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優(yōu)步科技首席技術(shù)官Thuan Pham 圖片來源：The Information
1979年，Thuan Pham離開了越南的一艘難民船——此時越南已經(jīng)遭受了長達(dá)二十年的戰(zhàn)爭。 在60米的船上，乘坐著10歲的Thuan、他的母親、他的弟弟，和其他大約370人，沒有救生衣。
當(dāng)他們準(zhǔn)備登陸馬來西亞時，Thuan和他的家人因為是難民，被拒絕入境。 Thuan的母親再也不愿回到被戰(zhàn)爭蹂躪的越南，于是帶著她的兩個孩子上了另一條船，經(jīng)過整整10個月，最終到達(dá)了印度尼西亞的Letung島。
當(dāng)時，年幼的Thuan總是游到附近的城鎮(zhèn)買糖果，然后他的母親在難民殖民地賣掉這些糖果，給孩子們買面包。
頭頓，越南 - 1975年4月：搭乘海軍駁船的西貢北部難民，在西貢南部頭頓港口蜂涌上岸。 （Jack Cahill / 多倫多星 via 蓋蒂圖片社）
“我們過去每天賺10美分的利潤，這真的很奢侈。 我們可以買新鮮的魚�！癟huan回憶說，現(xiàn)在他是優(yōu)步的首席技術(shù)官。 我們在德里會面，同時他在這里會見企業(yè)家，推進(jìn)UberExchange計劃。
繼續(xù)回到逃離越南的往事，Thuan說，當(dāng)時乘船遠(yuǎn)渡重洋的生還幾率只有50:50。 在旅途中，Thuan和他的家人還被盜了兩次。
“我們并沒有恐慌。 事實上，我們很冷靜，向自己投誠。 這其實和創(chuàng)業(yè)之路一樣。 即使有一天你失去了所有，如果你保持冷靜，你依然可以東山再起。
戰(zhàn)爭期間的子彈殼游戲
Thuan說他在西貢生活的時候還是一個孩子，但這段特殊的童年經(jīng)歷消除了他對死亡的恐懼，并學(xué)到了他日后所需要的一切，包括建立優(yōu)步的經(jīng)驗。 “在有空襲的夜晚，我們就關(guān)上窗子，躲在桌子底下，度過整個晚上。”然后在陽光明媚的早晨，Thuan和其他小伙伴就出去撿幾百個子彈殼玩兒，在晚上互相交換。
越南戰(zhàn)爭歷史照片 圖片來源：維基
“它教會我，生命是短暫的。 我建議年輕企業(yè)家把他們剛創(chuàng)業(yè)的公司作為一個學(xué)習(xí)的經(jīng)驗。 即使它全盤失敗，你仍可以重建。 你在一個自由的世界，“他補充說。
難民船上的生活
Thuan把難民船比作“沙丁魚罐頭”。 他的描述與最近到達(dá)歐洲的移民船相似，后者擠滿了來自敘利亞的難民。
帶他離開越南海岸的船 - MT-2377 - 共分為三層。
“基本上，每個人必須下去其中一層，傾斜到一邊。 你只能躺在那里直到旅程的結(jié)束。 沒有其他任何地方可去，“Thuan說。 他在船上堆疊滿了人的一層中待了約三天。 每層有一個小通氣口。
那你必須去廁所時怎么辦呢？ “大家必須就地解決，所以它‘總是下雨’。 我母親也在這些船層里，”他說。
女人和孩子們蜷縮在西貢以西約20英里的一條泥濘運河里，以躲避越南戰(zhàn)爭猛烈的戰(zhàn)火。（美聯(lián)社照片/ Horst Faas）
生活在美國
從印度尼西亞登陸后，Thuan的母親向美國申請庇護(hù)。 以家庭為單位的申請得到批準(zhǔn)，他們最終來到馬里蘭州，在那里，他的母親白天在加油站做一名分類帳管理員， 晚上，她又在超市給雜貨打包。
Thuan則被美國的一所學(xué)校錄取。 周末，他就在洗車站工作。 他曾經(jīng)穿過慈善捐贈的衣服和鞋子。 “我記得曾經(jīng)穿過近兩年的女襪，直到2年后有人指出。
Thuan于1986年被麻省理工學(xué)院計算機科學(xué)專業(yè)錄取，1991年畢業(yè)，當(dāng)時互聯(lián)網(wǎng)剛剛出現(xiàn)。
“我強烈鼓勵有抱負(fù)的企業(yè)家進(jìn)行自我教育，即使他們并不想畢業(yè)。 大學(xué)教育為你打開新世界大門，”他說。
1979年6月5日，越南難民流入香港。圖片來源：COR/法新社/蓋蒂圖片社。
從麻省理工學(xué)院畢業(yè)后，這位越南男孩相繼在惠普實驗室、硅圖形、雙擊公司和VMWare公司工作。2013年，他正式加入優(yōu)步，當(dāng)時該公司業(yè)務(wù)進(jìn)入60個城市，約有200人。現(xiàn)在，它的業(yè)務(wù)范圍分布在大約400個城市。
“我不太贊成你用寶貴生命去考一個博士，除非它有助于人類的生活。相反，建立一個初創(chuàng)公司或許更有價值，”他說。
Thuan的父親是一名軍人，退伍后在西貢做了老師，住在越南。Thuan直到十年后，也就是完成了他的教育，并成為一個合法美國公民之后，才見到了他的父親。 “我們倆都變了，”他回憶說。
當(dāng)優(yōu)步在世界各地崩潰
