7AM to 10PM _is_ full flex in Japan, companies are required to pay late night overtime for 10PM to 6AM work hours, regardless of overtime allotment in your contract
loved the video! as a dev from europe, besides the weak yen.. it's the amount of paid holidays you get a year that that cools me on the idea of making the move to japan. going from 45 to 10 a year with a slight pay cut is kind of rough to accept despite how amazing japan is
@@william_in_japan pretty much, I have 26 base holidays, and our company has an employee benefit plan that allows you to buy up to 10 days of (self) paid leave with credits that you get on top of your salary. Additionally since my workweek hours are slightly above the standard legal workweek of 38h I get an additional 5 days paid leave per year, we get an extra day for each 5 year of seniority, if a holiday landed on a weekend, it gets added as paid holiday for the next year.. I easily get above 40 days every year and if I ever decide to leave some unused days over at the end of the year , I can carry over up to 10 days to the next year, which could potentially bring me at 50 days paid leave for that year salaries are not as good as the US, but better than Japan and income taxes are much higher, but the working conditions are great here
Could you make a video about the Data field in Japan (Data Analysis, Data Science) for (entry-level, experience-level). Thank you for what you are doing.
So it sounds like it’s not worth looking on these jobs sites unless you are at a proficient level of Japanese, correct? I’m a full stack engineer with 8 years of experience, but have only been learning Japanese for about a year and could exchange pleasantries but definitely couldn’t interview in Japanese
I hated the bonus being so heavy in the overall pay and being distributed in summer and winter. And the "bonus" not really being based on performance when it's decided with negociations between the union and the board (that is still the case in automotive industry for example). But as a foreigner that's probably something you can negociate if you join a smaller firm (or a foreign firm). I had a recent offer where I could negociate a better balance with a higher fix.
What industry was your bonus in? Would you mind sharing what percentage of your salary it was? Yeah I think as a foreigner in software development, you could probably just say you're not used to that kind of arrangement and ask for the salary to be paid normally. I would wait until the final negotiation stage to do so.
@@william_in_japanI was working as a mechanical engineer at Nissan, so it may not be fully relevant, but it was around 30% of the yearly pay. A big chunk of money! The information is very public as bonuses target values are publicly negociated with unions and announced on TV each year. The last offer I saw for Japan was last year at a financial software maker, and I could cut the variable part to around 20% - depending mainly on the overall firm performance. Still a bit high but it had a performance based additional bonus. (I took another opportunity in the end)
Looks like my comment dispeared, maybe it got caught in moderation. My bonus at Nissan where I was a mechanical engineer was 30% of the yearly salary, so a very big chunk of money that you don't see every month as you say! On a offer last year at a financial software maker (I ended up taking another opportunity) , I could negociate down to 20% for the bonus, still high but better than the average.
do you think it would be hard to transition back to a software position back in the US or would you sort of be stuck working in japan for the forseeable future?
Hi William, I like your videos. A little bit of question, how hard is it to quit and change jobs in Japan? I binge watched a lot of channels about working culture in Japan, and a lot of them are trapped in the so called black companies. Im planning to quit right away if I ended up in such companies or even go back to my country. What do you think, is it possible? Or do you have your personal escape plan?
Can you please show next time gamedev jobs? I’m making games with Unity engine as freelancer in the US for years and now I am start thinking about relocation to the Japan. Thanks
XP = Extreme Programming, related to agile. I'm interested about automation engineering (in QA/test) jobs as well. Keep it up! P.S. Is there an age limit?
QA are for the weak and the weak will be forgotten... just kidding why don't you just work remotely if that is the case? The job market is picking up again the pay isn't great but it is still multiple higher than jp from the video some of the listing shown are less or equivalent to current bonuses even with the 100 to 1 dollar conversion.
5.5M for fullstack, without bonus, more than 10 years of solid experience (working in a single company during this time for example) is super low right?
