POV: You’ve Got a Side Quest 

Every good adventure starts with accepting a challenge. For Ron, the challenge was to master major cloud platforms and DevOps practices by earning 3 certifications: 

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional 

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate 

• Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert 

Why did he take on this challenge? Ron explains, “cloud-based architectures are the key to many more applications nowadays. To leverage cloud-based components into applications properly, I need to understand them well. It leads me to the need of achieving certifications from both cloud providers AWS and Azure.” 

POV: You’ve Chosen the Hard Path 

Ron selected the “hard mode,” as he was determined to acquire all 3 certifications in 4 months. This means committing to a brutal schedule.  

“In the morning, after dropping my son off at school, I usually start studying at 8AM, then have a meeting with the team by 9AM. In the evening, after having dinner with my family, I went straight to my room and started studying immediately. The deadline was very tight, so I usually study late into the night.” 

Balancing work and study required careful time management. Ron shares his approach: rigorous prioritization and making the most of every minute of the day. “I prioritized my full-time job while maximizing study time. I finished work efficiently and dedicated most of my free time to studying. I also utilized the down time in my work schedule, such as while waiting for feedback, to read more about the exam.”  

POV: You’re VSing the Boss 

Every journey has its boss battles—those particularly tough challenges that test your limits. What was Ron’s biggest challenge? 

“The toughest challenge was earning two cloud platforms at once. AWS and Azure share concepts, but their implementations differ. I often found myself mixing up services between them. To overcome this, I focused on structured comparison—actively noting key differences and practicing in real-world scenarios.” 

Of course, Ron, who practiced consistently and focused intensely during his study period, managed to beat this boss in the end! 

POV: You’ve Skillmaxxed 

After defeating the boss comes the reward. Ron’s certification journey has equipped him with valuable abilities: 

“I achieved a lot from studying for my tests. The tests I had done focus on DevOps practices on cloud environments. I got familiar with them and could implement a variety of CI/CD (Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Deployment (CD)) solutions based on the needs of the clients. Besides that, my skills of learning new knowledge had improved as well.” 

These new powers directly translate to better solutions for clients. “While getting ready for the exams, I practiced extensively. I’m now more familiar with diverse tools and resources from cloud providers. Now I can offer clients more options and help them select the most appropriate approach for their specific needs.” 

POV: Your Guild Supports Your Journey 

No player succeeds alone. Even the most skilled adventurers need support from their guild. For Ron, Bluebik helped turn Ron’s ambition into reality. 

“The company sponsored me an Udemy course and paid the fee for the exams. However, the most essential and priceless support was the faith my teammates put in me. I feel more confident with them cheering me on.” 

POV: You’ve Got a Tip for Fellow Adventurers 

For those inspired to follow a similar path, Ron offers this advice, “my tip is to focus intensely during your study period and take the exam right away when you feel ready. Do not wait too long between finishing study and taking the test, otherwise you might forget it as the knowledge required for the exam is vast.” 

In other words, the keys to success are maintaining momentum and not pausing your journey. 

POV: Your Quest Continues 

For Ron, earning these certifications isn’t the end of the game; it’s just one chapter in a longer adventure. He sees continuous learning as essential. 

“There are 2 important benefits that continuous learning and developing skills bring to me. Firstly, when I become more skillful, I get a wider point of view to look at problems and can complete my work faster. Secondly, studying new things makes me happier. It would be very boring if I do the same work every day.” 

Ron’s story serves as an inspiration for tech professionals everywhere: embrace the challenge and keep leveling up your skills. The game never ends—and that’s exactly what makes it exciting.  

Ready to level up your tech skills? Start your skillmaxxing journey with Bluebik today! Explore endless learning opportunities with us: https://bit.ly/careersatBBIK

The post Skillmaxxing with Ron: How to Earn 3 Cloud & DevOps Pro/Expert Certifications in 4 Months appeared first on Bluebik.

