Gaining the Confidence to Adapt and Grow

Quan Phan chose Wake Tech because it was local and affordable. But, he says, he never could have imagined at the time how that decision would lead to a life of learning and put him on the path toward a Ph.D.

Phan arrived in North Carolina from his native Vietnam in his late teens. After relatives and family friends spoke highly of Wake Tech, he enrolled in the English as a Foreign Language program to improve his English speaking, reading and writing skills. He recalls lugging a thick English-Vietnamese dictionary everywhere he went.

"I read it over and over," he said. "I forced myself to remember English words, and I finished EFL in six months."

That drive was indicative of Phan's time at Wake Tech, where he worked in the Academic Advising office and in Student Orientation Support.

"It gave me a chance to meet people and work on my communication skills," he said. "It was really helpful for networking in the college."

That networking showcased Phan's ability to work well with others, leading administrators to add him to a team of trainers helping students transition from WebAdvisor to the new Self-Service tool for registering for classes and reviewing their grades and financial aid information.

After earning an associate degree in Accounting & Finance in 2009, he quickly decided that wasn't the right career path for him. Instead, he pivoted to Computer Programming & Development, now part of the Software Development program, and earned a second associate's degree two years later.

"The majority of people my generation in Vietnam studied either economics or accounting, but the job market in the U.S. is completely different," he said. "I talked with others who had gone on to four-year schools who said knowing programming was beneficial, so I saw that as my opportunity."

Still, he says, the accounting degree comes in handy, especially at tax time.

From Wake Tech, Phan went to North Carolina State University and earned a bachelor's degree in statistics before landing a job with IBM. There, he found he needed more technical expertise and enrolled in an online program at East Carolina University to earn a master's degree in computer science.

As he moved up the corporate ladder at various technology firms in the Triangle area, Phan realized he lacked key management skills, so he earned another online master's degree, this time in organizational leadership. He started working on his third online master's degree, in artificial intelligence, when he joined ServiceNow as a technical program manager and saw the company was incorporating more AI tools into its platform for automating business tasks.

"My education pattern is the opposite of what most people experience," he said with a laugh. "They get the training first and then get the job. I go to work and recognize I don't have enough foundation, so I go learn it. I adapt and expand my capabilities."

He says he plans to continue studying AI beyond his master's degree to earn a Ph.D., noting, "The relationship between humans and AI needs to be studied."

Phan credits Wake Tech with teaching him how to adapt and embrace new opportunities.

"When I was spending all those hours in the library, I didn't know where I could go," he said. "Wake Tech gave me the foundation, the discipline and the confidence to keep going."

He now tries to give back through Wake Tech Career Services' Career Connections Mentorship program (CCM). He is among 16 Wake Tech graduates serving as CCM mentors, says program coordinator Julia Groom.

"They offer mentees an opportunity to learn from professionals with a personal connection to Wake Tech," Groom said. "Quan is a good mentor who builds skills that will enhance students' professional development."

"I try to coach them in soft skills," Phan said. "Wake Tech will teach them the technical skills for their career, so I focus on other skills they will need."