Nguyen Van Vuong: From the “Change or Die” spirit to the MVP Award 2020

Good morning, Vuong. First of all, on behalf of the Editorial Board of Sun* New, I would like to congratulate you on becoming the MVP of Sun* in 2020! 

Perhaps not only I but also the readers are curious about your feelings now. Could you please share with us? 

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: When knowing that I am the MVP Award Winner and coming to the SAA Stage, I felt surprised, emotional and proud. Currently, I am still extremely excited and happy to receive so many congratulations from family and colleagues. However, I'm still embarrassed a bit because I think at Sun*, there are many more elite individuals than me, who are still diligently dedicating their all. Therefore, everyone deserves the MVP title.

So, what do you think brought you to this year's MVP award?

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: As the theme of SAA 2020 - Revival has suggested, 2020 has witnessed numerous changes of mine, as if I have revived myself, becoming a much stronger person than before.

At the beginning of 2020, when I first received the offer of Mr. Bui Xuan Trung to be the Group Leader, I was very worried and hesitant. However, when considering the third core value - Get Risky, I accepted. This offer has given me innumerable challenges in parallel with opportunities for me to develop my management skill in terms of people and projects as well as team-building skills. Along with that, I was transferred to the Section under the management of Mr. Nguyen Huu Thai Binh - a brother who always gives me valuable advice when I have to face tough choices, never scolds me even when I do things wrong *laugh*. Mr. Binh is also the person who offered me the opportunity to experience a large project, serving as many as 25 million users. This project has helped me and the project team to acquire a lot of knowledge as well as valuable lessons.

In the position of a GL, I also have the opportunity to work directly with Mr. Nguyen Van Manh C, who is considered to have a great influence on the change in perception with his classic saying: “Change or die”.

To end 2020, apart from my own efforts, it would be impossible not to mention the substantial support from team members in Unit 3, Section 4, Group 1, and the whole staff in Engineering Unit no3. They have supported me not only at work but also in my personal life, allowing me to reach this year's MVP Award.

One of our favorite quotes from your speech is “Change for the better, Frequently change for the perfect”. So, during your six years working at Sun*, what is your biggest change?

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: My six years at Sun* has witnessed numerous changes. Before Sun*, I used to work for two different software companies. However, I have to admit that, at Sun* I have the chance to learn a lot of things, especially professional knowledge from colleagues, customers, etc. My experience with all kinds of projects from small ones to large ones has taught me how to manage work and risk. I assure you that all of us have heard the saying: “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. Time is just like a river, just passing by. And when time passes by, not just our surrounding changes but we ourselves change as well. Today we have the feeling and thinking different from yesterday. To satisfy the demand of the job in the ever-changing technology field, we are not allowed to stand still, instead, we have to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills day by day. 

Personally, the biggest change I have in these 6 years is the change in thinking. When investigating a problem, I use an objective perspective, putting aside my ego to learn and willingly welcome the new things.

We talked a lot about the past and present, so what about your future, specifically your 2021?

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: In the year 2021, I also have my own plans. In addition to improving my technical knowledge, as well as my project management, I also have to put more effort in building the human resource in the Unit to contribute to promoting Sun* development in general. As for the specific plans, I will create OKRs gradually and try to "keep on track". Let’s wait and see!

Do you want to say anything to your colleagues?

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: I honestly want to thank all my colleagues at Sun*, who have always contributed to our company, accompanied me and created great things with me. Thank you to those who have loved, trusted and given me the most passionate feelings in this year SAA.

When I was at university, my homeroom teacher used to share with me: "What is the most important thing in research?" - "That is health", this statement still follows me to this day. We wish all of our brothers and sisters in the company to have good health, an enthusiastic working spirit, and full of engagement to achieve even more brilliant success in 2021.

A little bit off-topic, but why do you choose the name Cui Bap as your Facebook name? It seems that this name is not equivalent to the Mr. Vuong that everyone knows at the company, right? (Cui Bap is an adjective referring to incapable)

Mr. Nguyen Van Vuong: Actually, when I signed up for my Facebook account, I kept my authentic name, but at that time it seemed that Facebook did not support Vietnamese very well, so when a close friend of mine could not find it to make friends. I tried to change all kinds of things but failed. Eventually, I temporarily set it as "Cui Bap" for easy identification.

Surely Facebook would not expect that the Cui Bap that year has become Sun* MVP 2020 today, wouldn’t it? Thank you for your time.

On behalf of Sun* News, I wish you will always maintain the present enthusiasm and engagement, continue to be the fire keeper and inspire all Sunners, and together carry out the mission of creating “awesome” values.