With more than 50% of its population below 35-years of age, Vietnam beat 50 other countries on the Tech Growth Market Index to rank the highest. Given its young & ambitious workforce, government’s strategic efforts, and affordable labor, Vietnam is leading on many fronts, one of them being Tech Talent. A tech talent pool of more than 400K engineers and about 50K IT students graduating annually makes Vietnam an attractive market for many global employers. Additionally, Vietnam is a front runner in future tech such as Blockchain, AI, & Data Science. Its work culture and productivity make the Vietnamese workforce more appealing, and so let us bust some of the top myths surrounding this market.

Myth 1- Vietnamese tech talent ghost employers

One of the biggest misconceptions about hiring the Vietnamese tech talent is that they ghost employers or disappear halfway into the deal. The key reason behind this is hiring employees on a casual basis. Hiring freelancers on a casual basis without a proper scope or an enforcement method makes this a problem for all types of talents, not just Vietnam.

For even the simplest short-term task, Fetch taps into its employees and its large pool of Vietnamese tech community. Our tech talents are onboarded with clear policies, employment contracts, and thorough background checks. A formal agreement puts in the necessary enforcement to prevent ghosting or disappearance. As their legal employers in Vietnam, we control the release from employment rights. As your strategic partner, you get the same control that you would expect in a normal hiring scenario.

Myth 2- Vietnamese tech talent has limited English proficiency

Another common myth about the Vietnamese tech talent pool is their low levels of English proficiency. While English is not the first language in Vietnam, recent surveys demonstrate that the English proficiency level is no longer ‘low’. Lack of confidence is the one of reasons behind the imperfect spoken English communication amongst Vietnamese developers.

Many of them do not have a chance to practice speaking, resulting in the lack of confidence many often see. Usually, once they get started, they often start speaking a lot more confidently very quickly. In fact, almost the entire community at Fetch can speak English on a day-to-day basis.

Also, while it may take some time for the talents to gain speaking confidence, the pre-interview English screening by Fetch ensures that all the developers introduced by Fetch will be able to read and write in English well.  Since majority of communications on technical projects are in written form, the proficient comprehension of written English skills of the developers further makes the language barrier a small or non-existent issue.

Myth 3- Vietnamese tech talent delivers low-quality output

According to the Coursera Global Skills Index Report 2020, Vietnam ranked 2nd in the APAC region and 22nd globally in tech skills. Pentalog ranked Vietnamese developers in the Top 10, with Hanoi ranking in the Top 5 cities in the world with the best developers. Vietnamese developers excel at languages such as JavaScript. That they are well equipped with Database Management and SQL, Linux (UNIX), Python, and Containers (Docker and Kubernetes) skillsets. In the last couple of years, the demand for tech talent has only grown, making Vietnam’s tech talent the most sought after in Southeast Asia.

Fetch and its clients have developed market leading products and so we disband this one as a ‘myth’.

Myth 4- Vietnamese tech talent is hard to manage and monitor

Another myth that we want to demystify is that Vietnamese tech talent is hard to manage and monitor. This usually translates to communication process, type of hiring, and daily management process. With the use of correct resources, management, and monitoring of staff, this should not and cannot happen.

Fetch makes this even easier for you. Our hiring process is mature and the quality that comes out of it is A grade. For clients who opt for full suite managed service, employees must work on-site, in our office, under the supervision of our floor managers. Access to proper infrastructure, community, a management team instead of working out of cafes, in turn, produces the best results for our clients.

Myth 5- Hiring Vietnamese talent can pose security risks

This myth about hiring Vietnamese talent is to reduce adoptability of the tech labor market in Vietnam and prevents global employers to hire the best in class. Security and privacy are crucial especially when technical development projects are remotely executed. For instance, copying, stealing, or selling official data or code for personal benefits are common malpractices that can threaten your company’s reputation, and this is not a Vietnam-specific issue. In fact, in 2018, Vietnam was ranked 50th in the Global Cybersecurity Index, moving up 50 places in comparison to the previous year.

The underlying solution to this issue is to have a formal contractual agreement in place and enforcement either by yourself or via your outsourcing partner. At Fetch, we automatically address the integrity and accountability aspects of our employees. A service agreement with our clients carries the necessary privacy and security measures onto a legally binding employee contract. Our ‘work from office’ practices ensure IT policies are followed, in an infrastructure that monitors and prevents these issues for our clients.

Conclusion

The list of myths might be longer, and we addressed some of the most important ones above. Vietnamese tech talent pool is one of the most sought-after in the world and Fetch has a mature value proposition. Thanks to our dedicated, results-oriented, and tech-savvy engineers, the Vietnamese tech market is growing manifolds. We have some of the best tech professionals waiting to work with you on your projects. In fact, this famous crypto exchange platform has developed its entire team with Fetch. Hire our employees today to access the best tech solutions to global problems.