From a Quiet Computer Science Student to a Warm and Confident Marketing Professional
With the desire to obtain a university degree upon entering the workforce, young people quickly choose a variety of majors. Generally, students are happy and determined to choose their preferred major from the start, or they choose a major based on family expectations. However, as they begin their first year of study, they realize that the subjects in their chosen major don't align with their future needs.
One student who recently switched majors and is now trying to learn shared their experience about Marketing, a major they switched to after a year of studying Computer Science. You asked many questions about Marketing, about marketing in business, about marketing with e-commerce platforms, and you concluded that you were right to switch to Marketing and meet me.
After I shared my perspective and experience on Marketing and Business, the student thanked me and said, "I was right to switch to Marketing. Thank you so much, teacher." Although it was just a basic conversational question, hearing her thank me like that surprised me; I was impressed by how thoughtful and understanding this student was.
For Marketing, the specifics of the field involve developing projects, advertising and communication activities, and attracting customers according to the company's plan. Therefore, when Marketing students participate in internships with lecturers and businesses, they are also told by company representatives from the very beginning that internships should be about the mythical spirit of a company employee. Upon hearing this, most of you were very pleased and excited, feeling fortunate to be guided by the teacher to intern at businesses with clear academic and practical quality standards.
Switching from Computer Science to Marketing
Most Computer Science students are male and also strong in mathematics and academics. However, some young people, when studying Computer Science, don't find the same passion for the field as their peers. One of them is a student who recently transferred to my Academic Advising Class.
They asked me if they could learn socially relevant content like Marketing when switching from Computer Science, because they are shy, quiet, don't know how to speak, don't know how to write advertising copy, and are unfamiliar with many current marketing concepts. They see Marketing students as cheerful, dynamic, and enthusiastic, and they admire them. They wish they could be like Marketing students, but… After listening to my advice, the students became more confident in their decision to switch majors.
Having completed one semester of Marketing and being a new student in the Academic Advising Class I was in charge of, I asked the class representatives about the new transfer student. They said that the new student was initially quiet, but now he's different. He's more cheerful and quite humorous. Hearing this, I smiled again, feeling more reassured by the story I had shared with him earlier. I realized that what I had shared was accurate and appropriate for him now.
When studying and training in Marketing, you will learn many subjects that require a lot of self-training. The nature of the Marketing field emphasizes self-improvement because subjects related to planning and implementing marketing plans and communication activities that produce quality results are not readily available but are the unique secrets of each business. Therefore, you must train yourself to gain experience and work seamlessly with businesses later on.
In the academic activities of the Marketing major, students will also hear from lecturers with many years of business experience and even business-minded lecturers who will directly share and guide them on each aspect of the academic story, linking it to practical applications in businesses. This makes the students very enthusiastic and serious about their studies, creating a quiet and calm classroom atmosphere that allows lecturers to share more useful business knowledge with them. With the stories heard in class and in the lecture hall, students further demonstrate their passion for real-world situations when presenting product projects related to large, branded businesses. They learn about the product content and current strategies of large businesses, which helps them mature. Learning and working as an intern for a week in a large company from a business perspective makes them very confident and proud of their presentations. Through the presentation, I also felt that the students had truly explored, loved, and matured because of the clear results from academic knowledge and practical experience. Seeing the process of creating real-world results like in businesses has made them even more confident, calm, and mature in their personal demeanor and their attitude towards learning in their fourth-year specialized subjects.
Currently, many students are also working while studying, either at companies where they interned or through their own connections. Regardless of where they work, Marketing students are employed in large-scale businesses, which broadens their horizons and helps them understand the importance of long-term vision in academics and practical business applications. These are closely related and inseparable aspects of product knowledge, management, operations, strategy, and planning, which can be sustained for decades. This knowledge must be shared and managed by highly reputable academic experts, recognized and licensed by the State. Seeing the results of a business supported and protected by reputable state organizations instills greater confidence in their Marketing studies and encourages them to continuously develop their academic passion, bringing them closer to their future goals.
Tran Thanh Tram, Faculty of Economics and Management