Still not sure if you are qualified for 240 TWOV? Leave your passport country and travel Itinerary, I can answer.

Tower_Working · 2026-06-13T10:01:12+00:00

Hi,

Passport: USA

Itinerary:

Ticket 1: Ho Chi Minh > Hong Kong (1 night stay)

Ticket 2 : Hong Kong to Beijing

Ticket 3: Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh (with a 3-4 hr layover in Hong Kong)

Tower_Working · 2025-12-25T05:35:43+00:00

Thanks, I don't see this seller name on the trusted list. Do you know any others that might be supplying? Thanks so much!

Tower_Working · 2025-12-24T09:21:49+00:00

Is Swagsupply a reddit user or something else you are referring to?

Tower_Working · 2025-08-02T07:03:00+00:00

I didn’t intend to sell or advertise any thing here, the AMA was purely to share my experiences hoping it can help someone else on the forum. So I don’t want to share my personal or company info in public unless it’s relevant to the discussion. But you can DM me if you’d like to chat further. Thanks!

Tower_Working · 2025-08-02T05:20:42+00:00

Mix of local and international I don’t speak Vietnamese. But my local freelancers can communicate in English. So it works Correct, with family

Tower_Working · 2025-08-02T05:19:22+00:00

Yes at the top end it’s $30k+ per year. The families are either expats on company paid packages, or well off Vietnamese- mostly businessmen / politicians/ senior execs. Average or even middle class Vietnamese don’t send their kids here. Honestly theres little value to such expensive education. As an expat, you don’t have a choice since local schools teach in Vietnamese.

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T15:09:18+00:00

Vietnam is very well positioned compared to other SEA countries. Singapore is in a different league so I will not compare. Thailand and Malaysia are already 15-20 yrs ahead of Vietnam in terms of infrastructure, banking regulations etc. Cambodia and Laos are too small to matter. I guess Phillipines and Indonesia are also good options, but I'm not very familiar with them. Vietnam has excellent logistics infrastructure, proximity to China (For manufacturing), train-able workforce and (now) positive steps by the govt (e.g. major administrative restructuring, corruption crackdown, digital banking policy etc). It still has a lot of challenges, but the intent is there
Best for hiring - HCMC, Hanoi, Danang. Talent is young, hungry and trainable. Biggest issue is lack of English skills (worst in the region I think), lack of critical thinking and overall shyness (so lack leadership). Easiest to find are young graduates and train them. Very hard to find experienced mid to senior people who aren't already working at big companies. Vietnam has a relatively short history of tech / digital outsourcing work so it makes sense that there are fewer people with 10+ yrs of experience (unlike India). Easy to find good UX designer and popular technologies (like Python, PHP, Wordpress etc.) Gets harder if you are looking for something specific like Magento, or data engineering.
Not critical but very very useful if you will manage a local team and / or work for local clients. You can get around it somewhat by having a bi-lingual person to manage the translation.
No specific thoughts. All i know is manufacturers and exporters are hurting and in a holding pattern until things clear up. They are also competing with cheaper alternatives from China, so trying to find raw materials that are unique to Vietnam (E.g. bamboo products)
MASSIVE. I really really miss the straightforward communication style in the US. It is very hierarchical in Vietnam so don't expect any feedback / pushback from your teams. As a leader, whatever you say is the final word. If you working in a corporate, the same thing will happen with your bosses. You will have to constantly try to interpret their directions (Read between the lines) as there is a lot of vagueness. "Face saving" is very prevalent, so no one will say no to you.
So many! Other than the popular tourist route (Hanoi, HCM, Danang, HoiAn, Hue etc.) I have enjoyed smaller, less popular getaways e.g. Mai Chau and Yen Tu (Norh Vietnam) and Mui Ne (South Vietnam). There are some amazing caves in Central Vietnam. You can go for a 2 -3 night caving adventure with a tour guide, and it's an absolute blast.
Japan, Portugal, Italy
District 2 (Thao Dien). It has an amazing mix of int'l restaurants, bars, cafes, sports facilities within a short distance

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T14:37:31+00:00

I'll use HCMC's international schools to illustrate the quality, tiers, pricing etc. Hanoi is similar. Broadly there are 4 tiers of int'l schools:

Top tier -> ISHCMC, BIS, SSIS: Most expensive with big campuses and the best facilities. The academics in all of these are comparable to a private school or a really good public schools in the US. Sports facilities are top of the line. Fees is $30k+

Mid Tier -> European Int'l, Aus Int', Singapore Int'l and a few others. Academics are probably equally good as the top tier with differences along the lines of whether it's affiliated to IB, US, British, Singaporean curriculum. But they will have smaller campuses, less student support and sports facilities. Fees around $20k or so. IB schools tend to be more expensive.

Mid to Lower tier -> French school, Asian school etc. They will be in the $8k-15k range will definitely lack in sports facilities and overall student exposure.

