Silicon Valley's Dr. Tran Viet Hung & Non-profit project connecting Vietnamese youth around the world

Dr. Tran Viet Hung (Hung Tran) is a familiar name in the technology world due to his famous "Got it" startup in Silicon Valley (USA). Besides technology startups, Hung Tran and more than 140 Vietnamese volunteers living abroad are working on "STEAM for Vietnam" - a non-profit technology training project for Vietnamese youth.

April 01, 2021 | 14:37

	Vietnamese community in Ukraine - Fulcrum in the raging pandemic
	Czech Republic ensures ‘fair vaccine access’ for overseas Vietnamese
	Overseas Vietnamese in Phuket (Thailand) wish to promote cooperation with Vietnam

Dr. Tran Viet Hung (Hung Tran).

STEAM for Vietnam

Free computer programming lessons with experts from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft for Vietnamese juveniles

"Anyone who has studied and worked in a foreign country knows the popular spirit of "giving". Every year, everyone spends a certain amount of time doing charity works. Some people plant trees, some cleanup schools, and some build houses for the homeless. STEAM for Vietnam members are also involved in such activities," said Hung in an interview with Vietnam Times reporters.

However, they then think that those amount of time should be used for something more meaningful for the Vietnamese young generation. A lot of Vietnamese have succeeded in foreign countries, yet they have to go through a very long journey, Hung said. Therefore, the group helps shorten that journey by sharing their knowledge and experience with high school students. Technology game-changers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk all learned programming since the age of 10. In Silicon Valley, most people who earned great success got acquainted with computers since high school, so the group hopes to help Vietnamese children learn about technology and programming early.

Dr. Tran Viet Hung is the Founder and CEO of Got It. (Photo: VN Express)

STEAM means Science - Technology - Engineering - Arts - Mathematics. Hung's group started with computer science. Computer thinking, which is a very important skill in the modern world, is a beneficial way of thinking and problem-solving methods help anyone to become helpful and successful regardless of profession.

In addition, computing is the field where Vietnamese volunteers are very good at. STEAM for Vietnam currently has more than 140 volunteers worldwide, many of which are experts and computer engineers working in leading US companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft. They join the project with nothing but a hope to support the Vietnamese youth, which is the only driving force that keeps them working as full-time staff yet ask for no payment. The birth of STEAM for Vietnam not only created a network of Vietnamese talented overseas people but also a movement of learning technology and programming for Vietnamese children.

STEAM for Vietnam - Free computer programming lessons with experts from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft for Vietnamese juveniles.

High-quality human resources training for Vietnam

"The project was established in June 2020 and takes place online. We have 7,000 students registered in the first semester and 11,000 students in the second one. There are sessions that 1 teacher delivers the lesson to 5,000 students in 34 different countries. Particularly in Computer Science, we build a 3-year program. If follow closely and study seriously, then after high school a student can completely work as a software engineer intern. Everything is in its infancy, but figures show that all is currently going according to our plan," shared Hung.

Recently, STEAM for Vietnam signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Tan Thoi Dai education system to bring its subjects into the official curriculum of Tan Thoi Dai. Thanks to this partnership, Hung's team has feedback in official classroom environments and tests their new "Online merge Offline" educational model to continuously update and refine their curriculum.

"STEAM for Vietnam was established with the goal of solving a long-term problem. The age of 10 is the best time for Vietnamese children to get orientated, to try to learn to discover their passion for technology, thereby enjoying methods of further fostering. These generations in the next 15-20 years will completely be able to work as the country's high-quality human resource, a generation of global citizens, with the knowledge and skills to confidently work anywhere around the world. If we want to have a strong economy based on technology, it is necessary to have a large and talented technology team. The orientation and training of the young generation are some of the important activities to build high-quality technology human resources," Hung said.

Dr. Tran Viet Hung (born in 1980) - Founder and CEO of Got It - is a familiar face of start-ups, one of the rare Vietnamese Founders in Silicon Valley (USA).

Currently, Hung is also the youngest member of the Advisory Group to the National Committee for Education and Training Innovation for the 2016-2021 period, established by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Dr. Tran Viet Hung is also a member of the council of the Institute of Information Technology and Communication, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

Strengthening access to online skills training for young workers in Vietnam

For the 14-month ‘Strengthening access to online skills training for young workers in Viet nam’ project, an online digital learning platform will be created to ...