“I’ve always been tempted to accomplish things that others judge me to not be capable of.”
Loan Pham, Chief Technology Officer – NashTech Vietnam
This inspirational mindset became clearer as she grew up. For instance, whenever she walked to her local school, passing a power station, Loan kept wondering whether it was correct that only men can perform engineering jobs. After thinking deeply, the answer to this question came to the surface, and it was firmly a “No”. Women can definitely do the same jobs as men.
That mindset has been strengthened over the years, both during her time at the HCMC University of Technology and the pursuit of her career path, which led her to become CTO of NashTech in 2015.
At University, Loan’s graduation thesis topic was: “Optimising Parallel Processing Network”. However, many people in the faculty consulted with her and recommended switching to a less challenging topic. One supposedly more “suitable” for women. Once again, this “advice” triggered Loan’s passion and motivated her to continue to undertake cutting-edge and meaningful research. And to became a success in the field of Technology.
Looking back on her journey, Loan feels fortunate to be so courageous and is proud that she has always been consistent and determined to follow her dreams. Her career journey has been a straight line that was defined by her passion to conquer herself.
We couldn’t be more proud of Loan. Everyone at NashTech knows how hard Loan has worked to achieve the career path that she wanted, and we are extremely lucky to have her on board as a tech leader.
“If you know what you are passionate about and have a concrete plan for a detailed career path, no matter what field you are involved in, your success rate will undoubtedly be over 90%”
Loan Pham, Chief Technology Officer – NashTech Vietnam
Speaking of her wishes, she shared:
“In recent years, Vietnam has made significant technological breakthroughs and NashTech is so proud to be a part of it. We are fortunate to have so many excellent engineers who receive both nationwide and international recognition for their work and knowledge in advanced technologies such as; Microservices, Cloud, Automation, DevSecOps, Digital Modernization and Innovation as a service. Fortunately, society is now much more progressive with regards to gender equality and this has driven huge changes over the last decade in Vietnam. The younger generation of women is more empowered to pursue their dreams, regardless of gender. It’s great that women in Vietnam are given equal opportunity to prove their ability beyond gender.”
Loan Pham, Chief Technology Officer – NashTech Vietnam
NashTech’s workforce is currently 38% female, many of whom work as senior directors, managers, developers, testers, BAs, PMs and QAs. This is a fantastic figure if we compare it to the UK, where the female proportion of the IT professional workforce is still only 16.2%, or the USA, where females hold only 25 percent of computing roles.
After more than a decade at NashTech, Loan Pham sees NashTech as her second home. When we asked her what has kept her so bonded with NashTech, the answer was; “Because the people at NashTech are so nice and kind.”
She says she always feels grateful to have her team members by her side. They’ve been with her as a family through the ups and downs of a passionate and dedicated career journey. She shared with us that she feels fortunate to have the opportunity to work with and be supported by an excellent team of individuals at NashTech who are talented, hard-working, knowledgeable, skilled and practical.
Loan Pham hopes that her story will inspire the spirit of “dare to dream and dare to achieve it” and inspire women who are interested in technology, especially in Vietnam. She believes that the biggest obstacle for women in IT and STEM careers is not capacity, it is the gender prejudice from society, and sometimes from the inner you as well.
When asked for any final advice for young women in Vietnam wanting to make their mark in the world of software development, she said;
“Keep the flame of passion and enthusiasm alive, to overcome all the challenges you find both within yourself and from society”
Loan Pham, Chief Technology Officer – NashTech Vietnam
Thank you to Loan who interviewed for this piece called, “Loan Pham, CTO of NashTech: empowering women in the tech.”
Are you a woman in Vietnam working in the field of software development and technology solutions? Or are you about to graduate and will be looking for a role in Vietnam? We have many roles available in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, where our development centres are located, including Head of Presales Support. Come and work for our portfolio of global clients.
NashTech’s Head Quarters are in the UK. Since 2000 NashTech has been delivering software development, cloud services, managed services, digital transformation and BPS (Business Process Services) from our development centres in Vietnam. A division of Harvey Nash Group, we operate in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan.