“People call me a hot Tiktoker, but I prefer being a female software engineer”
Hà My - Software Engineer at Otani U.P.
My perspective on life completely changed at the end of 2021. At that time, I was sick and underwent treatment alone without anyone knowing, including my parents who still don’t know to this day. I didn’t share it with my family because I was worried that they would be upset. My parents already had too much to worry about, and my younger sister was going through puberty. After careful consideration, I decided to seek treatment on my own. I went to the doctor alone, endured the pain and the fear of losing the ability to become a mother, and the cost of treatment was also very high. It was also the first time I borrowed money because my savings were not enough. I felt helpless and miserable. Many times I cried alone when my friends asked, “Why are you smiling awkwardly these days?” I just smiled and pretended everything was okay. When I was sad, I didn’t force myself to deny it, but rather respected that sadness. I often stood in front of the mirror and talked to myself, encouraged and motivated myself that everything would be okay soon. Or I wrote a diary, it sounds childish, but this helped me relieve a lot of stress.
Fortunately, after a few months of treatment, I have completely recovered now. The feeling cannot be described in words, it feels like being reborn. I decided to take advantage of every moment to live my life to the fullest. Before, I didn’t mind spending money on my family and loved ones, but neglected myself. For example, every week, I would bring food from home to the dormitory and cook instead of eating out. At school, I tried to apply for scholarships to reduce the burden on my parents (this was good :D). I never went out or went on team-building activities with clubs on weekends. I just went home, saved every penny I could. But that serious illness taught me one thing: life is uncertain, especially for young women, and youth is short.
So, from 2022 onwards, I started doing things I enjoy and loving myself more. I began traveling alone, working harder, studying more, and even built a non-profit project called Code Mely. It’s a community-driven project that aims to share both entertainment and educational content for the IT GenZ audience. Our team’s guiding principle is to spread positivity and accurate information to our audience. Thanks to this positive vibe, Code Mely has gained a lot of support from the GenZ community, with regular interactions on both Facebook and Discord.
Many people ask me how I manage to do so many things at once. I think it’s because I have a work principle: focus on the task at hand. I’ve found that Daniel Levitin’s quote, “The human brain works best when it focuses on a single task at a time,” is very true. While many people think multitasking means doing multiple things at once, my point of view is that doing multiple things, one thing at a time, is much more effective. For example, at work, I focus solely on completing all of the company’s administrative tasks without overtime. In the evenings, I attend Master’s degree classes, learn Japanese and English. When I come home from class, I discuss the Code Mely project with the core team. And as for building my Tiktok channel (IT Meme), I do it in my spare time and on weekends.
I have a lot of “weird” habits, but they are logical. Even though I’m a Tiktoker, people might think I spend a lot of time on Tiktok to catch up with trends, but in reality, I’m extremely lazy to open the app. Typically, in the morning before starting work, I brainstorm ideas for scripts, and in the afternoon, after work, if I didn’t attend an evening class, I would shoot and edit videos. If I’m too busy in a week, I’ll take advantage of my free time to think of ideas, like while chilling in the bathroom, haha. If I see a good clip, I save it, and then arrange it to shoot on the weekend. The driving force behind my building a Tiktok channel about the tech industry and doing so much (even though I’m super busy) is because my energy level is a bit “low,” haha. I like to share and spread positive energy, knowledge, and experience to many other dev friends. Whenever I can help someone, even if it’s just answering advice for a Tiktok follower, I feel really happy.
Currently, I feel truly fulfilled and grateful for everything I have, especially after the “illness” in 2021. I’ve learned how to love and take care of myself better. I have goals to create value for society, and I hope my passion can inspire and help many others in the tech industry.