在早期，Thuan見證了優(yōu)步APP的多次崩潰，原因僅僅是單個工程師的編碼錯誤或單個機器中的錯誤。 “現(xiàn)在我們不會崩潰，因為我們在初級階段已經(jīng)崩潰過。企業(yè)家失敗要趁早�！�
在優(yōu)步，Thuan以這樣的方式重建了其架構(gòu)——即使在某個地方發(fā)生某些事情，該平臺仍然能正常運行。
優(yōu)步CTO為出租車應(yīng)用公司引入了一個混合可擴展性模型。 優(yōu)步正在建立自己的服務(wù)器場，并依托第三方供應(yīng)商（如亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)系統(tǒng)）來管理負(fù)載。
對于包括中國在內(nèi)的一些國家，請求被退回本地服務(wù)器，這使應(yīng)用程序更靈敏。
解決優(yōu)步的“星球級”問題
本周，優(yōu)步在班加羅爾啟動了一個技術(shù)中心。它專用于解決印度的特定問題，如準(zhǔn)確的位置映射、現(xiàn)金支付，并使App在低帶寬下也可順暢工作。
該公司還正在適應(yīng)引入新服務(wù)，如UberEat。
優(yōu)步目前熱衷于宏觀思考。 “我們設(shè)想建立一個全球規(guī)模的按需消費平臺。它激勵我建立一個平臺，可以在幾分鐘內(nèi)帶給你任何東西，“他說。
創(chuàng)業(yè)企業(yè)家的提示
在本周的印度訪問期間，Thuan Pham還抽出時間指導(dǎo)了幾家初創(chuàng)公司，這也是UberExchange計劃的一部分。
以下是他為企業(yè)家提供的一些建議：
1、如果你的事業(yè)將造福到很多人，你自然會發(fā)財。如果只追逐金錢，你真的不會快樂。
2、構(gòu)建那些可以影響和改變世界各地人們生活的事業(yè)，你將永葆動力。
3、不要對自己太較真，面對生命中的大風(fēng)大浪不要猶豫膽怯。一路上玩得開心。
4、“反哺”。培養(yǎng)人才真的會讓你有滿意的結(jié)果。注意在你的團(tuán)隊中，培養(yǎng)能夠領(lǐng)導(dǎo)和影響數(shù)百人的年輕人 - 即使在你離開崗位之后 - 也會讓你滿意。
原文鏈接：https://www.techinasia.com/refugee-from-vietnam-to-uber-cto-thuan-pham
原文如下：It was in 1979 that Thuan Pham left on a refugee boat from Vietnam, a country torn by a two-decade long war. On the 60-meter boat were 10-year old Thuan, his mother, a young brother, and about 370 other people, with no life jackets.
When they landed in Malaysia, Thuan and his family were rejected as refugees. Unwilling to go back to war-ravaged Vietnam, Thuan’s mother decided to take her two kids on another boat, to the island of Letung in Indonesia, where they spent 10 months.
The young Thuan used to swim to the nearby town to buy candies. His mother would then sell those candies in the refugee colony to earn bread for her kids.
“We used to make 10 cents of profit a day, and that would be a luxury. We could buy fresh fish,” recalls Thuan, who is now the chief technology officer of Uber. We met in Delhi, where he was meeting entrepreneurs as part of an UberExchange program.
Going back to the story of how he made it out of Vietnam, Thuan says there was just a 50:50 chance of survival in those boat journeys across oceans. During the journeys, Thuan and his family were pirated twice.
