FACTS:

Vietnamese have a very good Math background like China and India. You can find the facts through annual international mathematical olympiads. As recently as 20 years ago, Vietnamese continue to reap more success in Informatics and Robotics. I don't think other ASEAN countries can surpass Vietnam in the basic sciences.

Below are the extended list of pros and cons when considering Vietnam as a new destination for outsourcing.

PROS:

• Dynamic, fast and agile.
• No nationalism like China, India.
• Most Vietnamese people are atheist.
• No political conflict (like extrajudicial killings in the Philippines), almost no significant natural disasters.
• Pretty pleasant weather with 4 seasons in the North, but hot all year with rainy and dry seasons in the South.
• Vietnamese are quite proactive and eager to be self-reliant b/c most of them were raised in poor families during the 1980s period.
• Vietnamese have a very quick capability of adopting cutting-edge technologies.This is really a plus when working with them. Many Vietnamese developers have contributed remarkably to technical publications like codeproject.com. More and more people are aware of on-the-job training so apart from working, they apply for crash courses, blended learning and invest money earned into international certifications (PMP, PMI-ACP, Google certifications, Microsoft .NET MCSD...)

CONS:

• The innovation! This cons is originally caused by the problems of society during the 1980s decade in which most people born before 1980 had to struggle with making ends meet rather than improving their career development. Fortunately, this has improved remarkably recently.
• The average expertise of the entire group is lower than neighboring countries, but the average expertise of top-north individuals is better than most Asian countries, except Singapore.
• Vietnamese are more aggressive than ASEAN countries but more quiet and gentle than Chinese.
• Although their English speaking skill isn't the pros, their reading and writing skills are super good. Their English writing style is simple and understandable. Like Chinese and Philippines, Vietnamese speak English with less impact by regional accents.

IN CLOSING

For smaller clients outsourcing simple projects like apps or websites, Vietnam offers terrific value and can be very successful, although language barriers are still a significant issue and quality issues abound. So, Vietnam is still best for experienced clients who can help ensure their projects stay on track.

There are certainly some very experienced, very skilled developers in Vietnam but overall the region is still fairly new at outsourcing, so the average developers only have a few years of experience. It may be a few more years before Vietnam reaches the point where seasoned tech leads are easy to find, but larger clients should be able to find skilled, productive teams.

Pham Dinh Truong (Henry)
CEO, TIGO Solutions