IT Comtor to BrSE and interesting job stories of experiencers

In 2018, the year of the motto We are platform for start up, Sun* Inc. had a powerful transformation with exciting strategies and plannings. Together with the company's new direction, many positions and units of Sun* also worked on changing themselves to be more suitable to the current time, creating more "Awesome" values. 

In this issue, let's find out the excellent faces of the graduates of the training course IT Comtor to BrSE, to understand more about their experience and feelings upon agreeing to dive in a new career challenge. 

IT Comtor  – Japanese IT document translator, BrSE – bridge system engineer, not just connect the "house team" to the customer, but also thoroughly grasp technical expertise and good project management skill. IT Comtor to BrSE is the name of a training course in Sun*, helping IT Comtor become BrSE in the shortest time period. 

Tran Thi Thin: “My interest is to conquer the new, and BrSE is one of my accomplishments!"

Known as one of the first BrSE coming from the Comtor to BrSE training course of Hiroaki Ishida, the "small but deadly” girl Tran Thi Thin always shows that she is professional, devoted, and perfectionist in the job. 

Meeting Thin in a May afternoon, the first impression of Sun* News reporter was her brisk walks and bright smile, and even though her works and projects were still calling, when we mentioned Comtor to BrSE, Thin is happy to join. 

For her, BrSE is a new and interesting experience compared to what she was doing before. Started off as a chemistry major, worked in Japan for years, then returned to Vietnam seeking for new career experiences, Thin decided to make her stop at Sun* and applied in the Comtor to BrSE training course of Mr. Hiroaki Ishida.

Sharing with us about her choice, Thin could not hide her excitement: "My natural interest is to conquer new things, if any job can offer me an experience, I try to do it to the best of my capabilities. Stepping into the IT world was a daring decision to me, because it would cost me a lot of time and effort to learn and familiarize with this new environment, what's more, I also need immense support and encouragement from my family if I wish to pursue this career.”

Thin joined the IT Comtor to BrSE course right upon stepping into Framgia. Studying and working on projects at the same time was a memorable start for her.

“My best impression is my start with learning how to be a BrSE, familiarizing with programming definitions was a nuisance.The “input” of algorithms (variables and functions) of the IT field is a struggle. At first it was just numbers, but when they defined it as boxes where people put data in to process, I was completely confused and lost. Luckily during the course, I gradually figured it out. It is just rules, and once you understand the rules, you can quickly understand and solve the issues. Since I'm also a tech person, I inherit some logic from the previous jobs, so I found easy ways to approach IT."  

She quickly added: “Back then I chose PHP. Then, Mr. Ishida recommended some self-study websites on this language, learning was wrapped up for easier following. To say that BrSE can do the coding themselves like the Dev, we cannot do that, we only understand its basics to discuss with colleagues and customers and deal with project related issues."

Besides learning and practicing programming knowledge, Thin realized that BrSE also opened the door to new interesting skills.

“Apart from understanding the technicals, the job of BrSE also needs communication skills with the customers and the Devs, also project management skills, time and task allocation. Once I studied, I knew that technical is not the most worrying factor, but the most important is project management skills, which I'm interested in sharpening the most. Working as a BrSE is busier than Comtor, but it helps you gain a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of your project, and you will also have to estimate the correct time for the project so that your team won't have to go on OT for release. For each projects, I try to estimate the deadline for each task to ensure that the progress is followed. I always want to have spare time for changes if there is an incident or cropped up issues."

For Thin, BrSE is a busy yet interesting job. If you are a professional Comtor, why not try a course for BrSE?

“I love conquering new things, the more I experience, the better I feel about life.”

Nguyen Thi Nhat Anh: “Learning tech is not as hard as I thought!"

Nhat Anh, a smart and joyful girl who easily steals the heart of the others right at first met. Confident attitude, open conversation, like a BrSE, Nhat Anh brought to the interview a cheerful vibe. 

When asked reasons for choosing Comtor to BrSE, Nhat Anh said: “I think, my Japanese is only temporary that will be saturated at one point, so I decided to develop my language in another direction, and I chose BrSE like a career challenge that once overcame, it will be good for me, and a memorable landmark in my career.”

Giống với tâm lý của nhiều IT Comtor trước khi bước vào quá trình đào tạo lên BrSE, Nhật Anh cũng có một khoảng thời gian bối rối với việc học kĩ thuật.

“Lúc đầu vào học hoang mang lắm! Các bạn Bách Khoa mất 5-6 năm để học kĩ thuật thì làm sao mà mình vừa biên dịch, vừa học kĩ thuật nổi, trong khi xuất phát điểm của mình là học từ trường dạy ngoại ngữ ra, bản thân mình học toán cũng không giỏi. Mình bắt đầu hoảng sợ khi động đến các thuật toán (các biến, các hàm..vv..), những kiến thức mà thậm chí hồi cấp 3 mình cũng không học đến. Thời gian đó rất vất vả, mình phải vượt qua kì thi kiểm tra kĩ thuật mới có khả năng học làm BrSE. Kì thi này do anh Hiroaki Ishida soạn một đề riêng, phù hợp với tầng kiến thức và sự tiếp nhận của Comtor chúng mình. Ở lần thi đầu tiên, mình bị trượt, trong khi tất cả mọi người trong khóa học thì đỗ. Ở lần hai, mình quyết tâm in ra các đề thi tương tự từ các năm trước, ôn luyện theo các bài tập trong đó thì cuối cùng cũng qua. Sau này mình nhận ra, chỉ cần học nghiêm túc và  ôn luyện theo các tài liệu mà thầy đưa cho là mình có thể vượt qua kì thi dễ dàng.”