However, “Aom Nadrada” and “Bam Supitcha,” Associate Consultants in the international department, received this one-of-a-kind opportunity from Bluebik. 

Aom is a recent graduate from Thammasat University’s Bachelor of Business Administration (International Program), while Bam has about a year of experience working at a tech company after earning her Bachelor of Science from Mae Fah Luang University. Despite both having participated in numerous case competitions and internships, they agree that none of these experiences compare to what they’ve gained at Bluebik in less than a year.  

“My learning curve isn’t linear, it’s exponential,” Aom explained, gesturing with her hands to mimic a steep graph. 

Without further ado, let’s follow their A, B, C, D steps to see what experiences and lessons they’ve gained. 

Step A = Accelerating 

Working at Bluebik has allowed both Aom and Bam to develop their skills and grow at an accelerated pace. The key factor driving this growth is getting hands-on experience from day one. For Associate Consultants at Bluebik’s international department, this means they’ve had the opportunity to meet and work closely with clients on-site abroad. 

“As a first jobber, I thought it would take a while before I get to meet clients face-to-face. However, at Bluebik, I got to meet them within a month,” Aom reflects on her impression within the last few months. “Meeting clients in person means I get direct feedback, which helps me understand if my ideas are practical and applicable in the clients’ organizations as well as what the client may need more from us.” 

Bam adds, “Most of the clients we meet are C-level or Management Team, so they’re decision-makers in their organizations. Interacting with them gives me insights into how successful people think and work as well as how they view our proposals. Their feedback is invaluable.”  

Another perspective from Bam is that, “Working at Bluebik has expanded my worldview. Before joining the company, I considered myself fairly knowledgeable and open-minded. I can talk to anyone about anything. However, since I started working here, I also started listening to economic news, which has helped me understand the global contexts more and think on multiple layers. I can now understand our clients more and help add value for them even more. For example, when I work with Vietnam-based clients, I need to understand Vietnamese contexts, including their policy and governance, which are different from Thailand, so that I can propose a well-rounded solution rooted in Vietnamese contexts.”

Moreover, both of them agree that working at Bluebik help unlock their potentials in such a short span of time. 

“I’ve learned to go with the flow and adapt quickly,” Aom says, “Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and we have to adjust, like reworking decks (Presentation Slides) or developing new solutions under tight deadlines. It’s all about resilience, staying strong, and committing to delivering results.” 

As for Bam, she has gained more technical skills and developed the ability to acquire knowledge quickly. “Coming from a business background, I’ve had to pick up tech knowledge quickly. I’ve also sharpened my ability to learn efficiently, thanks to support from the Digital Excellence and Delivery (DX) team, who hold knowledge-sharing meetings.”  

“At first, I thought I’d hit my limit, but I surprised myself by breaking through it,” Bam says with a laugh. 

Step B = Beyond Standards 

It’s well known that working “Beyond Standards” is one of the key DNA traits of Bluebik employees. Even though Aom and Bam have only recently joined the team, they’ve already embraced this DNA. 

“I think working ‘Beyond Standards’ is subjective because it depends on each person’s experience and expertise,” Aom explains. “For us, ‘Beyond Standards’ means challenging ourselves to try things we’ve never done before. We push ourselves to the limit first, and only ask for help when we truly can’t go any further.” 

Bam nods in agreement. “It’s about expanding our comfort zone. “Standard” is what we’re used to doing—what’s within our comfort zone. But if we keep pushing beyond that, our comfort zone grows wider. As a result, things that once seemed difficult will become easy for us in the future because they’ve become part of our comfort zone.” 

Beyond personal development, both have learned to deliver Beyond Standards work to clients. Aom explains, “If a client has requirements from 1-10, we do those 1-10 tasks to the best of our ability, and then we go further with 11-15 as additional value. For example, if they want us to create a 10-year plan, we’ll think ahead about what might happen in their industry after those 10 years and include that in our proposal.” 

Bam points out the benefit of working this way, “Training ourselves to think several steps ahead like this makes us more thorough, which is good for our future career progression.” 

