Newest Google recruit a Swinburne success story

Vietnamese-born Chuong Ho is someone you might be tempted to describe as ‘lucky’. 

He won a full scholarship during his final year of high school to study a double degree at Swinburne, scored a coveted internship at Google, and has now been offered the role of a lifetime as a software engineer at the tech giant’s Sydney campus.

But luck has nothing to do with it. Chuong pushed himself relentlessly to achieve his goals, driven by sheer determination to use his skills for what he sees as an opportunity to level the playing field through tech.

The Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Computer Science student, who is due to complete his studies later this year, will start work at Google next year.

Determination is key

Growing up in Vietnam, Chuong was a maths whiz and spent a lot of his time wondering how things worked. These interests naturally translated to a desire to work in computer science and engineering.

When his school selected him as their representative in Vietnam’s national academic competition, ‘Road to Olympia Peak’, which awarded the winner a full scholarship to study at Swinburne, he realised the dream could become a reality with a bit of dedication.

Vietnamese-born Chuong Ho won a full scholarship to study at Swinburne in a Vietnamese academic competition, ‘Road to Olympia Peak’.

“I enjoyed studying and was motivated, so I began training with coaches who were former winners of the competition in my free time after school each day,” he said.

The ‘Road to Olympia Peak’ competition is revered in Vietnam, and the national final is watched by millions of people when it’s televised each year.

“There were four rounds in the national competition, and everyone was very talented. I was over the moon when I won,” Chuong said.

Having previously completed a month-long exchange to Sydney in high school, Chuong already knew and loved the Australian way of life. But that didn’t stop the culture shock as a new adult moving out of home for the first time.

“I came from living with my parents to being totally independent,” he said. 

“And I was also struggling with the language barrier. When I first started, I was getting worried because I only understood about 50 to 70 per cent of what was being said in classes. But when I started socialising, that really helped with my English.”

Third time lucky

Being offered the job at Google marks the end of a years-long mission for Chuong.

He first applied to work at the company in 2018 during his first year of university, but was knocked back.

Undeterred, he put his head down and focused on developing his skills. This included undertaking an internship working on a Swinburne research project.

The next year, he reapplied to Google. Again, he was unsuccessful, but his motivation hadn’t waned.

“It’s very prestigious, the best of the best,” Chuong said. 

“I knew it would be very hard, and I needed to develop more skills.”