Given what I feel like is a growing class war in modern America, I wish more could embrace stories like this, and not the culture of putting down others' hard work in the name of "equalization." Some accomplished people (such as Asian immigrants or refugees, in this case) have worked really really hard to get where they are.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-18/news...
There is a lot of luck involved in life. Maybe this guy dies on the boat like a lot of other people. I think silicon valley has a very skewed view of the world.
If hiring good people was easy then Bangalore wouldn't be paying more than Europe \ London (in nominal rupees, i.e. not adjusted for cost of living.)
Having spent quite a bit of time hiring in India, good luck finding a competent unemployed engineer. (If you can find one, I'll make them employed very quickly.)
Might as well tell people to gather inspiration from tales of lottery winners.
Getting into debt is easy. I could go out tomorrow and with 100% certainty buy an expensive car and enroll in an expensive college program.
I could not say the same about going out and starting a billion dollar unicorn.
I'd dare you to ask Thuan, with a straight face, if he feels like he won the lottery. There was a element of luck but by no means you should think that refugees are winning the golden ticket by merely escaping.