The LinkedIn Vietnam expat group is for any expat living in Vietnam, lived in Vietnam or intend to move to Vietnam.

• Use its discussion board to find recruits, make friends and to share suggestion related to legal, economy, culture, investments, housing, places to go anything or anything else related to being in Vietnam.
• Accelerate careers/business through referrals from Vietnam Expats Group members
• Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow Vietnam Expats Group members

Of course, don’t forget to use it to make party announcements!

Here’s the link to join:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1261757

Hope to see you in the group,

— The Vietnam Expats Group Team
Related: join the Vietnam IT Outsourcing Group on LinkedIn.

Aerial view of Tan Son Nhat airport.

This morning I went to the petrol station. The price was still the same as the previous days. Was it just a rumor?

If you are you are interested in getting in touch with individuals/companies that outsource to Vietnam or if you provide outsourcing services you’re invited to join the Vietnam IT Outsourcing Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact others members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help members:

• Reach other members interested in IT/Software Outsourcing business
• If you have projects that you wish to outsource you may be able to find the company/individual you were looking for
• Accelerate careers/business through referrals from Vietnam IT Outsourcing Group members
• Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow Vietnam IT Outsourcing Group members

Here’s the link to join:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/136019

Hope to see you in the group,

— The Vietnam IT Outsourcing Group Team

Vietnam is trying to catch up with fuel prices in other countries but this sudden increase was not known by many people and comes as a shock. Fifteen years ago I used to work at a petrol station in Holland and if prices were going up by just 1 cent, Dutch people would start to panic already. Can you imagine what would happened if petrol prices in Holland increase by 31% overnight?

Of course, those who are living in Europe will argue that petrol is cheap in Vietnam but compared to salary levels petrol prices are expensive. This increase will push the inflation for July and August 2008 even further up.

Petrol prices in Vietnam are lower than those of their neighbors and therefore traders smuggle a lot of petrol

each day to those countries. The increased prices will not stop the smuggling but will at least reduce it.

And more news on petrol: Foster Wheeler Nergy Limited (UK) signed a contract with Vietnam’s Nghi Son RP Company to design the Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical (RP) project. The Nghi Son RP project (USD 6 billion investment) has a capacity of producing 200,000 barrels a day.

Technorati Tags: vietnam,petrol,inflation,price,Foster Wheeler,billion,investment,barrels,motorbike,diesel,cambodia,traders,smuggle

1. Vietnamese people are incredibly friendly so simple is that!
   Wherever you go you will be welcomed and there are always cheerful friendly smiles around regardless of age. If you visit a supermarket or go swimming people try to speak to you, if you go to a sports club you will be invited to join them to play badminton, etc. If you speak about the country of smile: this title definitely should belong to Vietnam.
    
2. Vietnamese are loyal, hard working and eager to learn new things
   When you arrive in Vietnam you will be surprised by the number of study books that you can find in the city. Vietnamese people are enormously eager to learn new technologies and don’t mind approaching you on the street so they can practice their English. Working in Vietnam is a great experience.
   
   
3. Vietnam is an emergency market
   This could not be said when I first arrived in Vietnam but now it definitely is. The country is changing fast and it is one of the major emerging markets of the ASEAN region. It has a stable political and social situation and welcomes foreign investors.
   
   
4. There are many choices for good food
   You can find Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, Brazilian, German and many other restaurant and prices are comparatively cheap.
   
   
5. Visiting Vietnam is an adventure!
   Saigon is crowded with bikes and motorbikes. It is simply a mess and a lot needs to be done to get this city organized. In the Ben Thanh market (Saigon) you have to be careful that a pickpocket doesn’t start shopping before you do. Take a taxi and you have a fair chance that you don’t arrive where you wanted to arrive, order food in a local restaurant and you don’t get what you ordered. Take a train or bus and you will be assured that someone will try to speak to you (even when it is just to say hello). Mui Ne is silent and has a beautiful beach for a weekend relaxing and a city like Hue (central Vietnam) is a must to visit because of it’s ancient beauty. Last but not least……don’t forget the beautiful ladies wearing their traditional dress the Ao Dai.  
   (Thanks to Diem Thuyen for publishing these beautiful ao dai photos under creative commons license)
6. There is a lot of value you can add to the country
   Vietnam is a poor country and nearly 24 million people in Vietnam live in poverty. You can help by teaching English or by support charities such as
   1.  Children of Vietnam
   2.  Christina Noble Foundation
   3.  Vietnam Relief Effort
   4.  Sun Flower Mission
   5.  Vietnam Dream for Success 
   6.  Vietnam Now.
      

