Owning your own eikaiwa? Yeah, it's an option. Some people make bank with it. Working for an eikaiwa? It's usually worse than an ALT. You'll either have shite pay or shite hours.
Translations are good. I made some pretty good money with it. But it's hard to find steady work. Maybe if you're in the big city you can find it. I didn't like doing it though. After I started learning how to code I stopped the translation freelance work.
I started doing volunteer translation work right before I passed N2. After a few charity gigs to build my confidence and getting the N2 cert, I started taking on paid translation projects. It was fun at the time because my main goal in life was to get better at Japanese and get to N1 level and beyond. But not something I really care to do now.
I've met 2 guys at my company that did that. Both self taught programmers. There are moments where there are skill gaps, but if someone is able to put it in the work to self study CS, they're good enough to learn on the job imo. I did a somewhat different route. Studied CS in uni, studied abroad for a a year in Japan. Worked for 2 years, then did language school in Japan. Got N3, then got a job while I was in langauge school. Finding my first job with 2 years of experience was pretty hard, but Japan was also going through a hiring freeze during covid. It took me 6 months to get a job. 2 years later the company I worked for went bust and had offers within 2 months at much better companies. I had the N3 still (was too stressed to take the N2 at the time. Nailed it recently) The only thing I will say is, the current job market is really good for mid-senior level engineers. Lots of work. Junior position is really competitive. Huge influx of chinese/south asian/south-east asian students doing their bachelor's or masters in CS in Japan. A lot of them speak really Japanese well and have tech experience to back it up. The ones who speak english on top of Japanese are getting jobs fast too. All I'm saying is, your best bet in getting a job here is getting some experience in your home country and also having some japanese skills. My current job I don't need to speak Japanese at all, but being decent at Japanese and being able to take care of myself without anyone's help really does mentally make life living in japan WAAAY easier.
hello we are same age but i am already a software engineer here in the Philippines., but I am not that fluent in English, trying to learn nihonggo and english at the same time, I also want to have a job and work in japan.
I have a degree in education, but in this country, being a teacher is not respected in terms of salary. So, I started looking for other jobs, and now I’m just beginning to learn coding, which led me to you. Keep inspiring others, sir. I’ll look forward to each of your videos.
Great video! I’m actually studying HTML CSS & JS now while looking to apply for jobs. Did teaching and closed my school as it wasn’t for me anymore. Great content! 👍 L
I hate to be the online course sales guy but I'm doing an Apprentice program where I guarantee you'll have $500 in freelance web dev contracts by the end of the 3 months of working with me or your money back. But there's a 0% chance you wont have the $500 because I'll just send you projects directly from my own clients if you don't get your own.
Hey man, I've been learning Japanese for a month now. Also, I study CS. I was learning Japanese just for fun, but maybe it can be useful. Thank you for this video.
I have a cousin educated in Vietnam who has been coding for a company in Japan for years. The pay was meh, around $2-3k a month but for a Vietnamese citizen who doesn't speak a lick of Japanese or English, it is very good.
Thank you for this free information. Appreciate it!. Although Im n3 level, my japanese conversation s not that good. Currently full time working IT student working as a factory worker with ssw visa here in japan . 2 yrs from now, I hope to find a job in tokyo or intership
2 questions: 1. What's the median salary of a software developer in Japan? 2. How much of that salary in % stays in your pocket at the end of the month?
Very good questions. 1. Median is probably 5-6 million a year total comp. 2. I'm at the lowest end of software dev salaries so my tax rate is 10% . After tax and insurance I have around 81 - 82% of my gross salary deposited into my bank account. If you're in the 3.3 million to 6.9 million tax bracket you'll probably have around 70% in your bank at the end of the month. That's just my estimate. Next year I'll be in that bracket so I'll let you know.
Thanks for this helpful video! I've been studying coding for a couple of months now and am eager to break into the industry. I'm especially interested in finding entry-level coding opportunities in Japan, as I've spent time in Asia before and feel drawn to the culture and lifestyle. I’ve been working on projects in JavaScript, building websites, and improving my skills every day, hoping to eventually land a remote or in-country position. Your advice on how to navigate the job market in Japan is super motivating. Keep up the great work!
I agree with your opinion as a Japanese. I used to wanna be a techer, but working as a teacher is so bad in my country. Most schools force u to prepare for class without pay and basic slary is low af for working hours.
I had to google that to know what you're talking about lol but yeah I used to watch that show all the time with my dad when I was a kid so I guess it could have done some subliminal programming to me.
I applied in the jet programme this year for my entrance to japan. Also an IT graduate but bit behind on the tech side coz i graduated in 2019 the last programming software i use is visualbasic 2016. I hope you do some vlog about your journey and learning process sir.
I'm planning on it! Jet would be nice. I got put on their short list but they didn't give me a final response before I got an offer from Interac so I jsut took the Interac job.
