How success is defined in Vietnam depends entirely on which generation you are asking, but in a professional sense, it is tied heavily to status and the corporate ladder. Success here is defined by high-paying corporate jobs and the ability to show off that wealth through consumption. It is very common to see people wearing fake designer gear because the image of achievement is almost as important as the achievement itself. People here overly respect titles and hierarchy, and it is pretty obvious that the people at the top of the corporate food chain see themselves as better than everyone else. This was even visible at UEF, where the power dynamics felt much more rigid than what I am used to back home.
In the US, success is often framed more around individual impact or work-life balance, but in Saigon, it is about the hustle to reach a position where you can be treated like royalty. There is a massive push right now toward tech and higher-skill labor, especially with the country’s goal to produce more microchips. The government and the universities are pushing people to move away from the traditional labor seen in the Delta and into these high-tech sectors. This shift allows multinational companies to make huge profits because they can get high-skill results while labor costs remain low.
The biggest difference in behavior is how much people here value the ability to leave. In the US or UK, achievement might mean buying a house in your hometown or getting a promotion, but for the students I met, the ultimate achievement is the ability to travel and live abroad. They are looking at the US, Australia, and the UK as the end goal. Success for them isn’t just about making money in Vietnam; it is about making enough money or getting a high enough title to secure a way out. This was so extreme that almost every student I interacted with mentioned how they don’t find other Vietnamese people attractive or would want to marry another Vietnamese; they would rather find love from foreigners in the US or UK. Very shocking for me to hear.
Achievement is also measured by the ability to be a consumer. Because service is so cheap, being the person who can afford to spend and be served is the clear marker of having made it. It creates a strange dynamic where people are working incredibly hard in a high-pressure hierarchy just to reach a level where they can participate in a flashy, globalized lifestyle that feels very different from the way the older generations lived.