“We would not panic. In fact we would be calm and surrender ourselves. That’s the way a startup journey is. Even if you lose all one day, you can build all over again if you retain your calm.”
Playing with bullet shells during war
Thuan says his life spent as a kid in Saigon erased his fear of death and he takes everything, which includes building Uber, as a learning experience. “We would close our windows and spend nights, under a table, whenever there was an air raid.” In the sunny mornings, Thuan and other kids would go out and play with hundreds of bullet shells, exchanged during the night.
“It taught me that life is ephemeral. I advise young entrepreneurs to treat their startups as a learning experience. Even if it all fails you can rebuild it again. You’re in a free world,” he adds.
Even if you lose all one day, you can build all over again if you retain your calm.
Life in a refugee boat
Thuan likens a refugee boat to a ‘can of sardines’. He draws similarities with the recent migrant boats which have been arriving in Europe filled with refugees from Syria.
His boat – the MT-2377 – which left the Vietnamese shores was divided in three layers.
“Basically, one has to go down the layers and lean to one side. You have to just lay there till the end of the journey. There is no going anywhere,” says Thuan. He was stacked in one of the layers for about three days in the boat. Each layer had a small vent from which to breath.
What happens when you have to go to toilet? “People have to do it there and it would just rain down. My mom was in one of those layers,” he says.
Women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire, about 20 miles west of Saigon, during Vietnam war. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)
Women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire, about 20 miles west of Saigon, during Vietnam war. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)
Life in the US
After landing in Indonesia, Thuan’s mother applied for asylum in the US. The family’s application was approved and they landed in Maryland, where his mother worked as a ledger keeper at a gas station during day. In evening, she would work as a grocery packer at a supermarket.
Thuan was enrolled in a school in the US. On weekends he would work at a car wash station. He used to wear donated clothes and shoes. “I remember wearing girl socks for almost two years in oblivion, until someone pointed.”
Thuan was admitted to a bachelor’s program of computer science at MIT in 1986, and graduated in 1991, when the internet was just emerging.
“I strongly encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to educate themselves, even if they don’t wish to graduate. College education opens doors for you,” he says.
The flow of Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong - 05 June 1979. Photo credit: COR/AFP/Getty Images.
The flow of Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong – 05 June 1979. Photo credit: COR/AFP/Getty Images.
From MIT, the boy from Vietnam went on to work at HP Labs, Silicon Graphics, DoubleClick, and VMWare. He joined Uber in 2013, when the company was present in 60 cities and employed about 200 people. Now, its present in about 400 cities.
“I am against spending precious years of your life doing a PhD, unless it contributes something to human lives. Instead building a startup can add value,” he says.
Thuan’s father, a soldier turned teacher in Saigon, had stayed back in the country. Thuan could meet him only after a decade when he completed his education, and became a legalised citizen. “We both had changed by then,” he recalls.
When Uber crashed across the world
In its early days, Thuan has seen the Uber app crash multiple times just because of a coding error by a single engineer or a bug in a single machine. “Now we don’t crash, because we have done that in our early journey. Entrepreneurs should fail fast in the early days.”
At Uber, Thuan has rebuilt its architecture in such a way, that even if something goes down somewhere, the platform will still run.
uber
Photo credit: AFP/ Getty Images, via Flickr
The Uber CTO is introducing a hybrid scalability model for the taxi app company. Uber is building its own server farms as well as relying on third party vendors such as Amazon Web Services to manage the load.
For some countries such as China, the requests are bounced off local servers, which makes the app more responsive.
Solving a planet level problem at Uber
Uber this week launched a technology center in Bangalore. It aims to solve India-specific problems such as correct location mapping, cash payments, and making the app work on low bandwidth.
The company is also adapting to introduce new services such as UberEat.
Uber is thinking at a mega scale. “We envisage a platform for on-demand consumption at the planet scale. It excites me to build a platform that can bring anything to you within minutes,” he says.
Tips for startup entrepreneurs
During his India visit this week, Thuan Pham also took time to mentor a few startups as part of an UberExchange program.
Here are some tips from him for entrepreneurs:
Money will come when you do something that impacts a lot of people. If you chase only money, you will be really unhappy.
Building something that can impact and change people’s lives across the world will always keep you motivated.
Don’t take yourself too seriously and you will not hesitate to take bold risks in life. Have fun along the way.
Give back. Developing people will really make you satisfied at the end of it. Developing young ones in your teams who can lead and impact hundreds of lives – even after you’re gone – will leave you satisfied.
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