Vietnamese engineer builds successfully career in Montréal

Bui Quang Hien has settled in Canada for 10 years. Not only is the Director of STECHCO Consultants Inc, he is also a member of the Québec Engineers Association, the Ontario Association of Engineers, the Nuvanut Engineers Association and the Arctic region.

Dr. Bui Quang Hien and his family in Montréal. Photo: baoquocte.vn

Graduating from Hanoi University of Transport in 2004, Bui Quang Hien received a scholarship to study in France and received a Master's degree in Mechanics and Civil Engineering from Marne-La-Vallée University and National School of Bridges and Roads in 2005.

Three years later, the Vietnamese engineer successfully defended his Ph.D in Mechanics and Materials at the University of Paris XIII and his postdoctoral research at the Polytechnic University of Paris. He then moved to Québec (Canada) to work in Laval University. He also became a researcher at the Aluminum Technology Center, National Research Council of Canada from 2009 to 2011.

In 2013, Hien established STECHCO Consultants Inc. So far, after six years of development, he and his colleagues have consulted and designed for more than 1000 real estate and construction projects, of which, notably is earthquake resistance projects in the US, Canada and Vietnam.

Bui Quang Hien shared that, before going to Canada to work, he thought he would stay here only a few years and then return to Europe or Vietnam. However, when living in Québec, he realized that the environment here was very friendly to immigrants and had many favorable policies for immigrants to develop.

He chose Montréal as a settlement because it was an average city, mixing European and American styles – where both English and French could be used.

As a football enthusiast and wishing to develop sports and cultural activities for the Vietnamese community in Canada, Hien and his friends have organized lots of football tournaments. Recently, the Lac Hong Montréal Football Tournament 2019 drew nearly 1000 Vietnamese-Canadians.

Lac Hong Montréal Football Tournament 2019. Photo: VNA

Sharing about building career in a foreign country, Hien said that the working environment in North America requires very high skills to create competitive products. Therefore, what he is doing in Montréal is only considered initial success.

Currently, Bui Quang Hien is cherishing his intention to set up the Vietnam Business Association in Canada, to help businesses in Canada to seek investment opportunities in Vietnam, as well as to help Vietnamese businesses expand their investment and business in Canada.

“Canada owns the world's leading Vietnamese experts in health, law, pharmaceutical technology, food, environment and technology. So, Vietnamese government needs to have good policies to reverse our brain drain.’’

Meanwhile, according to Bui Quang Hien, Canada in particular and the North American region in general are in great need of high quality labor as well as basic labor. In 2018, Canada welcomed 321,000 immigrants. According to statistics in Canada alone, there are about 300,000 Vietnamese-Canadians living here.

In order to have the opportunity to work here, Vietnamese young people need to try to improve their foreign language, knowledge, skills and professional ethics, Hien shared.

VNF