According to Tholons Services Globalization Index 2019, Vietnam ranked 13th in the top 50 digital nations of the world. As the country is reopening its economy, many foreign businesses have put Vietnam at the top of their mind for investment, especially in the emerging tech field. Here are the reasons why the IT Talent Pool in Vietnam deserves even more attention in the coming future.

There are a number of promising potentials for the Vietnam IT Talent Pool, including young and tech-savvy demographics, a STEM-focused education system, and attractive income levels. These factors have helped Vietnam become a trusted and appealing destination for IT outsourcing.

1. Demographics

According to the latest report from TopDev, the number of IT talents in Vietnam has reached 400.000 by 2019. Among those, 53.2% are in the age group of 20 – 29 years old, and 15.8% are from 30 – 34 years old. This means that the majority of Vietnamese IT developers are millennials, a generation with positive working attitudes and a can-do mindset. The young and energetic demographics are also synonymous with a long-term commitment and deep-rooted passion for the IT field.

In terms of geography, an overwhelming majority of Vietnam’s IT talent pool is located in prominent cities of Vietnam, especially Hanoi (34.7%) and Hochiminh City (55.3%). These, alongside the emerging city of Danang, are the two centers of business in Vietnam and the most sought-out-for destinations for foreign investors thanks to their stable social and political conditions. Therefore, companies looking for IT outsourcing in Vietnam can easily get access to the best talents in the country.

CMC Global is proud to have our footprints in all these cities with the continuous establishment of offices in HCMC and Danang last year. With the two new branches, we are determined to deploy our imperative strategy of expanding and becoming a leading IT service provider in the region.

2. Education

The IT market in Vietnam benefits tremendously thanks to the focus on math and science in the country’s education policy and tradition. For a long time, STEM subjects have been held in high regard among Vietnamese families, and young students are encouraged to excel in math and science by society.

This mindset is reflected in the STEM-focused educational system as well. Students in Vietnam are introduced to coding and IT since grade 8. The country also ranked 8th in the OECD’s PISA (2015), surpassing developed nations such as Korea and the US in science and math.

For higher education, Vietnam is among the 10 nations with the most engineering graduates according to statista.com. With more than 153 institutions offering professional IT training courses, the IT Talent pool in Vietnam received an additional of 50,000 new graduates per year.

In the past, the language barrier used to be a great challenge for Vietnamese developers when working with foreign customers. Now, this is no longer the case as the language skills of Vietnamese IT talents are improving quickly, thanks to the emphasis of the Government on a second language for all Vietnamese students and the effort of developers themselves to study English to get a better job.

3. Income levels

The field of Information Technology is constantly listed among the top 5 highest paying industries in Vietnam, besides Finance / Investment, Banking, Marketing, and Building. The salary levels range from $338 – $520 for fresh graduates to over $2,000 for senior or executive positions. For local Vietnamese, this is a very attractive level of income compared to other fields of work. This is why many young Vietnamese are opting for a career in IT.

However, this doesn’t come at a huge price for foreign businesses. Instead, investors can reduce much of the cost for human resources thanks to the attractive labor cost in Vietnam compared to other markets. Most Vietnamese IT professionals are getting lower payments than their peers in the region. Highly-skilled engineers in Vietnam earn around $10,000 per year which is $5000 lower than the average cost in Malaysia. And even with the same skills, they can earn nearly $30,000 in their neighbor Thailand.

This competitive labor pricing has always been an attractive reason for global entrepreneurs to come to Vietnam. Here they can receive some top-of-the-field services thanks to the developing IT Talent pool while keeping their expenditure at a reasonable level.

Conclusion

As the world is shifting to remote working amidst the Covid-19 global pandemic, IT outsourcing has become the focus of many international corporations. Vietnam, thanks to its widely hailed response to the disease, has emerged in the global market with more potential than ever before. This coupled with the inherent advantages of the IT talent pool will definitely ensure a promising future for Vietnam as a digital powerhouse.

CMC Global, with two consecutive times achieving Sao Khue Award for the category IT Outsourcing Services, takes great pride in our competence in creating technology breakthroughs, thereby providing domestic and international customers the best technology solutions. We are determined to bring Vietnam to the forefront of the global IT market.

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