Step C = Cultures  

The more you experience different cultures, the better you become at understanding others and adapting. 

This statement rings especially true for Aom and Bam, who have worked with people of various nationalities at Bluebik. Aom exemplifies the similarities and differences between Thai and Vietnamese people: “What’s similar is that both Thai and Vietnamese people are supportive. The difference is that Thai people tend to be more compromising, while Vietnamese people are more direct. They speak their minds straightforwardly. At first, it might seem like an argument, but they’re really just expressing their complete thoughts. We think this is actually good because it leads to genuine mutual understanding. For instance, if they don’t accept our proposal, we immediately know their reasons why.” 

Bam mentions that working with diverse people has increased her empathy. “I think I was already an empathetic person, but working with people from different nationalities has taken my empathy to another level. For example, I don’t judge when they do something I’m not familiar with. Although this is an important lesson from work, I believe it affects my personal life too. I’ve become more empathetic about many things in general.” 

“For me, I’ve become more adaptive,” Aom adds about her cross-cultural work experience. “I try to learn about others and how they are, while thinking more deeply about why they think and act the way they do. Another important point is that I’ve learned to adapt to others and not be self-centered.” 

Bam concludes, “The Bluebik Vietnam team is really nice to us. After work, they take us out for meals and chat about Thai and Vietnamese cultures. We think it’s really wonderful.”

Step D = Direct  

Another rare experience that both Aom and Bam have gained at Bluebik is working closely with Director and C-suite level executives, including Martin Simpson, the Managing Director of Bluebik Global, and Keng Jessada, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) as well as Nikkie Yotsavadee, the Head of Insurance Sector. 

“We used to think that it would take something really major to get to talk with director-level executives. But at Bluebik, we work directly with directors. We can discuss any issues with them directly, and they support us wherever they can. Martin is very flexible and chill, quite different from our perception of what a director would be like,” Bam comments. 

Aom adds, “We’ve learned how to explain complex topics simply from Martin. He’s a tech person who defies most people’s perceptions. He can explain tech concepts to business people effectively. His trick is using metaphors, explaining tech solution concepts through everyday stories or objects that everyone is already familiar with.” 

“Besides Martin, we also work with Keng and Nikkie. Whenever we have questions, they’re always willing to help answer them. Also, when we work with decision-makers, everything moves much faster. When problems arise, they can be solved precisely, which suits the fast-paced nature of consulting work.” 

These are the valuable experiences that Aom and Bam have gained after joining Bluebik’s team recently. If just the initial ABCD steps are already this intensive, imagine how exciting and challenging the next steps will be. 

For anyone interested in experiencing what Aom and Bam have, you can check out available positions at https://bit.ly/careersatBBIK ! 

The post The ABCD Steps to Working Internationally like “Aom” and “Bam,” Associate Consultants at Bluebik  appeared first on Bluebik.

This is an unexpected piece of wisdom from Henry Hoang, the Associate Director of Bluebik Vietnam.

Why unexpected? Simply because it is widely believed that a good salesperson must talk their way into a client’s heart.

For Henry, however, the key to success in IT business development for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sectors is actively listening so that you can understand the client’s needs and problems. Then, use your business acumen and mastery of technology tools to craft win-win offers for the clients.

Henry walked the talk. He served as a business developer and project manager in many large-scale projects implemented nationwide in Vietnam. His prominent clients included, but were not limited to, a nationally recognized telecom conglomerate and a bank with the largest number of users in Vietnam.

And in doing so, he has come to call himself the client’s tech BFF. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t stand for what you think.)

How can you, too, win clients and achieve success in IT business development? Let’s hear the success story from the seasoned expert below.

A 2-In-1 Development

Having a penchant for technology and problem-solving – it’s only natural that Henry gravitated toward IT business development.

“I like technology and I like solving problems. In this field, clients have problems and they need vendors like us to discover and provide them with proper solutions.”

