My IT friends refuse to work for the ‘low’ pay of $1,630 a month

“Many of my IT engineer friends, who were earning monthly salaries of VND50 million, lost their jobs after their companies dissolved.

They then applied for jobs in other companies, with some offering VND40 million a month. Considering this as too low, they refused to work and have remained unemployed for three months.

Over the past few years, tens of thousands of IT students have graduated annually. These IT majors all have excellent academic records.

Specifically, at my university, 1,300 IT students graduated in December last year, nearly 300 of whom had excellent academic records.

Job opportunities are becoming scarce due to the economic recession, and competition is increasingly fierce as the field is now filled with talented individuals.

Therefore, accepting a lower salary to secure employment is a very viable option, as tens of thousands of fresh IT graduates will soon enter the job market, many of whom are willing to accept lower salaries than experienced engineers.”

Reader Tuan Linh

The story was shared by Tuan Linh in the comment section of a VnExpress podcast episode, in which an IT worker chose to halve his expected salary to get a job after five months of unemployment.

These are comments by other readers about the story shared by Tuan Linh:

Reader lanhle.it:

“Have you ever wondered why your salary at your previous company was twice as high as at your new company? Why did you lose your job at the old company, while the new one continues to exist and recruit? Everything has its price.

Start-ups or small outsourcing companies often do not have much to attract employees besides salary. They need you and are willing to offer a high salary due to urgent project needs or a staff shortage due to the initial influx of projects.

Your high salary is partly because you have to handle a larger workload and face more intense deadline pressures than employees at other companies.

Projects are often short-term and diverse. This means you might get exposed to various technologies, but only at a surface level, without the opportunity to delve deeper. Such projects also do not usually demand high technical expertise.

Having a salary double that of others does not mean your expertise and skills are superior. If you still cannot assess your true value and use your old salary as a measurement of your abilities, it will likely hinder your professional development in the future.”

Reader ubuntu, who has seven years of experience working in the IT field:

“After my time working in the industry, I have come to understand that young professionals aspiring for a long-term career in this field should, besides various other skills, particularly focus on improving their foreign language, especially English, and the ability to continuously adopt new technologies.

The reasons are as follows:

Firstly, the field of technology evolves rapidly. Without the ability to learn, it is inevitable that someone else will eventually take your place. When this happens, you might feel obsolete and fall behind in your career. This can lead to decreased work efficiency.

Secondly, proficiency in English opens doors to global job opportunities. With the increasing trend of remote work, the likelihood of finding a job that suits your preferences is much higher compared to limiting your options to domestic opportunities.

You might not be fluent in English right now, but it is advisable to plan to learn and master it before you turn 30. After 30, you will likely have more responsibilities, making it more challenging to focus on learning.

These two skills are critical for IT engineers. Neglecting to develop and refine them can lead to significant challenges, especially after the age of 35. At this stage, transitioning to a different field might require considerable effort.”

So what is your viewpoint on this matter?

*These comments were translated into English by AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress’ viewpoints.