Yes, that is very low. Is that your salary? You are definitely do for a job change. I think you may be stifling your growth by not switching companies already unless you are at a big company.
@@william_in_japan My actual salary is .5 less, but because I took a temporal dotour in the game development field, here in Japan, but is fine, game development is usually in this range. But I got an offer for 5.5 and even if is full remote, I think doesn't worth it. I know people here doing full stack as mid level developer over 7M with hybrid and full remote too.
They expect you to do 30hour of overtime every month if they ask? I expect them to always ask you. Is it compulsory? That's like 1extra hour every day, actually more! You're doing 9h workdays. That's how you burn down and you never see your family. I do overtime too, but expect to be paid or to work less later... I care about money, but living is more important.
i agree, living is more important in the whole life, and people can do a extra part-time job in the weekend if they really need to earn more money, but not to overwork in a single job But it's sad to say that is the reality in Asia countries, overwork and overtime is became a kind of culture😢
You may have months where you don't work any overtime at all. I don't know any of my peers that have been asked to work overtime. It is just saying in the case you do work overtime, you won't get paid extra IF you work up to 30 hours. I agree with you. If it actually came down to working that much over overtime, I would look for somewhere else to work.
Been working in Japan for 2 years as a fullstack engineer and have never been asked to do overtime as long as I managed my time and deliver my tasks. I do know It can vary a lot from company to company though.
You can find it (which is free or forced overwork) in the job description, that is called 固定残業 in Japanese, which means that employees have a forced and obliged overwork every month, and it's can't avoid. Of course employers will pay a overwork salary but the important thing is it's forcely
You mentioned in your previous video that a lot of companies on Findy will also be looking for foreign engineers, but is there a way to indicate that you don't speak Japanese? Because if not, I imagine that getting set up to have interviews in English instead will be kind of tricky.
I have 6 years of XP in Go as backend. But all japan jobs that list Go are devops. I check once in a while but I gave up already. I will learn japanese and then try again.
The job experience itself will vary quite a bit, but to get a visa immigrations wants you to have around 10 years of experience if you don't have a degree. So it would be quicker to get a degree or go to vocational school if you want to come to Japan specifically and you're starting from scratch
It is a consideration though that maybe so many foreigners coming in will make life worse for Japanese devs. I mean, work culture there is already kinda toxic, then you have gaikokujin that come in and probably get paid more just for knowing English, maybe it's not a problem now since it seems there lots of jobs there but might be in the future... Not trying to hate, btw, I myself would consider going there if I can improve my Japanese, but atm my girlfriend had a really good job here and it would be tough to find one for her in Japan too
I see what you mean. But everyone I've met who has went through the trouble of learning Japanese to a business level and has lived here for a couple of years has been great to work with; and in they're trying to fit within the Japanese framework to an extent. Even if they did change things, if anything, I think they would make conditions better for Japan devs because they would shift work culture to be more in line with international norms. In any case, I don't think I have enough influence to ruin the entire software industry in Japan. Thank you for your comment!
@@william_in_japan And I've met plenty who never bothered to learn Japanese and treated their workplace as a fun excursion to a theme park with a part-time job attached. Especially considering the current western tech culture, I'd want as few of those people joining companies here as possible. I'm a programmer at a game studio in Tokyo. Not saying that no westerner ever should come, but think of the incentives that people might have to move to a place with a(n arguably) worse work culture, worse pay, etc. I only got the job in Japan cause it was my only option after a long search since the games industry is fucked.
7AM to 10PM _is_ full flex in Japan, companies are required to pay late night overtime for 10PM to 6AM work hours, regardless of overtime allotment in your contract
loved the video! as a dev from europe, besides the weak yen.. it's the amount of paid holidays you get a year that that cools me on the idea of making the move to japan. going from 45 to 10 a year with a slight pay cut is kind of rough to accept despite how amazing japan is
45 holidays per year?! That surprises me as someone from the U.S.
