Thuy Linh is a soon-to-be 11th grader at British International School (BIS) in Ho Chi Minh City and a former student at E2, and she might just have the most interesting summer plans this year! Thuy Linh is going to join the Girls Who Code at American Online (AOL) in the States, a seven-week-long program that aims to inspire and equip high school girls with skills and resources to pursue opportunities in computing fields.
We were able to catch up with Linh, despite her busy schedule preparing for the exciting opportunity, and learn more about her passion and current work in the field of coding.
Q: Hi, Linh! Your summer plans seem very exciting! Can you tell us more about what you’ll be doing with Girls Who Code?
A: Yeah, I’m excited too! So, I came across this opportunity through an article online. It’s a program for girls who are interested in coding. In the application, they’d ask you about why you’re interested in coding and how you might want to grow in the field. I’ll be traveling to Virginia for the program. The program will match you up with a company where you’ll be participating in a project every week. Then, you’ll have to create your own project and do a business pitch. I’m excited about these hands-on projects!
Q: That sounds exciting! Now, how did you become interested in coding?
A: My parents talk a lot about the possibilities of me going into this field, and they always talk to me about how interesting the field is. In some way, I feels like I was forced into it. (Laugh) But it turns out well! I was also introduced to coding when joining the iD Tech Summer Camp a few years ago, and that really got me interested in the field. At least now, I know I like it and I want to pursue it for my higher education. It’s a fundamental foundation for today’s technology world and an important skill for me to have.
Q: What do you like most about coding?
A: I like how it combines creativity and logic. It requires you to think logically to solve a problem in a different type of language. When you look into people’s works, you can see that everyone still has their own ways of thinking although they might be working on the same problem. In this field, your ways of thinking can determine your accomplishments. It’s a little similar to how you learn math here at E2. I remember my Math teacher once assigned us a riddle problem to solve. We had to come up with our own reasoning and ways to solve it. I like that because it really trains me to think out of the box and become a more efficient thinker.
Q: I heard you have started a coding club at BIS. Can you tell me more about this?
A: I founded this club to inspire younger students and encourage them to pursue this field because it’s still new and intimidating to people. We are open to both high school and middle school students. We’ve been only running for 2 months, but we’ve already had 15 members! That’s a good sign! We definitely want the club to grow in school first. Then, they can teach other students as well. We give them logic problems and cases to code and learn from their own work. We hope to grow stronger with more advanced knowledge and resources. Maybe one day, we’ll have a Girls Who Code program in Vietnam. Who knows?
Q: That’d be great! It’s really interesting to learn about this field from you. Now, do you have any advice for people who are interested in but intimidated about this new field?
A: I’d say to go step by step. Don’t think about the whole picture yet. Just start off as simple as to code a task of printing something. You really just need a foundation of efficient thinking. Once you have it, you can do everything else. It’s kind of like snowboarding. As long as you know how to get on the board and keep your balance, you’re good to go!
Q: Thank you, Linh, for the good talk and very interesting insights into coding! I hope you’ll enjoy the summer program with Girls Who Code and wish you all the best with your passion in coding! Hope to catch up with you again soon!
