Onsite experience from “real people”

Let’s meet and listen to the sharing of “real people” from FSOFT who have just started their onsite journey from the beginning of 2022. Each speaker represents an OB, Mr. Nguyen Ba Anh Thi (FJP.EBS) represents Onsiter Japan, Ms. Tran Thi Bich (ST5.HOT) represents Onsiter in USA and Ms. Sophia Nguyen Hong Ngoc (FAP) represents Onsiter in Singapore.

When you first came to onsite in a new country, what difficulties did you face?

Ngoc excitedly shared: “Looking back at the first time I came to Singapore, my biggest difficulty was probably renting a house. At that time, Singapore had just reopened, so house prices were very high, and we had to find a house close to the customer site. Besides, the food here is not to my taste, because Chinese food is very greasy!”

Sharing the same opinion about the story of finding a house, Ms. Bich shared: “The price of houses when I first arrived in New York increased by 30%, the customer site was in the suburbs, so FSOFT initially supported me to stay at the hotel within 10 days. Fortunately, I know international students here, so they support a lot to rent a house. However, there are still inevitable difficulties such as being far from home, not knowing how to drive, and having a lot of work and pressure because the project is too big.

Mr. Thi has unforgettable experiences with traffic in Japan on the first days of arriving here: “The road from the airport to the place of residence is very difficult because the traffic in Japan is so different from Vietnam. Fortunately, I have HR friends to guide me, so I just follow it,” he happily added. “At that time, complicated traffic made it more difficult for me to stay, but when I got home, I was very touched. At the same time, the house is fully equipped with equipment such as refrigerators, stoves, beds, rice cookers, etc. Not only that, the next day, you also supported the delivery of the computer to my house, I was really surprised by this thoughtfulness, so perhaps the initial difficulties were not significant.”

How did you overcome those difficulties?

Ngoc excitedly shared: “Immediately, I contacted the old onsiters and new friends to rent a house together for cheap. For food, I go to the market and cook at home, which is both suitable for my taste and saves some money. Right now, I am quite satisfied with my life here!”.

Mr. Thi said: “Actually, I did not have many difficulties. If I have a problem, I usually ask my company friends or my friends who live in the same building, even HR. Sometimes I go to Google and it’s done.”

Can you share about your current life?

“My life is much more stable now, although I am still busy and have not had time to explore many places in the US, in the near future, I will have more new friends, hope I will have many exchanges and have more time to travel to many places,” Ms. Bich added. “There are many concerts by famous singers in the US in the summer, although the ticket price is a bit high, it’s really a worthwhile experience, I’m very excited to go see it. This is the first concert!”

Mr. Thi also excitedly said: “My life has gradually adapted, in addition to working time, the company has badminton and football clubs for the brothers to exchange on weekends. I love running and swimming, so I spend time jogging after work and arrange a time to go swimming twice a week to improve my health. This also helps me relax and generate more ideas for work and upcoming projects”.

After nearly 1 year onsite, have you ever regretted this decision?

“It’s okay to regret because Singapore is quite close to Vietnam, I think working here or at home is not much different, it’s still the same project team, the same customer and the same people. It’s just that the work will go more smoothly because I can sit close to the customer and I also have many interesting experiences,” Ms. Ngoc shared.

Ms. Bich happily shared: “I still think this is a great experience that not everyone can have in their life, being able to set foot in America – the dream land of many people. Why do I have any regrets?”

Mr. Thi had other thoughts: “Does the word ‘regret’ sound a bit too negative? Even now, I still feel homesick, missing my family, loved ones, and even the familiar dishes in Vietnam a lot. But in return, I have a good living environment, good company, colleagues, good opportunities for self-development. Above all, there are many new plans and experiences waiting for me ahead. So I think it’s very ‘worth it’. There is a small story, I just read, found it very interesting and wanted to share more:

Do you know why the Rock sinks and the Boat floats? Because, the Stone always looks down, the darkness under the water is very wide, very enchanting and hard to resist. The Boat also feels the darkness, every second like the Rock. Darkness tries to take possession and drag the Boat down.

But the Boat has a secret, because unlike the Rock, the boat does not look down. Follow the light that guides it. Whisper great things that the darkness cannot understand. And so the Boat keeps moving forward!

After nearly a year, Globizen Community has given wings to many of FSOFTer’s Onsite dreams. The past year has been a challenging year for Globizen, but with the enthusiasm and burning passion for onsite, FSOFTer’s achievements and experiences have contributed to helping the Globizen community grow stronger. With the goal of making FSOFT a “world-class billion-dollar company” by 2023, Globizen Community will bring the opportunity to go onsite abroad closer to FSOFTer, and become a companion to help FSOFTer conquer the dream of living and working globally.

FWA