Nghe An boy wins Silver prize at WorldSkills competition

Born and raised in Nghe An, the boy born in 1997 felt luckier than his peers when he discovered his passion and love for the machining profession since high school. In grade 11, when exposed to drawings of the Technology subject, Dieu found it interesting and studied this subject very well, then studied it more deeply.

After taking the national high school exam in 2015 and not getting the score she wanted, Dieu applied to Bach Khoa Vocational College (Hanoi), and was accepted into the Metal Cutting major. "Vocational training may not sound fancy, but for me, having a university degree is not as important as what I learn and what skills I have after 3 years," Dieu said.

At the end of 2016, after reading the information that DENSO, one of the businesses associated with the school, needed to find candidates for the 2019 World Skills Competition in CNC milling, the Nghe An boy boldly registered.

Truong The Dieu. Photo: Character provided

Competing with Dieu in the preliminary round were more than 100 candidates from universities and colleges in the North. After passing three tests including quick math, IQ and theory test. After 3 days, Dieu continued to stay in the top 4.

To focus on participating in the next rounds, the male student reserved his study results at school. Dieu and 3 other candidates studied at the Vocational Skills Training Institute for one year, then the one with the better results continued to train for another year.

On average, Dieu had to practice at least 10 hours a day, from 7am to around 6-7pm, with a one-hour lunch break and no breaks between sessions, only resting on Sundays. "On the only day off during the week, I just stayed at home, didn't go anywhere because I was too tired, and it continued like that for almost a year," the young man recalled.

After 4 rounds of competition in 3 years, surpassing more than 100 competitors, in April 2019, Truong The Dieu became the only representative of Vietnam in the CNC milling profession to participate in the 2019 World Skills Competition.

The CNC milling course takes place from August 23 to 26 with a total test time of 18 hours. Candidates take turns passing 3 tests, each test includes computer programming, then machining on a CNC machine with aluminum or steel materials.

The test that gave Dieu the most difficulty was Module 1, which took place on the morning of August 23. The organizers gave the contestants a drawing and a solid steel cube, measuring 95x95x45 mm. When programming the drawing on the computer, Dieu encountered a software error that she had never encountered in 3 years of practice.

The male student quickly informed the interpreter and the expert, then the Organizing Committee confirmed that the error was on the software company's side, so they added 15 minutes to Dieu's test time to compensate for the time spent fixing the error. The total time remained the same, but this incident caused Dieu to be behind schedule. Quickly regaining his composure and confidence, the male student completed the test in the remaining time.

Truong The Dieu practices at the company. Photo: Character provided

After 4 days of competition, Dieu won the Silver Medal in CNC milling, the same rank as Korean and Japanese candidates.

Contestant Truong The Dieu, brought home the first and only Silver Medal for the Vietnamese delegation. Photo: tuoitre

"Even though I only stood on the podium to receive the medal for about a minute, I still felt extremely happy and proud of the flag and the national colors," the young man recalled.

This September, Dieu will return to Hanoi Polytechnic Vocational College to finish her studies and get her diploma in two years. For now, Dieu has not thought about starting a business or opening a milling workshop.

Talking about the exam results of the Vietnamese delegation, Mr. Truong Anh Dung - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, commented: "This year, the delegations prepared very carefully, the level of excellent candidates is clearly better than previous years.

We are very happy to have such achievements. This is a great experience, no matter what the result is, all candidates are winners, have completed the exam excellently".

The 45th WorldSkills Competition in 2019 was held from August 16 to 28 in the Russian Federation with the participation of 82 countries and territories. The Vietnamese delegation competed in 18 occupations including: Electronics, Refrigeration, Electrical Installation, Bricklaying, Wall and Floor Tiling, CAD Mechanical Engineering Design, Mechatronics, CNC Milling, CNC Lathe, Water Technology, Automotive Painting, Plastic Molding Engineering, Molds, Sheet Metal Processing, Web Technology, Welding, IT Software Solutions, Network Cable Installation.

Truong The Dieu won a silver medal in the CNC milling competition. Eight candidates received certificates of excellent vocational skills in seven occupations: Mechanical Engineering Design, Mechatronics, High-tech Turning, Water Technology, Web Technology, Information Technology Software Solutions, Bricklaying. Candidate Phan Van Quoc won the Best of Nations award, and Nguyen Xuan Luc won the Potential award.