Hong Bu

When you meet Hong Bu, it doesn’t take long to realize what makes her stand out. Some adjectives that describe her are “bold”, “intuitive”, and “resilient”. Hong is a do-er. When she commits to something, no matter the size of task, she finds a way to get it done. Hong’s spirit of perseverance has been met with great challenges in her career, but her fighting spirit always sees her through.

Hong’s interest in technology was given to her from her parents. Her father was an engineer and steered her towards an education in technology because to him, tech dominates everything.

Although computer science seemed like a natural choice, her first year of college was a real shock. She calls it her “nightmare semester”. One filled with subjects she couldn’t quite grasp and local accents she’d never heard before. In China, switching majors isn’t easy so Hong kept telling herself to give it another semester before looking for an exit. Feeling very low, she found a way to trigger her internal motivation to keep going forward by surrounding herself with people who could help her understand the academic material better. Her ability to communicate and connect easily with others saved her. One of the best concepts she took from university is to never leave questions for tomorrow. Best to dig, find the information, and keep moving, before you get started on something else and forget to go back to it.

Hong enjoyed coding, delivering features to clients, and providing troubleshooting advice in her previous roles. But it was when she met a mentor who singled out her talent to communicate when things shifted for her. This mentor recognized her ability to be a conduit between customers and developers, ultimately pushing her to have the confidence to change her career, which led her to CSE where she can use all her skills at once.

Hong loves the feeling she arrives at the end of a customer engagement. She feels a deep sense of fulfillment after going through all the obstacles to get her customers to where they need to be. She enjoys that each customer engagement brings very different experiences and challenges each time. Although the uncertainty can be difficult, it also brings a level of excitement and pushes her to never be afraid of digging deep. She feels if someone wants to grow in their career, be challenged, and learn quickly, CSE is the right team.

Outside of work, Hong is also passionate about coffee. She is working to acquire her certificate from the Coffee Quality Institute to be a professional amateur coffee lover. Hong also loves video production. She once led a small team to create a 15-minute short film on a $100 budget. She recalls it being a mess but creatively a lot of fun. Her teams work won the 3rd place in the Beijing 2017 Mini Movie contest and they were awarded $10,000.