Nguyen Dang Minh, a 23‑year‑old IT graduate from PTIT, finished his degree as the top student with a 3.85 / 4.0 GPA. His story shows how proactive learning can turn a university experience into a job at a US tech giant before graduation.

While many peers started programming early, Minh began in his first year at university. He quickly joined a programming club, practiced regularly and entered competitive programming contests. He later recalled, "Even though I wasn't sure which path to follow, I believed I would never know what suited me unless I gave things a try."

In his third year, Minh joined two university research labs – one focused on Vietnamese speech recognition and the IEC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab. There he helped develop the AI‑powered Vilutra system for locating missing children, which earned third prize in a PTIT startup competition, an Excellence Award at the University of Sydney’s Coding Fest, and first place in Track A at Next Wave of Startup 2025. He also co‑authored a scientific paper presented at SOICT 2025.

Seeking real‑world experience, Minh took an unpaid internship at BIVA, a voice‑bot startup, during his second year. At BIVA he worked on AI projects and eventually led a small team, learning to meet tight deadlines, maintain product quality and collaborate effectively with colleagues. He says these corporate challenges differed greatly from university coursework.

In late 2025, Minh passed a rigorous recruitment process and received a job offer from the Vietnamese operation of a major US multinational technology corporation, becoming an Associate AI/ML Delivery Consultant before graduation. Minh attributes his success to hands‑on research, project experience, and early exposure to real‑world corporate challenges.