With weekends, that means you have 149 days off per year?
@@william_in_japan pretty much, I have 26 base holidays, and our company has an employee benefit plan that allows you to buy up to 10 days of (self) paid leave with credits that you get on top of your salary. Additionally since my workweek hours are slightly above the standard legal workweek of 38h I get an additional 5 days paid leave per year, we get an extra day for each 5 year of seniority, if a holiday landed on a weekend, it gets added as paid holiday for the next year.. I easily get above 40 days every year and if I ever decide to leave some unused days over at the end of the year , I can carry over up to 10 days to the next year, which could potentially bring me at 50 days paid leave for that year
salaries are not as good as the US, but better than Japan and income taxes are much higher, but the working conditions are great here
discord it is!!!! just need to know what i "specifically" need to do.... saw your other video of how to get into tech in japan
Your videos are very helpful! Thank you so much!!!
Great video and tips! Anything for non-developers in IT specifically infrastructure and system administration?
Could you make a video about the Data field in Japan (Data Analysis, Data Science) for (entry-level, experience-level). Thank you for what you are doing.
What about some C/C++/Rust stack? It that something feasible there?
So it sounds like it’s not worth looking on these jobs sites unless you are at a proficient level of Japanese, correct? I’m a full stack engineer with 8 years of experience, but have only been learning Japanese for about a year and could exchange pleasantries but definitely couldn’t interview in Japanese
Hey, could you go over C++ related jobs?
Also maybe they look for more front end because Japanese devs are more focused in back end?
I hated the bonus being so heavy in the overall pay and being distributed in summer and winter. And the "bonus" not really being based on performance when it's decided with negociations between the union and the board (that is still the case in automotive industry for example).
But as a foreigner that's probably something you can negociate if you join a smaller firm (or a foreign firm). I had a recent offer
where I could negociate a better balance with a higher fix.
What industry was your bonus in? Would you mind sharing what percentage of your salary it was?
Yeah I think as a foreigner in software development, you could probably just say you're not used to that kind of arrangement and ask for the salary to be paid normally. I would wait until the final negotiation stage to do so.
And yes, bonuses were I worked were quite heavily cut following the crisis of 2008, so it can happen but that is usually rare.
@@william_in_japanI was working as a mechanical engineer at Nissan, so it may not be fully relevant, but it was around 30% of the yearly pay. A big chunk of money! The information is very public as bonuses target values are publicly negociated with unions and announced on TV each year.
The last offer I saw for Japan was last year at a financial software maker, and I could cut the variable part to around 20% - depending mainly on the overall firm performance. Still a bit high but it had a performance based additional bonus. (I took another opportunity in the end)
Looks like my comment dispeared, maybe it got caught in moderation.
My bonus at Nissan where I was a mechanical engineer was 30% of the yearly salary, so a very big chunk of money that you don't see every month as you say!
On a offer last year at a financial software maker (I ended up taking another opportunity) , I could negociate down to 20% for the bonus, still high but better than the average.
do you think it would be hard to transition back to a software position back in the US or would you sort of be stuck working in japan for the forseeable future?
Hi William, I like your videos. A little bit of question, how hard is it to quit and change jobs in Japan? I binge watched a lot of channels about working culture in Japan, and a lot of them are trapped in the so called black companies. Im planning to quit right away if I ended up in such companies or even go back to my country. What do you think, is it possible? Or do you have your personal escape plan?
Can you please show next time gamedev jobs? I’m making games with Unity engine as freelancer in the US for years and now I am start thinking about relocation to the Japan. Thanks
XP = Extreme Programming, related to agile.
I'm interested about automation engineering (in QA/test) jobs as well. Keep it up!
P.S. Is there an age limit?
QA are for the weak and the weak will be forgotten... just kidding why don't you just work remotely if that is the case? The job market is picking up again the pay isn't great but it is still multiple higher than jp from the video some of the listing shown are less or equivalent to current bonuses even with the 100 to 1 dollar conversion.
