Finding work in America: Chinh N.

Chinh N. tells the story of how he found work in the United States, established a career, and the people who helped him.

After Camp Pendleton

We left Camp Pendleton* August 22nd. And we sponsored by Blessed Sacrament Church to be in San Diego.

So when I got out, university wasn't a question for us because the cost is so high for non-resident. So I started looking for other skills to do. So the first thing we did was we tried to find jobs to sustain ourself and help the family. Some of the friends told me that you just walk around El Cajon Boulevard and went to any restaurant and ask for dishwashing job.

They just walk around and ask. Go to, McDonald's go to Big Bob's Boy [Bob’s Big Boy], something like that. Cause that's the only thing that require very little English and easy to do.

At that time, Gerald Ford was president and the unemployment rate was really high, I remembered it was in the teens. So we try very hard and couldn't find any job. Nobody hire us. So eventually the church has connection for me, connection with some counselor.

And one day he showed up out of nowhere and he said he has a job for me. As a gardener. So he took me to a motel on El Cajon Boulevard. So I worked there once a week. And they paid me $2 an hour. At the time the minimum wage was $2.10. They paid me $2. I was happy with that.

College

So I did that for several months. And in 1975, at the end of 75, Governor Brown declared that all Vietnamese refugee considered a resident for university. That means we were able to go to university right away. At the resident costs, which is very significant because you pay from $500 at UC for resident and you paid $2500 as a non-resident. And for San Diego State you pay a hundred dollars versus $1,500 a semester. It's very significant. So that's when we start seriously thinking about going to university.

But before that, the church found counselor for us and try to find, give us a test to see what we're good at. And they try to find a skill for us to support ourselves. So they took us to an ROP. It's... that's like a career counseling. So after going through all the available skill, that's easiest to make money and fastest you could make. So I decided to do key punch operator. So they sent me to training for key punch operator.

But after finish the key punching was started to die down. Nobody cared about key punch anymore. So I told the counselor, "I'm not getting anywhere." He said, Okay Go back to ROP counseling." And I said, and he said, What do you want to do?" I said, "Okay I want to be an auto mechanic." "Okay. Here's the test. You take a test in front of me. If you pass, then I send you to auto mechanic training." So I took the test, I passed it. And he took the test and he said, What's your plan?" I said, "Eventually I want to go to college." Then he told me, "What are you doing here? Look at the test, You don't belong here. You belong to a university. So why you, why aren't you doing that?" I said, "I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to apply for college. And I don't know the process."

So somehow that message was sent back to the church, and the church start formulating a way for me to go to college. So they asked me what I want to do, "You want to go back to medical school?" Then I asked a few people, few questions. They say, It's "Very difficult to go to medical school." And I knew right away, medical school was not for me. And I began to find out what major would be the best, the easiest and guarantee for me to get a job after I finished. That's all I ask, "Tell me which one is the most demanding job market now. Tell me that." He said, "Electrical engineering." I said, "Okay. Perfect. I like math. I like engineering anyway, so perfect." And he kept saying, "No, no, no. You have to do what you, like." I said, "I don't know what I like. I know that's good for me. So just let me do that."

At the time UCSD didn't have an engineering school. They had applied physics. They had applied math, but they have no engineering school. So I wanted to go to engineering school. I don't want to go to physics or math. So they took us to a foreign counseling counselor. She starts talking to us about school at San Diego State. What to do. How to get qualified and so on.

And she also said, "You have one week to take the SAT* [it may have been a different entrance exam than the SAT] test because beyond that you would delay your application another semester. If you want to do to get into the next semester, you have to take the SAT this Saturday. That's the only choice you have and it's in LA." And we don't have transportation. We don't have anything.

And Alice Baker is one of the sponsor in the church. She volunteered and she drove us to LA that Saturday to take SAT test. After that, we qualified to get admitted to San Diego State engineering.

I worked a lot. I worked as a busboy. I was a technician to repair all key punch machines in the entire campus. I did work at the library, shelving books and mending books and stuff like that. So I also went to school full time. I finished that in three years. So I finished in December, 1979.

Career

In April 79, I got a internship at NCR to be to be an engineering student at NCR. So when I finished my degree, I remember one of my friends, he finished a semester before me, and he got a job at SDG&E. I said, "Oh man. That's a dream. I wish I can get a job at SDG&E when I graduate." But then, when I graduated, I got a job at NCR, which is even better.

Because NCR at the time was considered high tech, very high tech. They built they built mainframe computer competing with IBM. So I remember when I was an intern all the way to the end of the engineering school, school I started applying for jobs. It was the best time for any engineers to find job.

I remember, I don't know very much. My engineering knowledge is quite limited. Although my problem solving skill is much better. So everywhere I went for interview the evaluation came back, "This candidate is mature." All the high marks, because the job market was so easy. And then NCR gave me an interview and my boss said, "You not going anywhere. You here." So I stayed with them for forever.

[So what is your official job now?]

Oh, right now the title, the job title is Senior Consulting Engineer. But on the business card and when I introduce myself to vendors, customers, or anybody outside, even in the organization org chart, I'm titled, my title is Senior Interconnect Architect. It sounds good, but actually you do something.

Chinh N. (2021)