Moreover, working in business development as Henry sees it, you not only develop the business but also yourself. He’s basically killing two birds with one stone.

“In IT business development, I always have to learn new things because each customer may have different problems. I also get to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and people from all over the world. These help me a lot in developing myself.”

Client’s Favorite Tech BFF 

After many years of tackling business problems and providing technological solutions for national clients, Henry now sees himself as not just a problem solver, but rather the client’s “tech BFF.”

Mind you, the acronym does not stand for “best friend forever.” It is actually short for “business-first focus.”

The reason is, “although we provide IT consulting or solutions, we always put business first. The first step is always understanding the client’s business objectives and problems. Then the second step is knowing what technology we can use to leverage business objectives or solve business problems.”

Active Listening for Dual-Layer Understanding

Business development is a competitive field, especially in the IT sector where big international players are ready to dump their prices. How can we stay ahead of the game? For Henry, it lies in the dual-layer understanding gained by active listening.

“First of all, you need business acumen, or the understanding of the business and the industry that you’re helping with. For example, if you’re working with a bank but you know nothing about banking, you wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation or understand the problems properly.

“To have business acumen and understand the client’s problems, you need problem-solving, critical-thinking, and most importantly active listening skills. Normally, salespeople tend to talk more, right? They talk a lot about their company and their products, but I believe in knowing how to listen and to really understand the clients.

“Active listening will get you through the surface level. When you talk to people, there are usually their work profile and their personal profile. Normally, people miss the second one. For example, if I were the new CEO of a company, for work I may want to drive revenue, but personally I need to prove myself to the board. With active listening, you’ll pick up the personal profile and understand the personal drive. So when you propose something to them, your proposal should match both profiles.”

With this technique, Henry has many large-scale projects under his name, from nation-wide digital transformation that left no one behind for one of the biggest banks in Vietnam to centralized quality assurance for a big telecom conglomerate with multiple partners involved. It is safe to say that active listening is surely a way to win a client’s heart.

Crafting Win-Win Offers

Another skill that Henry emphasized is negotiation. He believes that you will always win in negotiations with a win-win mindset for you and your client. “Or even a win-win-win mindset, if you have partners involved,” he said.

Henry’s technique is to always come up with more than one possible offer, but one thing that all the offers have in common is that every party in the mix has their own win. “You put yourselves in your client’s and partner’s shoes. Make sure to help all parties meet at some point. And if you prepare only one option for negotiation, you’ve already failed.”

Putting Bluebik’s Name in the Vietnamese Market

Today, as Bluebik Vietnam’s Associate Director, no two days look the same for Henry. His main focus is to build connections, go where opportunities are abundant, and listen his way into clients’ hearts.

“Vietnam is quite advanced in terms of technology, especially in the BFSI sector, where there is a lot of investment in digital transformation. Vietnam also has a 10-year plan for digital transformation nationwide set for 2030, so there are lots of current and upcoming projects.

“Bluebik’s competitive advantage lies in our end-to-end service from business consultation to digital implementation. Clients want to work with someone who not only knows technology but understands business. We have all the capabilities required as well as many proven success projects that we have been doing in Thailand.”

“My goal is to replicate the success we have achieved in other countries in Vietnam. I believe we can help many clients here with their digital transformation, especially clients in banking with their digital applications or superapps. This type of project will take some time, maybe 2-3 years in development, but with one or two successful projects, we will be able to serve even more clients.

The More Multicultural, The Better

Working at Bluebik Vietnam, Henry has experienced multiculturalism like never before, and he can vouch for its many benefits.

“If a client has a problem and we have three people from different cultures looking at it from different perspectives, we can share our experiences. For example, if you’re from India, you can tell me what has been done in India to solve the problem and what challenges we can anticipate. Then we can help each other fine-tune our ideas and come up with the best solutions.

“And you know, it’s simply more fun. Getting to learn from each other and to know more about the world is always fun.”