Already got N1 recently, I guess the most challenging part for me is lack of degree and several years unemployed Though I do get 2.5 years of software engineer experience and have some small side projects Honestly just to think about it is is kinda scary for me as a super introvert even before I actually started trying to apply...
Honestly just forge a degree. Depending on the company, most places don't even verify where you got the degree. It also heavily depends on the country you apply from. If you are in 3rd world countries, it may be harder, but 1st world countries, i doubt the hiring companies even cross reference to see if your degree is real or not. They only ask for a photocopy of it anyways.
I just left the navy in January, my experience was similar to a Linux network administrator. I’ve got security+ and Google IT Support. I’ve got a spouse visa. I’m enrolled in a university (UMGC) in a CS major and business administration minor program. It just sucks that JLPT is only twice a year and that I need a degree :/
I think one think worth mentioning from my research is that coming over on a tourist visa will not be as helpful because you have to leave the country and apply for the work visa from abroad. Everything else you said sounds viable, thanks for making this!
I stayed at a share house and made some friends in Japan. They said it was v easy to get a job for IT in Japan, even knowing very little Japanese. I just don't want to forgo my comfy US dev salary 😭
If you save up at least $100,000 USD and move to Japan you can just buy an old house for the price of a luxury car and live comfortably for the rest of your days even on an average Japanese tech salary.
If you buy an old house you likely need to do a major renovation. As a Japanese person I know in my country there are a lot of old abandoned houses but the insulation of the house is bad , the quality is bad, it's not earthquake safe, there are a bunch of reasons why we don't buy an old house. People should think about the reason why the locals don't do it. Also, people say even though our salary is lower compared to western countries but the cost of living is much lower too so it doesn't matter (or even better). Don't trust it too much because the cost of many essential items is the same as other countries such as the clothing, shoes, a smartphone, hair cut, electronic appliances, cars etc. So you will relatively need to pay a lot more for those things.
depends on what country you are in. If u are in the USA in my opinion its not worth I. USA has all the top tech companies and has the most pay in tech by far.
There are some internships in Japan that accept people from outside of Japan. Why not try applying? If you're interested in coming to Japan just try it. hennge global internship program is one of the most well known.
People looking into this probably have large job gaps like me, in the west you need a job to get a job due to unemployment bias, so my question would be if the Japanese are the same or are they desperate for workers enough to put up with it.
If you can speak Japanese companies that need skilled workers don't really care about much other than: 1. If you can get the work done 2. If you get along well with the other team members Me and so many other people are out here getting hired with very low skills. I'm one year into this job and probably still wouldn't be able to get hired in the USA. At the 9 month mark of having full-time work experience I got 20+ interviews with Japanese companies. But at the same time absolutley ZERO responses from USA based companies..nothing other than automated rejection emails.
Can you make a video about what to learn to get a high paying it job in japan ik it's depends on the work but can you atleast give a basic path to coding language to learn first etc much appreciated and lovin' your content ❤ (am also learning Japanese by the time i get a job will probably passed n3 Japanese)
You can start web development learning. You can find roadmap videos. For frontend there is, coding addict. For the rest there is udemy, courses by Maximilian are great. Let me know if you need help
@@WebDevJapan can you please include these below details in the video as well? 1. How did you go about your freelance journey? Which site? 2. What are the your most favourite technologies you work on? 3. What technologies make up most of your earning? And to what level do you need to be good at them? 4. What level of JLPT should I achieve before moving? So that I can have a good enough transition in terms of living in Japan, even if the company doesn't require that I know Japanese I'd love to freelance and live in Japan someday. I have 2.5 years experience in web development. I have yet to learn Japanese. Thank you.
What's the comps look like? I heard that while jobs are plenty perhaps, the compensations are must less than what one might expect compared to US market for example.
Yes, it's low..especially if you convert to USD because the exchange rate is bad. But the rent for the 2-story house I live in with a family of four is roughly 15% of my net monthly salary that get's deposited into my bank account every month.
You motivate me again to learn japanese and coding. Omg, i really want to go to japan so bad and get a web dev job, currently I got burnout because thinking that i can't never go there, because i have to work here doing something i dont like 9 to 5, while have to learn new things and beside that i want to switch career and must learn japanese and coding, because live in my country is suck, but i only have associate degree in electronic engineering, and doing self taught for learning code, i will take N5 test this year at december, hoping it as a first step to my new journey. Regarding your mentoring program, is it really free for the first time? i really need guide and direction to make sure i go to the right path, but im not sure i can pay much for it, because salary here is not good, but maybe i can pay some ammount of money for you
Hey! Yeah the first call is free. You can sign up anytime. I was in the same situation. I was teaching English 50 hours a week as the head teacher of an English school and was in the middle of a divorce. But I still found time to study programming in order to pull myself out of that horrible situation.
I am in Japan with a job hunting visa because I graduated with a CS degree in a top university, but finding a job without relevant 3y+ experience and JLPT N5 is difficult for me. Maybe the whole job hunting isn't for me, can't land an interview.
