Seven years into his time at WhooshPro, Hong Vui’s role has grown from building websites to planning and managing custom projects, while exploring newer areas such as Breezy AI Search with the team.
But his interest in development started much earlier. One of the first programs he remembers building was a quiz for a school computer class, written in QBasic. There was no AI to turn to when something went wrong, so most of the process came down to trial and error.
He would work through the problem until the program finally ran, and that satisfaction of getting something to work was enough to keep him interested.
From there, he continued experimenting with websites and applications, including working with PHP-based systems. Those early projects eventually helped shape his decision to pursue a career in tech, and that same curiosity continues to influence the way he works today.
Seven years in an ever-changing industry
If Hong Vui had to describe his work in one word, he would choose “ever-changing.”
The way developers work has shifted significantly over the years, particularly with the rise of AI. Tasks that once required hours of manual work can now happen much faster, but that has also changed where developers spend their time.
For Hong Vui, more of the thinking now happens before the building begins.
He refers to these as trackable goals.
Rather than simply saying, “Build a dropdown,” he would define how it should behave, when suggestions should appear and what the finished result should look like.
Defining these outcomes upfront gives both the developer and the AI something clear to work towards, reducing the time spent figuring things out later.
Learning to trust the team
Not every lesson Hong Vui has learned over the past seven years has been technical.
As his responsibilities grew, he also became more comfortable stepping back and trusting his teammates to take ownership of their work.
He has also learned that good ideas can come from anyone on the team. During one project, a colleague suggested using magic login links, which ended up changing how the team approached authentication for the project.
For Hong Vui, moments like this are a reminder that experience is not about having all the answers. It is also about knowing when to listen to others.
Making time to focus
A snapshot of how Hong Vui keeps multiple projects moving at once.
Hong Vui’s typical day is usually split between meetings and longer periods of focused work.
Even when several AI-assisted projects are running at the same time, he prefers to review each one in dedicated blocks rather than constantly switching between tasks.
His usual setup includes a few tabs, each running a different project. Around three feels manageable; any more than that and things start becoming harder to keep track of.
A look at the Kanban board Hong Vui uses to keep track of work in progress.
That small frustration eventually led him to start building his own kanban board, giving him a clearer view of where each project stands.
It is a good reflection of how he works. When something feels unnecessarily difficult, his instinct is usually to find a clearer way of doing it.
Building Breezy AI Search
That same curiosity carries into his work on Breezy AI Search.
Instead of explaining Breezy with technical terms, Hong Vui likes to describe it as a librarian who has already read every page on your website.
Visitors can ask a question in their own words and get an answer based on the information already available on the site, rather than going through a long list of search results. If the answer is not there, Breezy should be able to say that too.
A big part of Hong Vui’s work involves testing how Breezy responds to different questions, content and instructions, then making adjustments based on what he learns.
There is no single setup that works perfectly for every situation, so much of the work comes down to testing, learning and making the system more consistent and reliable.
Where people still matter
Hong Vui (circled in red) sharing a fun pottery session with his colleagues.
Despite spending so much time working with AI, Hong Vui remains practical about what the technology can and cannot do.
Human judgement still matters when deciding what should be built, reviewing the result and recognising when something does not feel right.
Even when it comes to technical support, Hong Vui says he would still rather speak to a real person, unless the chatbot becomes good enough that he genuinely cannot tell the difference.
To him, development was never only about writing code. It is about learning, understanding a problem and applying what you know to solve it.
Away from the screen
When he is not working on websites, AI workflows or terminal tabs, Hong Vui spends some of his time cooking.
He picked it up during the pandemic and tends to prefer simple, satisfying dishes, including tartines.
He also sees a small connection between cooking and development.
Following a recipe is not that different from following technical documentation. Both involve understanding the instructions, working through the steps and putting everything together in the right order.
Some developer habits, it seems, follow him into the kitchen too.
Watching WhooshPro grow
One of Hong Vui’s most memorable moments from his seven years at WhooshPro was seeing the company’s current office when it was still a completely bare space, before any renovation had begun. At the time, it was difficult to imagine what the space would eventually become.
Looking at it now, filled with the people he has worked alongside, makes that early memory feel especially meaningful. It is a simple reminder of how much WhooshPro has grown over the years.
Still curious
Seven years in tech has meant adapting to plenty of changes, from the tools Hong Vui uses to the way projects are built and managed. His role has grown along with that, but his curiosity has remained much the same. Like when he first started coding with QBasic, he still enjoys understanding a problem, trying different ideas and working through them until something clicks. Seven years later, there is still plenty left to learn, and for Hong Vui, that is part of what makes the work interesting.
Stay tuned for the next story in our Employee Spotlight series.
