Vietnamese student lands jobs at Google, Amazon after 2 years of self-study

He received the offer from Google on May 14, three days before completing a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the U.S., ranked among the world’s top 70 universities in the 2026 Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings. He got a GPA of 3.89 out of 4.00. He says: "I felt like bursting into tears of joy. There were moments when I almost gave up."

The former student at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted in Nghe An Province in central Vietnam, he won first prize in the national academic competition in physics in 2020. He then received a full scholarship to study electrical engineering at VinUni university in Hanoi.

In his third year he earned another scholarship to pursue a joint master’s program between VinUni and UIUC. He says the two programs overlapped in core subjects such as microprocessors, computer architecture, embedded systems, and digital signal processing. He struggled with advanced programming and operating system, he says.

His background in electrical engineering helped him better understand low-level hardware and system operations, but he spent much of his first year in the U.S. studying new materials to fill knowledge gaps. Determined to work in the U.S., he reached out to fellow Vietnamese students for advice and developed a strategy to build his resume. He believed securing an internship in his first summer would be crucial, and so began preparing for coding tests, improving programming skills and tailoring his application materials.

Phan Huy An in the U.S. Photo courtesy of An

During his first semester he sent his resume to hundreds of companies but received no response. He later realized it was too cluttered with unrelated projects, revised it, customized each application, tested multiple formats, and condensed everything into a single page.

A month later he landed interviews at three tech companies, including Qualcomm and Marvell. He eventually accepted a computer engineering internship with Marvell from May to August 2024. While juggling studies and internship work, he dedicated one hour a day to practicing coding tests and interview questions found online.

"I solved problems, answered questions aloud, recorded myself, and reviewed the recordings to improve.

"It became a daily habit for two years."

In October 2024 he began applying for full-time jobs, ultimately sending out 300-400 applications. In addition to his academic credentials, his resume highlighted research experience and software-related projects, including building a RISC-V processor and developing a Linux-based operating system modeled after Windows.

After six months without a response, he was discouraged and considered returning to Vietnam. But he continued with his daily preparation, believing it would be useful no matter where he worked. In March this year he received interview calls from Google, Apple, Amazon, and Nvidia.

He said the Google hiring process involved three rounds: an initial online coding test, live coding interviews with three engineers and a final behavioral interview focusing on past problem-solving experiences. Thanks to his routine practice, he says, he was familiar with the question formats and confident during each round. A week later he received an acceptance letter but had to complete three additional interviews to determine his team placement. He was eventually assigned to Google’s smartwatch operating system team. Amazon also extended him a job offer.

Nguyen Van Dinh, deputy director of the electrical and computer engineering program at VinUni, says An was quiet in class but always gave thoughtful and well-reasoned responses when asked. He also praises An’s graduation project on "serverless edge computing" for its innovative and creative approach. Dinh was most impressed by An’s perseverance and ability to learn independently.

An is set to begin his job at Google in July. Looking back he says the key to success was continuous self-improvement and always being prepared to seize opportunities. "Do not hesitate to apply to your dream companies. Only by trying will you know what needs to be improved."