Hello there, I am Toan – one of the newest additions to the Localization Project Managers (LPM) team in Hansem Vietnam. Unlike my colleagues, I am the only one with a technical background – a total “tech nerd”. I am a graduate engineer from Da Nang University of Science & Technology, one of the most famous engineering universities in Vietnam. Aside from having a preference for technical things, I also hold a lifelong passion for languages, especially English. English allows me to have in-depth conversations with friends across the world, reach out to global knowledge and experience an international form of recreations. Working at Hansem is an intrinsic opportunity to have the best of both worlds.

Scripted by
Toan Nguyen

Project management requires continuous attention to details, such as translation software, project creation, and working as a robust communication bridge between all parties: Hansem, clients and vendors. Also, it requires real-time care, critical thinking and logical mindset. As someone with rich technical knowledge, thankfully, I am fully prepared for this job.

Most interns might have trouble working with countless software during their 02-month training. I, as an avid geek and machinery enthusiast, had no difficulty in getting familiar with the existing Hansem Vietnam’s software; such as Trados Studio, Dory (a private built-in Database used in Hansem Vietnam), Plunet Business Manager (super complicated project management system!). It helps me get used to the job quicker as well as provide promptly support to other team members.

With an adequate understanding of Office software, I also helped out creating an automatic and server-based TM Update Tracking File. This new file allows all LPM members to keep track of masterTM, detect word count difference, better teamwork, time-saving and seamless performance.

For example, in project 01_AT_XX_XX_HEV_PHEV_EV_D2VALUE(EEC)AV_17langs_200803, the word count of French is different from other languages:

When facing this, we must try to understand why this does happen. After checking the different TUs between French and other languages, we found that there are three 100% French in FR were updated into our master TM on Jul 24th, 2020 and other three 100% TUs were updated on Jul 31st, 2020. In other languages, these TUs are fuzzy or no match TU, and this is why we have the word count differences. This issue perhaps caused by French translation that was requested before in the previous project. But we need evidence to conclude that. Therefore, we must seek for what project that French’s 100% TUs were updated. By doing the old way, we must go through every Hyundai Mobis project of French from Jul 20th, 2020 to Jul 31st, 2020, with the hope to find the right project that was used to update mentioned TUs. Project list that needs to look at is something like this:

As you can see, it costs a lot of time and effort to go through this list. With my file, we need to enter TM updated date and language, and it will return a shorter project list as below:

By going through the above list, we quickly found that among other languages, only French was requested in project 01_TR_IDYes_K_NBAL015_QY 21_D2VALUE(MID)AV_3langs_200723 and 01_AT_IDNo_K_NBAL080_DE 21MY_D2VALUE(MID)AV_3langs_200730a. That is the reason for the word count difference.

Moreover, with nearly five years of experience working in an ISO certified factory, I instantly become acquainted with the ISO working environment at Hansem. During working hours, I create an archive of notes and immediately note it down upon dealing with any issue that arises in project processing. These issues are different every time and not included in the existing training material. This archive is widely shared with other LPM members so we can all know where and what to look when facing unusual problems.

It is worth mentioning that the technical way of thinking has deepened me with the urge to seek for the essential underlying quality or cause of something. As a result, I always thrive on getting to the bottom of queries and come up with the best solution. I am also a fan of systematization as well as automation; if there is anything that I can do to reduce the work of human being, I’ll try my best to do it. There are countless examples for this point, from small things such as table alignment in QR email to auto-export data from Dory to mentioned TM Update Tracking File using Outlook.

At first, I had my doubt that maybe my technical knowledge would not sit well with the position of being a Project Manager. However, time flies and I found out that my technical based knowledge and skill become a different perspective that can contribute to the development of the LPM team and Hansem Vietnam. I believe that no matter what background you have, you are always welcomed at Hansem Vietnam as long as you pull your weight and willing to go the extra mile for the company.

I hope that my technical approach will help improve the overall workflow here and bring out the most acceptable quality. I plan to develop my knowledge in this field, and hopefully, when the time comes, I can show my leadership skill to the company. I am fully aware that my working period is nothing much compared to other seniors. However, as long as I pull my socks up and keep improving myself, together with the LPM team, we can create an irreplaceable and reliable contribution to Hansem Vietnam.