Nhật Anh may mắn vì có chồng là một Developer làm việc ngay tại Công ty nên có bất cứ băn khoăn hay thắc mắc gì về kĩ thuật, cô gái này có thể tìm đến chồng để giải đáp. Đối với những vấn đề kĩ thuật hóc búa hơn, Nhật Anh thường chủ động liên hệ với Trần Đức Thắng – Technical Leader của Công ty để nhờ giải đáp.

“Sau này mình nhận ra, học kĩ thuật không phải là vấn đề to tát và khiến mình e sợ đến vậy. Sau một thời gian học tập và trải nghiệm, với mình, điều khó khăn nhất trong quá trình học từ Comtor lên BrsE có lẽ là kĩ năng kết nối với khách hàng. Hiểu được mong muốn của họ cũng như trao đổi các vấn đề sao cho phù hợp với tình hình dự án không dễ dàng chút nào. Nhiều khi mình gặp phải những khách hàng không am hiểu nhiều về kĩ thuật nên việc trao đổi với họ gặp rất nhiều khó khăn. Có những lúc mình nóng giận nhưng vẫn phải sử dụng những kĩ năng thuyết phục nhẹ nhàng, mềm mỏng để vấn đề giữa đôi bên được giải quyết nhanh chóng. Đây là yếu tố cực kì quan trọng trong quá trình làm BrSE.” – Nhật Anh bộc bạch. 

Việc nhanh nhạy phán đoán tình hình dự án cũng là điều khiến Nhật Anh bị bỡ ngỡ thời gian đầu khi tham gia vào một dự án chạy thử. “Hồi đầu mình còn rất nhiều thiếu sót, mình từng khiến cho 1 dự án chạy thử phải lao đao. Sau này nhờ mọi người động viên nên mình nhanh chóng lấy lại tinh thần, quyết tâm làm tốt hơn ở các dự án tiếp theo.” 

Trong quá trình học lên BrSE, anh Hiroaki Ishida còn có nhiều hình thức giúp các học viên rèn luyện về tiếng Nhật, điều này khiến cô gái xinh xắn của chúng ta rất tâm đắc: “Mỗi ngày mọi người phải đọc một bài báo về công nghệ rồi tóm tắt với số lượng kí tự nhất định, sau đó nêu cảm nhận của mình và đưa ra ý kiến phát triển thêm cho bài báo đó. Từ những việc đơn giản, tưởng chừng như rất nhàm chán như vậy nhưng đã hỗ trợ cho trình tiếng Nhật của mình lên rất nhiều.” – Nhật Anh vui vẻ kể lại. 

“There are times when I feel down with continuous failures, there are times when I do not want to go to the company and "sweet-talk" with customers, I hate cropped up tasks and issues that are hard to discuss with the Devs, and at times like that I must look back to the reason why I started this job, and from then I form positive thoughts and try harder." - A recommendation from Nhat Anh to people who wish to or are studying to be the real BrSE.

Nguyen Trung Duc: “The most important thing is customer negotiation skill!" 

Many Sunners in Hanoi office must be all too familiar with the name Nguyen Trung Duc right? Although he is a young BrSE, Duc always shows up with good attitude and great responsibility for work, loved by colleagues, trusted by customers and managers. 

Just like Nhat Anh, when he first got into Sun*, Duc simply thought that he would only do translations. However, after finding out about BrSE, Duc decided to change his career path into a new position - bridge system engineer. 

At first, like many other Comtors, Duc had a hard time with learning technical knowledge, but he was quick witted in dealing with these problems. Instead of being snowed under complicated maths, he asked for help from the great Developers and QAs in the project. "Luckily I was friends with excellent and enthusiastic Dev and QA, they explained issues in a simpler and easier to understand ways by using diagrams and illustrations, so the tech problem could partly be solved." – Trung Duc said.

For Duc, working and connecting with the customers are not skills that anyone can excel, but knowing how to skillfully deal with all situations, maintain a cheerful and positive attitude towards the customers, surely the issues will be dealt with quickly. 

While learning and training to be BrSE, what excites him the most was being able to meet people with the same goal: "Thanks to them, I had more motivations to try harder. New techical and software information also intrigue me to learn more" – Duc shared.

When asked about some advice for Sun*'s current generation of Comtor, Duc said: “I think that the experience and the knowledge you are having as Comtors will help you a lot if you wish to be a BrSE. Not just simply translate it, try to understand the specialized knowledge and flow of that project, seeing how it is operated. An advantage of Comtor is being able to translate the project from scratch, from introductions to spec documents and specific functions, so utilize that. Soft skills and techniques can be gained and practiced throughout the project, and you should have the habit of finding out the nature of what you are translating, then you can understand many basic technical definitions." 

With such experiences from the three BrSEs, we hope that you have gained clearer and more particular insight into this career. We also hope that they will be your inspirers on your journey to seek for new experiences.

At Sun*, what never and will not ever change is the state of always being out of your comfort zone. I want you to experience that yourself and see “Where am I standing now? Is my way of living too safe? What challenges do I need? What do I need to prove? What new things have I done in my job?”. Ask yourself those questions. They are the motivations and the springboard for your development, skill and capability enhancement.

So, do not step back, never fear the challenges. Let the world see that you are not afraid and hesitant of any challenges, that is a signature of a Sunner. 

– CEO Kobayashi Taihei –