As an FPT University student, doing an internship at FPT Software was almost the default option. For a lot of us, it was either the first choice or the safety net after missing something else. Either way, plenty of people ended up there.
There were two offices I could choose from: Can Tho or Ho Chi Minh City. Naturally, I picked Ho Chi Minh City. Not because it was the smarter move. Not because I had some beautiful five-year plan. I just wanted to see what it felt like to live there.
At that point, I was not exactly some high-performing mastermind. I knew a few things, understood a little more than I did a year before, and thought moving to a new city sounded like a pretty decent side quest. So I packed my things and left.
By packed my things,
I mostly mean I brought a bike, some clothes, some money, and whatever essential items my underprepared brain considered enough for starting a new life in Saigon. Which, in hindsight, was not much.
Most of my university group stayed in Can Tho. We had worked together for years and knew each other well, so splitting up was not the obvious choice. Still, I do not regret it for a second.
The plan was simple enough: three of us were going to stay in District 9 because the FPT Software office was in the Hi-Tech Park area. We rented a hostel for three months. On the first day, though, only one roommate and I got there first, standing in a half-empty room that did not yet feel like a place people could properly live in.
So we split the mission. He went to the market to buy the big survival items: table, mattress, and the stuff that makes a room look less like a temporary hiding spot. I went off looking for the boring adult supplies: bathroom tools, toilet cleaner, floor cleaner, and all the little things you never think about until you suddenly need them immediately.
The area itself was new, almost strangely new. Some houses were already there, but there were also long prebuilt roads, open space everywhere, and enough empty stretches that for one very optimistic week I thought, yeah, I could definitely become a jogging person here.
That dream did not last long, but the roads were nice.
The neighborhood seemed full of factory workers, which meant the prices around us were surprisingly affordable. People were friendly too. That was one of the first things I noticed about Saigon: every kind of person seemed to be there. Northern voices, central voices, older men with accents so heavy my brain had to do overtime just to keep up. Respectfully, it was also kind of fun.
At some point I even rode from District 9 all the way to District 7 just to buy some of that household stuff. Partly because I needed it. Partly because I wanted an excuse to see more of the city and figure out the roads for myself.
Saigon felt chaotic to me almost immediately, and I kind of liked that. The highways had sleepy truck drivers, the traffic jams felt endless, and even the air smelled different. Later I realized that part was probably just dust.
That was the first version of Saigon I met: not glamorous, not cinematic, just loud, dusty, crowded, weirdly welcoming, and full of motion. The internship itself, funnily enough, turned out to be calmer than the city around it. Somewhere along the way, I was given the title of Unit Manager
. Sounds important, right?
In reality, it mostly meant I was doing a small mix of mini Scrum Master, mini Business Analyst, and part-time intern babysitter.
- My boss was one stakeholder.
- My fellow interns were the other stakeholder group.
Not exactly enterprise-level complexity, but it was still my first real taste of coordination, planning, communication, and responsibility. Looking back, it may have been one of the earliest moments where I realized I actually enjoyed the analysis-and-people side of technology.
The interns themselves were a mixed bunch. Some struggled. Some were surprisingly capable. One guy somehow managed to juggle three internships at the same time, and to this day I still have absolutely no idea how he pulled that off.
Then came the plot twist. Back at university, there was this entrepreneurship subject where a strong enough idea could grow into a multi-major graduation project. If you were a Software Engineering student and teamed up with, say, someone from Graphic Design, your final project could end up in a different committee instead of the standard Software Engineering route.
One of the people around that orbit was an older guy doing his second degree. He clearly had more life experience than the rest of us, and he was the type who liked thinking big. Startup energy. Build something ambitious. Turn it into a real thing. Honestly, I do not even dislike that mindset. It just was never fully my lane.
Still, my friends and I had talked for a long time about doing the graduation project together. While I was in Saigon, the group slowly drifted toward that bigger multi-major direction without me. Bigger project. Different direction. Different team. By the time I found out, it was basically done.
The part that hurt was not really being excluded. It was finding out so late. By then, most of the strong teams had already formed, and I remember feeling completely lost. Not angry. Just lost.
For a while, it felt like maybe I had made the wrong choice. Maybe I should have stayed in Can Tho. Maybe I should have taken the safer route. Maybe I should have seen it coming. But life rarely gives us enough information to know whether a decision is right or wrong in the moment.
What I know now is that being pushed out of that plan forced me to build a new one. I found a different team. I finished university anyway. And maybe more importantly, I learned that sometimes the people you expect to walk with you until the end simply will not.
Not because anyone is evil. Not because I was perfect either. Just because people make different choices. That is life being life.
There was one more chapter to the story.
Toward the end of the internship, FPT Software was considering keeping some interns after the program ended. It was not exactly a job offer, but it was close enough that people took it seriously.
There were a few requirements. We had to go through an English assessment, some technical evaluations, and a few other checks. At the time, I did not even have an English certificate, so I was not exactly walking in there full of confidence.
To my surprise, I passed.
I was assessed at C1 English level, cleared the evaluations, and for a brief moment it really looked like there was a chance I might stay in Saigon after all.
Then... nothing happened.
From what I remember, there were discussions about budget limits, headcount restrictions, available slots, or something in that neighborhood. I never really got a crystal-clear answer. Whatever the reason was, I was not selected in the end.
At the time, it felt disappointing. Not devastating. Just disappointing.
After spending months in a new city, working hard, passing the assessments, and letting myself imagine what the next step might look like, it was hard not to sit there and wonder what could have been.
But life has a funny habit of explaining itself in reverse.
If I had stayed, a lot of what happened afterward probably would not have happened at all. I would not have returned to Can Tho. I would not have taken the path that eventually led me toward Business Analysis and UI/UX. I would not have joined some of the projects, trips, and experiences that ended up defining the next chapter of my life.
At the time, I thought I was missing an opportunity. Looking back, I think I was being redirected toward a different one.
When I think about the internship now, I do not really remember it as a betrayal arc. I remember moving to a new city, figuring things out on my own, meeting new people, and proving to myself that I could survive outside the environment I was used to.
For what was supposed to be just another university requirement, it ended up teaching me how to live in a new city, work in a professional environment, lead a small team, handle disappointment, adapt when plans fell apart, and keep moving even when I was not entirely sure where I was going.
I moved to Saigon looking for experience.
I came back with experience, disappointment, new friends, and a completely different life path.
Not a bad trade.