If anyone is interested in joining Henry in solving business problems and winning Vietnamese clients’ hearts, don’t hesitate to check out our available positions at https//bluebik.com/career.

The post A Guide to Crafting Win-Win Offers That Win the Clients’ Hearts: Success Strategy from Your Tech BFF, Henry Hoang appeared first on Bluebik.

On his tenth birthday, the boy got his first computer. (“an intel 386 running windows 3.1,” he still remembers vividly.) He played with it, broke it, and fixed it—all by himself.

On a visit to the library, the amateur technician asked for an MS-DOS manual and read it cover to cover. “I was very inquisitive,” he describes himself.  

Fast forward to today, Martin is the director of Bluebik Global, an end-to-end digital transformation consultancy and delivery company with offices in the UK and Vietnam and a technology center in India. Mind you, the company is only 1 year old, and this is just the first few yards of his sprint to bring Bluebik Global’s mastery to the world. “One thing I don’t do is move slowly. If I want something, I do it immediately.”

Speed is not the only success factor, however, as Martin’s deep passion for tech also comes into play, though he may phrase it differently. “I think it’s more that I’m into building things. I like complex, intricate systems, and in tech, there are infinite numbers of ways you can build complex, intricate systems.” 

At sixteen, Martin got his first job as a technical support worker at the UK office of ThoughtWorks, one of the world’s leading technology consultancy. Initially, his primary responsibility was to build laptops and install the necessary software for new employees. It was enjoyable to some extent, but the first jobber craved something more complex and intricate. So, he started to play with it, automating as much of the process as possible. This initiative, of course, was noticed by the upper-level managers, one being Ajey Gore, who took the bright-eyed prodigy under his wings.

“He taught me a lot of the stuff that I use today,” Martin said of Ajey, who was Gojek’s CTO and now works for Sequoia Capital as the Operating Partner, Technology. 

By “teaching,” Ajey assigned Martin more and more complex projects, which he was excitedly up to the tasks. At one point, Martin was flown to the US and India to help with ThoughtWorks’ international telephony system. And before he knew it, Martin started to work in a client-facing role, giving out technological consultancies. 

“I think Ajey saw someone technically competent and, more importantly, excited about this sort of stuff. A lot of people come to work because it’s work. Some people come to work because they really want to work. I was the second type.”

“There was a time when we were in our Bangalore office in India, working on the telephony system to go outbound from the India office to the telephone network. We had a problem, so Ajey and I were in the office until 5 a.m. trying to fix it, tearing apart the cables, and doing cable tests. It was purely deep tech work, and neither of us had to stay there realistically, but we just enjoyed doing it. It turns out it was not our fault. The ISP connected the cable wrong, so we wasted our time. But I think that was what Ajey saw. Tech people can see tech people who enjoy it.”

After ThoughtWorks, Martin became a software developer in Montreal, Canada, for a year. Although the project didn’t work out, he had fun and understood the business of digital products more. (“Some software developers think they can get rich off just building a good application, and it doesn’t require any marketing and sales effort, but those applications are few and far between,” he reflected.)

Back in the UK, Martin worked as a system administrator at a company for a while. Then he started to work as a contractor on many IT and digital projects for multiple companies. One of his more extended, significant projects included developing digital platforms for F1. (Yes, if you’re a fan who likes to watch the motor race on tablets or any mobile devices, you have him to thank.) For this project, Martin also learned how to code in Ruby.

At this point, if we can learn one thing from Martin, it’s this: don’t ever stop learning and evolving. If there’s a list of his competencies, here’s how it looks.

Tech support – checked 

System administration – checked 

Software development – checked 

Coding – checked 

DevOps – checked

Being a tech all-rounder, Martin was sought after by many companies, even a company in a country half the world away—you guessed it—Thailand!

“A company in Thailand needed a travel system, so I moved to Thailand to build that system. It went from nothing—literally the first line of code being written—to this application that gets millions of searches per day.” 

