microsoft in mid-February 2024, before graduating from university, Quang officially started working at Microsoft's Data Center in July 2024.

Relieved to get his first official job, Quang said his responsibilities were heavier than when he was an intern.

“In the coming time, I will try to improve my expertise, create influence for my team and develop the AI ​​and cloud sectors. In addition, I also want to continue to support career guidance for students who want to find jobs in the US, in fields such as software engineering, data science, and machine learning,” Quang said.

The young man became a director at the age of 22, won a master's scholarship at Tsinghua University. After graduating from an American university, instead of choosing to stay, Son decided to return to Vietnam to start a business. After 4 years, realizing the need to improve his management skills, Son applied to the Master of Business Administration program at Tsinghua University (China).
The young man became a director at the age of 22, won a master's scholarship at Tsinghua University. After graduating from an American university, instead of choosing to stay, Son decided to return to Vietnam to start a business. After 4 years, realizing the need to improve his management skills, Son applied to the Master of Business Administration program at Tsinghua University (China).