What's your favorite thing about the Vietnamese?

After living in Hanoi for six months so far, here are my points…

  1. Vietnamese people don’t give a shit about you (and i mean that in a good way). They don’t discriminate, they are too busy doing the things to do in their life to spend time thinking about you too much. This is the best thing about Vietnam! This means you can go do what you like (don’t break laws) and you are free.
     
  2. Very direct with you. Go in a store, buy something, they take your money and start working on the next thing. This directness means they are extremely efficient! Good for doing business, cut away all the bullsh*it.
     
  3. Very stylish! Look into small stores. Look at the ladies with high heels and beautiful clothes on the motorbikes. Style is everywhere and into everything here. It’s unlike anything I have seen in any other country so far.
     
  4. Really good service. I remember one day i wanted a new office chair at home. I went to the website, picked a chair and in 2 hours it was delivered to my apartment on the back of a motorbike. Pre-Assembled! Cash on Delivery. People do a LOT for you here — unlike many other countries. The service you get everywhere is actually above and beyond many other places.
     
  5. Very friendly. At first, it does not seem like it — but start talking to a Vietnamese person for even a couple minutes and everything changes. You will get invited out. People will bring food to your home. They will take you where you need to go or bring something for you from out of their way.
     
  6. Conservative. This may seem like a negative. But with our overly loaded politically correct and wildly open culture taking over the west, it’s good to see some boundaries set on personal behavior.
     
  7. Feminine Women. Here, women act like women. Women wear their hair long, act demurely and dress in a very stylish manner. Even on the back of a motorbike or driving one, you can see extremely beautiful women riding around the cities all the time.
     
  8. Vietnam is free. Yes, its’ a communist/socialist country. But it’s hard to find other places that are more capitalist or entreprenueral or dynamic at this moment in time. With a population almost reaching 100million and most of it young people, the future is very bright.

Vietnam is a wonderful place and I see myself having a lot to do with this diverse country in the future if I can.


  1. What are some things that seem easy in programming software but are actually hard, and other things that seem hard but are easy?
  2. How did you become interested in Vietnam and Vietnamese culture?
  3. Why things will never change
  4. Are Vietnamese people friendly?
  5. How did you go from a newbie to a software engineer in 9 months while working full time?
  6. How can I know if programming is the right career for me?
  7. Did anybody learn a programming language at the age of 50?
  8. Does being an entrepreneur require you to be a good programmer or good at coding?