The Ton (Tony) Le

System Integration Manager, Brittain Wynyard Co Ltd
Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences in Software Development

He enjoys his systems integration role at Brittain Wynyard Co Ltd, says The Ton (Tony) Le who came to AUT as an international student from Vietnam to study a Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences in Software Development.

“The best thing about my career is that I can integrate whatever systems are being used by the business and link all of them together to have data flow seamlessly throughout all these systems.

“One of the achievements I’m most proud of in my career so far is building and designing the entire company’s IT infrastructure, which included warehousing, retail and the day-to-day activity of retail staff in the company’s 120 retail stores across New Zealand. I also developed a whole website from scratch to give customers a better shopping experience during the COVID pandemic, and created two apps for the organisation’s management team.”

The path to AUT
He has been fascinated by mobile and web development since high school, Tony says,

“I initially studied at ITEC in Vietnam for two years, and because it has a partnership programme with AUT in New Zealand, I was able to study for another two years at AUT to gain my Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences.”

He still has many happy memories of his time at AUT.

“I made a lot of friends during my two years at AUT, especially in my final-year research and development project. We were creating an AUT bus app and I was assigned the iOS app development. During the project I needed to change groups, and the new team members were very welcoming and helped me to catch up on everything. Everyone was really passionate about what they were doing.

“The study environment at AUT was very different from what I had experienced in my home country. One thing I noticed was that you can basically have your laptop and study anywhere you want, for example at the library or cafeteria. I also received a lot of help from my lecturers and teaching assistants – they were always happy to help and answer any random questions I had.”

Advice for other students
Tony has some great advice for other students who are thinking about university study.

“Don’t miss any opportunity. An opportunity might be able to shape your career path and what you’re going to become in the future, especially if you’re an international student like I was.”

Projects are a great way to practise your skills, he adds.

“My advice is to work on projects, projects and even more projects, especially if you’re a computer and information sciences student. Do as many personal projects as possible as you’ll definitely learn a lot from these. Don’t be afraid if you fail or make a mistake. Every time you fail you’ll learn something from it.”