David Jackson

In an interview with Selene Alcock one Tuesday morning in my office in 2022, I had the chance to share the journey which brought me to Vietnam.

When I first arrived here in my 20s, the country had started opening to the world for about a decade. As a backpacker, I was amazed by the culture, the people, the food, and since then Vietnam had always been in the back of my mind. But it had taken some more years before I really made it a permanent choice to move to Vietnam and started over my career here.

I have to say, it was not an easy trajectory in the past 15 years. When I got back to Vietnam in 2008, the impact of the global financial crisis had started to be felt in the country. It was difficult for a foreigner to get a job back then, but I guess the stamina imprinted by my parent has got me to “keep grinding it out”.

Back to the interview with Selene, it went well, and two hours seemed too short. A few weeks later, the newly published issue of C Magazine was delivered to my office, with a well-crafted article about me (which made me feel flattered to be in the company of so many other business leaders that I look up to). It felt intriguing to read my own career journey penned by a professional writer and I really loved how Selene puts it in a famous quote by Steve Jobs, “you can only connect the dots looking backwards.” Indeed, I never regret moving to Vietnam and the job I do at the moment is the perfect culmination of that 15-year journey.

Read the article by Selene Alcock here, and I hope my story does give you a bit of inspiration to venture into new territories. It may feel a bit crazy or overwhelming at the beginning, but trust me, eventually things will work out if you keep grinding it out. Enjoy reading!