5.5M for fullstack, without bonus, more than 10 years of solid experience (working in a single company during this time for example) is super low right?
Yes, that is very low. Is that your salary? You are definitely do for a job change. I think you may be stifling your growth by not switching companies already unless you are at a big company.
@@william_in_japan My actual salary is .5 less, but because I took a temporal dotour in the game development field, here in Japan, but is fine, game development is usually in this range. But I got an offer for 5.5 and even if is full remote, I think doesn't worth it. I know people here doing full stack as mid level developer over 7M with hybrid and full remote too.
They expect you to do 30hour of overtime every month if they ask? I expect them to always ask you. Is it compulsory? That's like 1extra hour every day, actually more! You're doing 9h workdays.
That's how you burn down and you never see your family.
I do overtime too, but expect to be paid or to work less later... I care about money, but living is more important.
i agree, living is more important in the whole life, and people can do a extra part-time job in the weekend if they really need to earn more money, but not to overwork in a single job
But it's sad to say that is the reality in Asia countries, overwork and overtime is became a kind of culture😢
You may have months where you don't work any overtime at all. I don't know any of my peers that have been asked to work overtime.
It is just saying in the case you do work overtime, you won't get paid extra IF you work up to 30 hours.
I agree with you. If it actually came down to working that much over overtime, I would look for somewhere else to work.
Been working in Japan for 2 years as a fullstack engineer and have never been asked to do overtime as long as I managed my time and deliver my tasks. I do know It can vary a lot from company to company though.
You can find it (which is free or forced overwork) in the job description, that is called 固定残業 in Japanese, which means that employees have a forced and obliged overwork every month, and it's can't avoid. Of course employers will pay a overwork salary but the important thing is it's forcely
You mentioned in your previous video that a lot of companies on Findy will also be looking for foreign engineers, but is there a way to indicate that you don't speak Japanese? Because if not, I imagine that getting set up to have interviews in English instead will be kind of tricky.
as I understood, there are no english interviews, it's all jp or nothing.
@daruthebeast well that's unfortunate, but it makes sense. Thanks for the info!
Man... if the pay wasn't so low I'd apply.
I have 6 years of XP in Go as backend.
But all japan jobs that list Go are devops.
I check once in a while but I gave up already. I will learn japanese and then try again.
how many years of experience does the average job require if you don't have a college degree?
The job experience itself will vary quite a bit, but to get a visa immigrations wants you to have around 10 years of experience if you don't have a degree. So it would be quicker to get a degree or go to vocational school if you want to come to Japan specifically and you're starting from scratch
It is a consideration though that maybe so many foreigners coming in will make life worse for Japanese devs. I mean, work culture there is already kinda toxic, then you have gaikokujin that come in and probably get paid more just for knowing English, maybe it's not a problem now since it seems there lots of jobs there but might be in the future... Not trying to hate, btw, I myself would consider going there if I can improve my Japanese, but atm my girlfriend had a really good job here and it would be tough to find one for her in Japan too
I see what you mean. But everyone I've met who has went through the trouble of learning Japanese to a business level and has lived here for a couple of years has been great to work with; and in they're trying to fit within the Japanese framework to an extent. Even if they did change things, if anything, I think they would make conditions better for Japan devs because they would shift work culture to be more in line with international norms.
In any case, I don't think I have enough influence to ruin the entire software industry in Japan.
Thank you for your comment!
@@william_in_japan And I've met plenty who never bothered to learn Japanese and treated their workplace as a fun excursion to a theme park with a part-time job attached. Especially considering the current western tech culture, I'd want as few of those people joining companies here as possible. I'm a programmer at a game studio in Tokyo.
Not saying that no westerner ever should come, but think of the incentives that people might have to move to a place with a(n arguably) worse work culture, worse pay, etc. I only got the job in Japan cause it was my only option after a long search since the games industry is fucked.