Outstanding Employee of the Year 2024
Annual recognition for outstanding contribution to the department's key projects, awarded at the end of my first full year at FPT IS.
What it was for
The ES HCM Technical Resource Center gives this award annually to recognise outstanding contribution to the department's important projects. 2024 was my first full calendar year at FPT IS.
That year covered the tail of the Kim Tin Group implementation, the whole of Vinphaco, and the start of HURC1 — HCMC Metro Line 1. Three clients, three industries, three module areas — MM/WM, then PP/QM, then FI.
What I think it was actually for
Not the volume of objects delivered. Looking back, I think it was for the shift that happened partway through that year — from taking a technical spec and building exactly what it said, to going to the key user first and finding out what problem the spec was trying to solve.
That change showed up in the work: fewer rounds of rework, fewer "this is not what we meant" conversations at UAT, and a couple of requirements that turned out not to need a custom program at all.
What it changed
It made me more comfortable pushing back. Recognition, early in a career, functions mainly as permission — permission to say "I think this requirement is wrong" to a room of more senior people, and to be right about it often enough that it becomes expected.
To expand: the story of the year in more detail.
Want the detail behind this?
Happy to walk through the technical decisions in a conversation.