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Tien Mai
Product @Microsoft | Founder @SheCodes Vietnam
Tien Mai is a dedicated customer-first product manager with a focus on utilizing user-centric and entrepreneurial methods to tackle important challenges. In addition to his professional endeavors, Tien is an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor and regularly engages in brainstorming sessions for community projects. He is the founder of SheCodes Vietnam, a prominent NGO committed to empowering young women professionals in the tech industry. Tien's organization was honored by UN Women as a Gender Equality Ambassador in Vietnam in 2020. Tien Mai's educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics & Information Technology from Babson College, exchange student experience at East China Normal University, and studies in Computer Science and German Studies at Wellesley College and a Foreign Language Specialized School respectively. Tien has gained valuable experience through positions such as Product Manager at Microsoft, User/Account Product Manager at Shopee, Consultant at Clarkston Consulting, Technology Intern focusing on NLP at Fidelity Investments, and as the Founder of SheCodes Vietnam.
Highlights
“Do you think there’s an invisible ceiling for women in tech?” - “It’s all in your head” - said the speaker
I was at this cool panel discussion about product innovation and startups in HCM hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Integra Partners. It was all about celebrating International Women’s Day, and the panel had these awesome female CEOs and startup founders from different backgrounds and places.
When answering the question above, the speaker gave this example about someone not taking more work because they’re having a baby, saying that’s not a legit reason. If you want to make more money and climb the career ladder, just go for it, having a baby should not be an excuse. And this really got me thinking.
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Well I haven’t had a baby yet, but I imagine having a baby means you gotta juggle priorities, regardless of what gender you are. Choosing to do less work because of that isn’t just a mental thing; it’s a practical and tactical choice. In fact, with the right support, I have seen many women making successful comebacks.
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In a position of authority, a leader with an “it’s all in your head” idea could make women in the company hesitant to voice their struggles, thinking they’ll be seen as dramatic or over sensitive.
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The speaker also mentioned she’s always been kinda boyish, so working with mostly guys never felt like a struggle for her. It got me thinking about that whole idea of women having to act like men to be taken seriously at work – it’s a real issue.
Bottom line, everyone’s experience is different. I personally believe when we talk about these issues we should be aware of our backgrounds. I’m lucky to be in a place where women get good support at work and got an education from a country with more forward thinking when it comes to these kinds of issues, just like the speaker.
In other words, we are privileged.
But we gotta ask ourselves if we’re the average users so we can foster an inclusive environment for everyone with sympathy and understanding.
Overall all speakers were so great !! Never been in the same room with that many female CEOs in Vietnam for sure!! Feeling excited, fascinated and hopeful about the future in my beautiful Vietnam !!
It's that time of year again when the soon-to-be fresh grads crew is on the hunt for summer internships and jobs 🎓 I've been trying my best to chat with people who reached out and give referrals when deemed suitable. The burning question keeps popping up – how do you land that first interview?
Back when I was on a (1-year) visa from a business school, diving into the tech job scene, the golden nugget of advice I'd give is to show the company you're serious and actually passionate about their product.
Volunteer to tackle a real product problem for them, document it in a PDF or a presentation, showcase your problem-solving framework, be willing to go that extra mile. 🚀 No guarantees, but you'll benefit regardless because you get to exercise your product framework anyways!
Here is an example of my voluntary share-out 'How to increase user engagement for Premium subscription' for Duolingo, though I still get rejected 😓 (it worked in another case though)