By the time he left the company, Martin was the DevOps engineer and CTO with an entire team running the travel system. They pivoted and scaled, and in Martin’s own words, “we went through a full digital transformation, not only the company but I myself.”

Now, with this full-stack experience, Martin is ready to take on the most exciting project: Bluebik Global.

“Bluebik is fantastic in what it does, we have a good reputation amongst the largest consultancy companies in Thailand. I want to take what Bluebik has built and done—its reputation, its brand, the total package—and bring that to the rest of the world and compete internationally with all the top consultant firms.” 

“What sets us apart from other firms is the combination of tech and consulting abilities. They usually have very good consultants and may have their tech people, but tech integration is not deep enough in those organizations. On the contrary, the projects I run with Bluebik Global have tech people all the way up. I’m the director of Bluebik Global, and I have extensive tech experience, and so does everyone working on the client’s team. Our consultants’ combined tech skills and people skills add more value to the projects.”

In terms of people skills—Martin is at his best leading by example.

“When I talk to clients, I might be talking to non-technical people. I have to explain why the company should change its architecture in a way that non-technical people can understand and still be true to the underlying vision. I also have to explain it in a way that doesn’t make them feel like I’m all high and mighty. If there’s an engineer on the client side, I have to ensure they understand that I’m here to help them, not fight them, because they might not want me there. Better yet, I have to explain it in a way that the engineers want to work with us. 

“The last project we had, we had a meeting set up for ten people, but twenty-four people joined. Those extra fourteen people heard the meeting was happening and just wanted to listen. This is all people skills. I can tell them what I’m doing tech-wise, but it’s useless unless I make sure they want to do it.”  

Although Martin loves building and maintaining complex, intricate systems, he admits to doing less of that now as the director of Bluebik Global. 

“Most of my work these days is recognizing what we need to do as a company on a high strategic level and making sure things run smoothly. Preparing for what you can’t plan for. Expanding. Looking out for risks—mitigating, but also taking the risk when you need to. So what I’m doing right now is still building something, but it’s not a computer system, it’s a big operating model for a company, and that’s where all the skills come into play, especially the people skills. I may not be able to convince you of something, but at least I will be able to explain. Make sure you understand it and get your point of view. From there, we have a shared understanding. A shared understanding can then be used to move forward. Working with my team, I don’t like to be, “Let’s do it because I said so.” I want to be, “Let’s do it because we agree it’s the right way to do it.” I want to have a good discussion with my team. 

These days, Martin rarely has any free time, but when he does, he goes flying the plane. “I got a private pilot license for a small plane. I love flying because, firstly, when you look out the window, it’s beautiful. Secondly, flying is relaxing. It’s like a form of meditation. When you fly, you’re not thinking about anything else because the task load is high. You’re focusing on what you’re doing, not about tomorrow, not about next week.”

“In a way, flying is similar to running a business; you have multiple things you need to do simultaneously, and it helps prepare you for dealing with difficult situations. If the engine goes out when you’re 5,000 feet up in the air, you must be able to perform all the emergency procedures automatically. Okay, nose down, look for a place to land, communicate. 

“If something goes wrong when running a business, okay, assess the situation, understand it, and go forward with the best possible solution you can come up with at that moment. Many people scream or cry when something goes bad, but if you’re on a plane and your pilot starts screaming or crying, that’s a problem. You would want your pilot to be the calmest person on the plane.”

For anyone who wants to work in tech, here’s advice from the pilot of Bluebik Global. “Be inquisitive. Go find what excites you and what you want to learn more about, and move towards it. Move fast and break things. The tech industry is constantly evolving. So, get into the latest and greatest tech, understand it, break it, and fix it. All of these will give you the knowledge you need. I guarantee that every single tech person will break things. You will break production. You will take the website down. It’s okay. It happens. That’s the learning experience.”

Want to move fast and break things with Martin? Send your CV at jobs@bluebikglobal.com

The post Martin Simpson Can Fly (the Plane) and He Will Take Bluebik Global to the Sky appeared first on Bluebik.