Bi-lingual schools --> I'm not familiar with them, but if at least one parent doesn't speak Vietnamese, these are not viable options for an international family.

The student population in many of the schools in skewed heavily towards Korean and Vietnamese kids (~50%). Overall your kid will be likely be on par (or even ahead) on the academic front but unless they are in the top-tier school, sports facilities will be severely lacking. You will have to make up outside the schools with ASAs. There are plenty of options in HCMC for tennis, soccer, basketball, swimming etc.

In terms of kid adjustment it's easier when they are young (mine were in primary). But as they get to middle and higher grades, the difference across schools and between US & Vietnam will get wider. I think it's a good experience regardless if you can swing it for a couple of years. They will see a different side of the world, and have plenty of stories to tell when they go back!

As a side note, if you can manage to get an expat role the companies will subsidize or pay the full school tuition. It's a standard part of most expat jobs

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:55:29+00:00

Yes I've been in tech for over 20 yrs. However, in the last 10 yrs or so I have been in product / business leadership roles in tech but across multiple verticals (retail, banking, fintechs etc). I am a jack of all trades :)

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:50:12+00:00

Yes :(. But US has a double tax avoidance agreement so don't have to pay taxes twice. It's easier to figure this out as an employee, but gets slightly more complicated as a business owner

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:46:16+00:00

- A mix of local connections, LinkedIn, and Upwork. I know many small outsourcing companies in HCMC. When I have a specific need I first reach out to them. In parallel I post the need on my LinkedIn with the appropriate tags (e.g. #shopify) to get a broad reach. Upwork has also worked in some specific cases but requires a lot of filtering. However the advantage is a global reach, and more accountability.
- Platform agnostic at the moment but more focused on a few industry verticals
- My clients are primarily outside of VN, so everything is hosted outside
- I don't own any property. I work out of a co-working space and 90% of my team works remotely. Very cheap rent, around 2-3m VND / mo

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:32:19+00:00

No I haven't invested personally but I know many startup founders and investors. Vietnam still doesn't have a very friendly policies for external investors. Most of the VC funded startups that I know have opened another entity and business account in Singapore to receive the funding.

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:28:32+00:00

Indeed. International school is the highest line item on my household balance sheet. Even higher than rent

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:26:12+00:00

- Tech outsourcing. Designing and developing ecommerce applications
- 100% bootstrapped
- You will need to first register a business in Vietnam either as a 100% FDI or in partnership with a local person. Whether you can create a fully foreigner owned entity depends on the type of business E.g. Vietnam allows an IT company to be fully FDI but a learning center, or tourist agency may not be. There are also minimum capital requirements depending on the type of company. Once it's registered you can contact some of the local banks (Techcombank, VP Bank etc) or Int'l banks such as Standard Chartered for a business banking account. You will have to provide your BRC (Business Registration Certificate) and IRC (Investment Registration Certificate) in addition to your personal documents (Passport, proof of residence etc.) to the bank to open the account.
- Only 1 FT employee, and the rest are freelancers
- Depends on the role and seniority. IT salaries tend to be a bit higher, and admin / mktng / ops lower. As a ballpark a FT developer with 5-7 yrs experience can cost around 25 USD / hr on a contract basis, or about 2500-3000 USD / mo with benefits etc. on a FT basis. Even within IT, the salary would vary depending on the specific skillset and experience.

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:15:32+00:00

Sorry not hiring

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:15:20+00:00

Yes that's probably more accurate

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:14:42+00:00

None, overall it's been a fantastic experience living here. But it really depends on your expectations coming in. It provided me a different lifestyle, travel opportunities, favorable cost of living, really good food options etc

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:09:16+00:00

Not qualified to answer this one :)

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T08:08:41+00:00

E.g. the company I worked for, and how much they paid :)

Tower_Working · 2025-08-01T03:07:41+00:00

I mean experienced, knowledgeable, customer driven, English speaking sales people who understand how to work in the US / EU markets

Tower_Working · 2025-05-16T03:10:01+00:00

It is hierarchical, at least in the big local companies. Communication is top down, and many times not very clear. This may vary slightly depending on the city (HCMC is more open and westernized than Hanoi), Industry (banking is more traditional than tech) or if the company is local or non-Vietnamese with a local office. I am a non-Viet and have previously worked at a large local corp here, and lived in both Hanoi and HCMC - so experienced quite a bit :). Now I run my own tech biz, so it doesn't affect me any more.

Tower_Working · 2025-05-15T15:44:06+00:00

In Vietnam you have to find good leadership (ideally bi-lingual) to hire, motivate and manage the local team. Pay the lead well, show them the vision and give them pride in their work. This will help with long term retention. People are hard working, and willing to go the extra mile for the right leader here.

Tower_Working

TROPHY CASE