There are many more reasons but if I would list them all I could publish a book. Have you been in Vietnam before or do you stay in Vietnam? Let me know why you came to Vietnam in the first place. If you are one of those people that I meet each year again, let me know what magic makes you come back.

Cheers, Marcel

• Vietnam’s is an emerging market and the number of software companies is growing enormously.
• The government provides excellent support for setting up new software business and wants Vietnam to be a global player in the software industry.
• The economy in Vietnam is growing rapidly and is the second fastest GDP growth in all of Asia.
• Vietnam based companies are eager to form long-term alliances.

My first questions….

• What about costs? Will I save big bucks?
  You will make a substantial cost saving by outsourcing to Vietnam. Wages in Vietnam are much lower than those in Europe or US. They are also significantly lower than those in India, Ukraine or Russia.
• I don’t speak Vietnamese…..help!
  Don’t panic. English is the most popular language in the country and the majority of Vietnamese students speak good English.
• I am ready so let’s start my first project and make some good profits.
  Hey! Didn’t you read part 1? Do your homework and do some planning before dreaming of becoming a millionaire. In case you are serious looking for building a long lasting relationship be prepared to invest a bit first.

In Part 3 (Planning) I will give an idea about what you need to plan before doing your first software outsourcing project. Feel free to comment on this article if you have ideas/suggestion/questions on what you believe is important to plan before doing the first project.

• are ready for it
• have defined what kind of company you are looking for
• have decided what software projects you do and don’t want to outsource
• have establish a long term goal
• are willing to make an investment

How to get started?
If this is the first time you outsource a project to Vietnam you should locate a company that is aiming for a long-lasting

relationship and is willing to invest in this new venture. In most cases the first software projects will not result into profits and you will spend a lot of time fine-tuning communication, develop processes and decide what online tools will be used for collaboration (i.e. subversion, CVS, Trac, bugtracking software, ..) [More information about tools will be provided in another post].

• Start with a risk-free trial project
  Do not panic if the first code you get back isn’t perfect, that’s quite normal and it takes time to get this correct.
• Document coding conventions, tools to be used and the DOs and DON’Ts.
• Provide Frequent code Submissions
  Use a versioning control system such a CVS or Subversion
• Be prepared for cultural differences.
  [More info on cultural differences will be provided in a follow up post].

Communication
Both parties need to learn from each other and you will soon be reminded that if you don’t have your specifications correct, you will run into trouble. Correct specifications and weekly reporting is necessary. The developer needs to assign a project manager who is fluent in English but don’t get shocked if you receive email containing text such as:

 ”where is my information!!!!!” or “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND???? What do you want??”

Many Vietnamese manager use uppercase characters, lots of exclamation marks or question marks. It may sound rude but the intention is probably not. As written above: Vietnamese people are very friendly so most likely you will never receive a rude mail on purpose.

The best thing is to establish an email convention which outlines the DOs and DON’Ts in emails and how they should be formatted. In a follow up post I will provide a sample convention that you may want to use as a start for your own business and provide some classical sample of miscommunications that I’ve received during the 12 years that I’ve been in Vietnam. One note as a reminder: Be polite at all time and show mutual respect at all time

They seem to be on holiday and I urgently need some feedback??!!

• Keep each other well in advance informed about upcoming holidays.
  Tet (Chinese New Year) is a very important holiday in Vietnam and do not expect to get any work done during that time. Out of respect you should even not ask if this is possible.
• Plan ahead and arrange for backup during the holidays.
  If the project manager takes holiday ensure that you know who you can contact during that time.

If you get the basics right, you will be able to establish a healthy business relationship which will help you both grow the business. More post on this topic will follow but if you have any questions do not hesitate to leave a comment.

Marcel

PS: don’t forget to visit http://www.csharpjobs.net