Get to Know Thien

Thien started out his educational career thinking he would become an architect, but ended up loving web development. Today, he also works on music projects as a producer and enjoys hip hop dancing.

Full Transcript Below:

Cris:

Yeah. How’d you kind of get into tech in general?

Thien:

I actually didn’t really think about getting into tech. I started originally majoring in architect. I’m also into music and deejaying and producing.

Cris:

So watch out SoundCloud. 

Cris:

So Thien, thanks for taking some time to jump in and connect with us today. We’ve been doing a series that’s kind of a” getting to know you,” and I’m excited to actually sit down and just have some candid conversations about Bixly, technology, hobbies, all that kind of stuff. So starting with kind of your background, how did you actually get involved in tech? Is this something you’ve always done or, yeah, how’d you kind of get into tech in general?

Thien:

Okay. So when I started college, I actually didn’t really think about getting into tech. I started originally majoring in architecture.

Cris:

Oh, okay.

Thien:

I did about a year of that and I just in that year I figured that that wasn’t it for me. And I also took an interest in a computer science course at first. I mean, at first, when I first took it, it didn’t really interest me that much until I started doing more web development stuff on the side because I wanted to make my own website. And eventually I took more interest in computer science and decided to pursue my degree in computer science. As I was going through that, I still did things on the side, websites and stuff for acquaintances, people that I know. And I guess that’s how everything started.

Cris:

Yeah. So you mentioned that first website that you kind of made when you were still doing the architect degree. What was that all about? What kind of got you thinking you’d build a website yourself or what was that about?

Thien:

It was a personal website. I just wanted to have my own personal website. It’s just something that I thought was really cool that people have their own website.

Cris:

Yeah.

Thien:

I just built my own. And I’m also into music and deejaying and producing. So I wanted to have my own personal, the idea at the time was to have a place where I can have my own content because ultimately I wanted to be some type of creator.

Cris:

Yeah.

Thien:

So, yeah, that’s where it started. Although I wasn’t very good at the time, but eventually. I worked on things more and slowly improving. I mean, I’m still in the process of making my latest version of it right now.

Cris:

Nice. So watch out SoundCloud.

Thien:

Yep.

Cris:

So what brought you over to the Bixly side of things? What were you doing prior to this and how did you kind of even get connected with Bixly and think that this could be a good place for you?

Thien:

I think it’s the fact that, well, before working at Bixly I interned at a company in Chicago. It was more of a corporate setting. It was GE Healthcare. I worked in there for a little bit, but I felt like that the environment wasn’t what I wanted to be in, a more cubicle style workday. And seeing Bixly and how you guys usually use newer web technologies and things that I actually wanted to work on, because during my internship I touched some really old code and-

Cris:

Yeah.

Thien:

… Things that aren’t really my interest per se. I mean, I didn’t hate it, but I wanted to work on technologies that I’m more interested in and Bixly had that. And plus coming into the office for an interview for the first time, I really liked how you guys interacted or just the environment and everything about it.

Cris:

Yeah.

Thien:

More of a chill place. And everyone are friends, so we just have really cool conversations and hang out. And I really liked that.

Cris:

That’s cool.

Thien:

That’s ultimately what made me like Bixly and decide to go with Bixly.

Cris:

Awesome. So for someone that hasn’t been in our office or seen a video of it, how would you kind of describe our office in a few words?

Thien:

Fricking awesome.

Cris:

Fricking awesome.

Thien:

Yeah, but very open, very interactive I feel like because all the rooms are around and there’s a big space in the middle for everyone. And you’re always welcome to walk back and forth, hang out, talk to people, have conversations. I really like that.

Cris:

Yeah. So you mentioned obviously older web texts, things of that sort, that didn’t quite interest you. You like to be able to stay more cutting edge. You like to see what’s new. What’s new in tech right now that’s really exciting you, whether that is a way that a certain industry is using tech right now, or a new language maybe that’s coming out that you’ve kind of been playing around? What in tech excites you right now that’s kind of new and cutting edge?

Thien:

For me right now? I mean the newest things that I was working on was Deno. It’s the person that invented Node.js, that’s coming out within a year. Language/framework that I took an interest in. And it’s pretty cool. Honestly though lately I haven’t had as much time as I could devoting into learning new technologies as I could, because I had a good amount of work that I had to get done.

Cris:

I know. We keep you so busy.

Thien:

But whenever things come by, I always watch and read about it just so that I know when the time comes that I need to learn it, I will learn it.

Cris:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). No, that makes sense. So when you’re obviously not sitting in front of a computer terminal or here hanging out in the super awesome Bixly office, what do you find yourself doing? You obviously touched on music production a little bit, but other hobbies, passions, things that you have that may or may not be tech related?

Thien:

Yeah. I mean, most of my hobbies are pretty much music related because I produce, I DJ, and I mostly do hip hop dancing.

Cris:

Let’s talk about that more.

Thien:

I go to the studio twice a week on Tuesday and Wednesdays from 7:15 to whenever it closes, to 10:30.

Cris:

Wow. And you’re doing three hours of dancing a couple nights a week?

Thien:

Yeah. Two nights a week. I go, I dance. We have a little dance teams that we do locally. It’s pretty fun.

Cris:

That’s pretty cool. So are you doing competitive stuff, or is it simply just recreational?

Thien:

Both actually. I mean, we’re working towards a local dance competition and stuff like that. But we haven’t done anything national yet. We’re trying to grow the studio and get better. Because it’s a newer studio that only opened pre-COVID.

Cris:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Thien:

And it took a long break for COVID and just recently opened again just the beginning of the year.

Cris:

Yeah.

Thien:

So we’re in the process of trying to get people that are passionate about it, train people, get the chemistry of the team together, and then perform.

Cris:

Gotcha.

Thien:

But at the same time recreationally it’s really fun too, because we’re just there hanging out exchanging ideas about dancing. Because ultimately the dancing is an art and there’s no right or wrong. But seeing people’s way of being able to uniquely create their art is really fun and exciting.

Cris:

That’s super cool.

Thien:

And I get to produce some of the music that we use to dance to.

Cris:

That’s what I was going to say. Yeah. When do I get to see the feature film coming out that is executive produced, starring, directed by, and orchestrated by Thien? When’s that happening?

Thien:

That’s one of my goals that I am working towards. Because I do dabble in video editing and stuff too. So I want to create something, a piece that I make a song to, I dance to, and then I’d film it.

Cris:

That’s so good. Well, I think that is a very possible goal and you should definitely keep pushing towards that. Yeah. I will be one of the first people at Sundance to watch that. So you let me know. Okay?

Alexandra:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Bixly Tech Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Thien a little bit better. He’s definitely one of our most valued team members and we feel really lucky to have him on the team. If you have any questions about what they talked about here today, don’t be afraid to leave those in the comment section down below. And don’t forget to check out our free custom guide. It’s actually linked in the description to this video, and that will walk you through the whole process of planning out your whole app idea. If you feel like you’re ready to talk about the idea that you have, go ahead and check out our website, bixly.com. There’s actually a button there, free app validation meeting. And then you actually get to meet with Cris for 60 minutes to talk about your app idea and start strategizing how to execute it. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Bixly Tech Tuesday.