First time working in Saigon office

Working for almost three years in the company, I have had many chances to work with Vietnamese developers. However, there hasn't been a chance to meet them in person since I had never been to the office in Vietnam before. Video calls and chat dialogs were the only ways we communicated with each other. This trip in January has given me the fortune to meet everyone in the Saigon's office finally, for the first time.

Before the trip, my understanding of Vietnam's team was very limited because remote communication did not help me understand their characteristics, work-style, etc. correctly. Being graduated from an American University in Computer Science major, I kept assuming there was a gap in knowledge between Vietnam's developer and the US's. However, it wasn't true.

After two weeks of working closely to the developer team, from joining the meetings; discussing the project's requirements; brainstorming different solutions to fulfill the requirements, to joining every day's lunches and dinner with everyone, I have come to realise that the gap doesn't really exist. Some of them are quite knowledgable if not are more knowledgable than some people I know back in the States. I could now see that no matter where you are, computer's technology can be learnt easily and it doesn't depend on what you know but how you experience it.