Vietnamese man sent over 600 job applications before joining Microsoft.

By persistently sending out over 600 job applications within 5 months, Nhat Quang received offers from 4 American companies, including Microsoft.

Nguyen Nhat Quang, born in 2002, is a former computer science student at Rice University (USA). About four months before graduation, Quang received an acceptance letter from Microsoft for a software engineer position. Despite the opportunity to work at a leading technology company, Quang admitted that the job market in the US is very competitive, especially for international students. Before being accepted by Microsoft, he had to submit approximately 600 job applications over seven months.

Nguyen Nhat Quang is a former student of Computer Science at Rice University (USA). (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Aiming to work in the US, Quang, a former student of Hanoi -Amsterdam High School for Gifted Students, began seeking internship opportunities to gain experience as soon as he entered university. However, Quang admitted that securing an internship in the US was relatively difficult for first-year students. Therefore, he shifted his focus and joined the university's software engineering club, Rice Apps. "Luckily, this club brought together most of the best students in the department. I learned how to work scientifically and dedicate myself fully to my work," Quang recalled. Furthermore, many senior students in the club were working at large companies, allowing him to learn professional project management. What made Quang most proud in his first year was contributing to the university's website project for course registration. Besides improving the interface and tools, students could create their own four-year study plans on the website, view class information, and see reviews from previous students about the classes. During this time, Quang participated in coding. In his second and third years, he became a project leader and later the president of the Rice Apps club. According to Quang, participating in school clubs is also a great way for students to gain experience before internships at companies. But in his second year, Quang set a goal of securing an internship at all costs. He sent out around 150-200 applications, mainly searching for information through LinkedIn, Handshake, job fairs, and company websites. The positions Quang sought were typically software engineering interns. Fortunately, the former president of the club Quang had been a part of, who was working at Facebook, recognized Quang's potential and hard work and introduced him to the company. "Having someone within the company recommend you increases the chances of your resume being reviewed," Quang said. The male student submitted his application to Facebook in August and was called for an interview at the end of November.

Quang previously attended Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for Gifted Students (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Typically, internship interviews at US tech companies consist of two rounds focusing on algorithms and data structures. Thanks to his foundational computer science knowledge gained during his first year at Rice University and his self-taught programming skills online, Quang received a three-month internship offer from Facebook. Working for a large company for the first time, Quang felt overwhelmed by the professionalism, independence, and strong research capabilities of everyone involved. “There were days when the whole team had to constantly meet and work with other departments to develop a new feature. But thanks to that, I also learned communication and teamwork skills,” Quang said.

After his internship at Facebook, Quang realized his strengths and weaknesses. With more experience, during the summer of his third year, Quang focused on applying to major technology companies. He submitted over 200 applications, and about 10 companies called him for interviews, including the technology giant Nvidia. While Facebook focused primarily on problem-solving during interviews, Nvidia also considered how candidates handled situations and the projects they had participated in. After passing a rigorous selection process, including a 60-minute programming test, he was accepted for an internship at Nvidia for nearly four months. As a software engineering intern at Nvidia, Quang worked on software simulating the environment for self-driving cars. He worked approximately 12 hours a day. To meet the demands of the job, he also taught himself several new languages, such as C++. According to Quang's assessment, technology companies are always looking for well-rounded students with experience in the job position they are recruiting for, and with leadership potential. Therefore, Quang pushed himself to complete assigned tasks with the expectation of being officially hired after the internship ended. However, during that period, many "big players" were laying off large numbers of technology engineers. Nvidia was no exception. Quang's direct manager said that the team had no recruitment targets yet. "That was an extremely stressful time for me," Quang recalled.

Quang is currently a software engineer at Microsoft (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

In that context, the male student had to pull himself together and prepare his resume early to apply for various positions. Furthermore, "because he didn't know when the opportunity would come," he regularly practiced interview skills and attended many career seminars to seek opportunities. Within seven months, starting in July 2023, Quang submitted over 600 applications. He received responses from 37 companies and was hired by four, including TikTok and Microsoft, after going through a series of rigorous interviews. Quang chose Microsoft because he considered it a technology company with a strong foundation and opportunities for learning and development. Besides salary, the Vietnamese student would receive support for an H1-B visa (temporary work visa), relocation allowance to the headquarters, and airfare. Having received news of his acceptance to Microsoft in mid-February 2024, before graduating from university, Quang officially started working at Microsoft's data center in July 2024. Relieved to have landed his first official job, Quang acknowledged that his responsibilities were also heavier than when he was an intern. “In the coming time, I will strive to further develop my expertise, create a positive impact on my team, and expand into AI and cloud computing. Additionally, I hope to continue supporting career guidance for students seeking jobs in the US, in fields such as software and data engineering, and machine learning,” Quang said.

(Source: Vietnamnet)/Vtcnews.vn

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/chang-trai-viet-gui-hon-600-don-xin-viec-truoc-khi-vao-microsoft-ar920139.html