I Landed a Full-Time Job in AI at 21. Here How I Stood Out.

This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Hung Nguyen, 21, who’s from Vietnam and based mostly in Australia. He works for an AI-powered mortgage comparability firm. His employment, schooling, and former internships have been verified by Enterprise Insider. This piece has been edited for size and readability.

After I did my three-month internship with LoanOptions.ai in Sydney, I did not do anybody’s photocopying or make tea and occasional. I labored on tasks.

Managers complimented my work ethic on a number of events, which I demonstrated by being within the workplace on time day by day and ending the whole lot I began. The onerous work paid off and I used to be supplied a full-time place as a coverage analyst.

I deliberate to go away Vietnam to check and work

I knew that I might most likely study abroad, which my dad needed and was frequent amongst college students at my highschool, and find yourself residing out of the country.

I noticed that the SP Jain Faculty of World Administration supplied scholarships and had a campus in Sydney. As a developed nation with a number of alternatives for work, Australia appeared like a superb place to get an schooling.

In August 2022, at 18, I arrived in Sydney to start out my bachelor’s diploma in knowledge science. It was actually thrilling, largely as a result of it was my first time outdoors Vietnam. However it took some getting used to. It was chilly and raining in August, when it is usually hot in Vietnam.

I used to be on my own, very removed from house, however after about two weeks, I settled in. Getting a restaurant job helped; it boosted my confidence and allowed me to make sufficient cash to pay my payments. I now not needed to ask my dad and mom for cash and, from then on, I knew I might be OK by myself.

My first internship helped me discover assets to show myself to code

From the very starting, I loved the course, and knowledge science was beginning to grow to be attractive in 2022. Through the summer season recess, I did an information science internship at a software program improvement middle.

The primary yr of my research primarily targeted on math and basic coding, so I wasn’t but in a position to work on something important in the course of the internship. However it was priceless to find which assets I might use to check independently.

The machine studying course by Stanford laptop scientist Andrew Ng was priceless and fascinating, as was New York College professor Yann LeCun’s deep studying masterclass, each of which I discovered on YouTube.

Finding out independently was onerous work, however I loved it, and it felt as enjoyable as fixing puzzles. I additionally knew this information would make me extra employable.

Later in my three-year undergraduate program, I actually loved studying about algorithms, machine learning, and deep studying. Because of being self-taught, I felt like I already knew rather a lot.

In my remaining yr of school, I despatched my CV to the position officer at LoanOptions.ai, who organized an interview. The questions weren’t technical, however extra about who I used to be and whether or not I might match with the corporate tradition.

I bought supplied a three-month internship as a coverage analyst, which I began in the course of the December 2024 winter break, simply earlier than the second half of my remaining yr.

Between January and April 2025, I juggled undergraduate studies, a part-time job as a resort receptionist to pay my payments, and my internship with LoanOptions.ai. At one level, I used to be finding out two days every week, doing the internship three days, and squeezing in shifts on the resort.

It was powerful at occasions, particularly after I had assignments to submit. I keep in mind having a remaining project due on the finish of March, so I coded on the resort, went again to work on the resort reception, and checked on how my knowledge was coaching two hours later.

I believe my work ethic made me stand out

After a few weeks of studying the corporate’s paperwork and getting used to the tech stack at first of the internship, I began my day-to-day duties, which concerned analyzing the knowledge in every lender’s coverage and turning the logic within the insurance policies into code.

I believe a good work ethic was key to standing out in the internship. I did not work extra time or take pointless breaks, however I made positive to see duties via. You may study most issues on the job, however managers can spot a superb work ethic.

On the finish of the internship, I did not know whether or not I might be supplied a full-time job. Towards the tip, I requested my supervisor a number of occasions if there could be a possibility to soak up me into the crew. He stated it was depending on the price range, so I waited.

In April this yr, a month earlier than I graduated, they supplied me a full-time position as a coverage analyst, permitting me to proceed the work I did throughout my internship.

I believe having a robust basis in math and coding abilities helped me land a job in AI straight out of school. Then you possibly can discover machine-learning algorithms and mix them to construct deep-learning neural networks.

I discovered that college is a good time to start out an internship. Every internship taught me one thing priceless: the primary, in Vietnam, taught me what to study. The second, with LoanOptions.ai, proved my potential to work and in the end led to a job in AI.