When the Vietnamese government in 2003 unveiled the Vietnam Science and Technology Development Strategy, to be implemented by 2010, it identified the establishment of a quality workforce as a key objective.
In its statement during the announcement of the strategy, the government explained that the workforce should be developed to attain a high level of quality and with the appropriate qualifications necessary to attain socio-economic development in Vietnam.
Lam Nguyen, IDC Vietnam's country director, told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview that the country has been encouraging the establishment of world-class technical training centers to upgrade labor skills and build a strong base of technology professionals.
According to Stree Naidu, regional vice president of Asia-Pacific and Japan at Tumbleweed Communications, numerous courses such as those offering Cisco Systems certification are being conducted now in Vietnam.
"IT seminars and workshops are done concurrently by the Vietnam government with multinational companies such as Microsoft, to educate the market and bring their level of awareness to that of its neighboring countries," Naidu told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview.
Truong Gia Binh, president of the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA), said there are currently more than 320 universities and colleges in Vietnam. Among them, 60 universities and colleges have IT or related faculties and departments and produce around 15,000 IT engineers a year.
Vietnam's government has also identified the software market as a strategic industry that can help raise the competitiveness of other industries. Truong said the local software sector has contributed "a great deal" to IT application development in the country, especially in the fields of e-government, banking, telecommunication and business management.
"The industry now employs about 50,000 IT workers in software companies. Another 250,000 IT workers are working in other industries and organizations," he said.
Luxoft President and CEO Dmitry Loschinin said the quality of technical education in Vietnam allows the company to select best-of-breed professionals. Luxoft is a software application and product development outsourcing provider that recently set up new operations in Vietnam.
"We also find that, a lot of times, senior technical professionals in Vietnam have been educated by Russian universities, making their approach more compatible with our standards," said Loschinin.
Mike VanDerWal, NCR managing director for Vietnam, noted the country's emphasis on developing its IT industry in recent years has led to a better-educated workforce.
"The talent pool in Vietnam is able to fill both entry-level and middle-level positions for most companies," he told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview. "However for senior hires, in most cases, foreign talent would have to be brought in to bridge the gap in required skills set."
Young hope
According to VINASA's Truong, the "biggest advantage" and future of Vietnam's software industry rely on its human resource encompassing Vietnam's large and young population.
"Vietnamese youth are very keen on mathematics and computers. They take pains to study and are agile at work. These characteristics are very good in IT and software jobs," he said.
"Every year, 1.7 million pupils leave schools and apply to enter universities and colleges. The government has taken a new strategy to boost IT education in coming years, and is expecting to have some 1 million IT workers before 2020," Truong said. "The target is that, between 2015 and 2020, Vietnam would be among the world's Top 5 suppliers of software engineers."
