I was reading this blog by a senior Google software engineer who went to Vietnam for a vacation and learnt, to his surprise, how well versed in computer science the students there were.
I am not surprised. Vietnam's education has always placed a high emphasis on hard STEM for hundreds of year. Even more so in recent years.
What they lack (in money, modern equipments, etc), they more than make up for it w/ hard work and a culture of constant learning.
And with the advent of free online educational platforms ( Khan Academy, Youtube, etc), the CS skillset of Vietnamese youth will only level up to the best of the best.
In spring 2022, I had the opportunity to visit a school I helped build (with a small donation) in the remote jungle of Quang Binh province. It was quite a moment to see first hand the new school, soon to house a few hundred village kids of the minority tribe Bru-Vân Kiều.
Standing outside the school in the hot and humid afternoon sun that spring day, I couldn't help thinking one day, just may be, one of these kids will be a Google engineer, pushing code for one of the world's most iconic tech companies.