I have a paid program where I help you land a job. It sounds like you should be able to get a job if you make the right preparations. But yeah, having at least N3 would make it a lot easier.
Hey! I don't see a lot of openings for it. Maybe I just don't know where to look...Someone has asked me this before and I couldn't find anything then either.
Hi, I'm currently living in Japan and obtained my bachelor's degree in 2017. I am engaged in self-study and focusing on the react part of web development. Do you think I have a chance to land a job? My Japanese language proficiency is at N3 level.
I have a quick question. What about overworking conditions? I have heard stories about people overworking and expecting you to work for long hours etc. Does that apply here as well?
Yeah some companies are like that. There isn't any overtime where I work. It's been just over a year and I never really worked overtime. It's a flex schedule so there was maybe like one or two hours in the whole year where I stayed an hour late but then I left an hour early the next day. Some people in the company choose to stay overtime and get paid more. But not me. I've got my own things to do. Just check the job description in full and the contract before you sign it.
That depends on which country you're from. Some companies, like Interac, are shifting to "native level" instructors because less people from countries like the USA are willing to come over here for such a low salary. Especially now with the exchange rate. Does your country have a 90 day travel visa agreement with Japan? I met a guy who was not a native speaker and was from Europe. I can't remember which country...France or Italy maybe. He came over on a travel visa and went into every English conversation school in Tokyo he could find, asking to meet the manager/owner and handing out his resume. He did get a job and stayed for years.
Thank you for the videos man. I'm starting university for a bachelor's in SWE this November, and I want to move to Japan after a few years of experience here in the US. I don't want to move without being able to communicate, so I was wondering if reaching N2 within 2 years by studying for a few hours each day sounds reasonable.
Nice! Yeah I've seen a guy have N1 by the time he graduated university. If you stay consistent you can do it. I took sooo long because in the early stages I would go for weeks or even a month without any real study and then it's almost like starting over every time you sit down with the textbook. Hit me up when you're getting ready to start the job search.
@@WebDevJapan btw i'm planing to get a cs degree for 4 years of studying at china, plus learn the front end and then apply for work at japan for a front end dev like you . tell me your opinion about it and thank you.
I'm currently a second year on a CS major. I was wondering if interns / work experience at either big corps or startups would look better for my resume in order to find a job in Japan. Does it make a difference? Also, is it possible to find a job as a fresh graduate with around N3 Japanese or should I have more experience in my home country?
Internships and any other kind of work experience will be a huge help. The guy I interviewed in my previous video got a job with no degree, no work experience, and N3. But he was already in Japan. That is the biggest part, just already being here.
Thanks for the video. I'm a self-taught Unity/Unreal gamedev with almost unrelated diploma, but around 3 years of work experience. My Japanese is a bit rusty, but I once had N2 back when there still were only 4 levels, I've worked at a local Toyota plant as a translator/interpreter for 1.5 years and been to Japan several times as business trips. Do you think it'll be possible for me to land a gamedev job?
I just search game dev in Japan for the first time. The jobs are there. Finding one that will bring you over to Japan from overseas might not be easy. But if you were already over here on some type of visa you could probably get one, assuming you polish up your Japanese. www.daijob.com/en/jobs/search_result?jt[]=312&job_types[]=312
Yes, but you probably won't be able to get over here initially as a game dev. The government will want either a degree in it, 10 years of work experience, or 2 professional certifications that they consider to be trustworthy.
I'm currently 17 and want to move to japan and also have plans of pursuing a software engineer major. I am doing dual enrollment (high school and college student). I have so much more research to do and I've also been very busy! After college and university I really want to work as a programmer in japan. Do you have any personal tips for me? Thank you!!!
That's amazing that you're getting started so young! If I could go back in time to when I was 17, I would be making preparations to do a CS degree at Temple University Japan campus: www.tuj.ac.jp/ug/majors/computer-science Can you schedule a meeting with me in my Calendly? The link is on my channel and description of this video. The meetings are to get people in my paid mentoring program but I don't care about that. I just want to talk with you.
is it actually worth it to move to Japan to work in tech? my parents are Japanese but I moved out of Japan as a kid, I work as a dev making pretty good money where I'm at and so far most of the tech jobs for mid-senior level that I see in Japan pay peanuts... on top of that isn't the WLB god awful? I'm currently full remote at mine, wondering if I should make the move because my family's in Japan and I'd love to see them more often if possible. Any advice for me?
If you're coming from the US, you can't look at the salary amounts in USD as identical to how they are here in the states. $60,000 USD equivalent in JPY is a LOT more than $60,000 USD is in the US, because everything we pay for here is exorbitantly more expensive than it is in Japan. Sure the engineering jobs will pay "more" here in the US, but when almost everything like food is at least 3x more expensive here, you're not really getting paid that much more in context are you?
@@NickInRealLife Yeah but that's assuming you're getting offers from both places with the exact same pay. If the jobs in Japan offered to match my pay of 400k USD TC I would immediately get up and move but the fact is that they don't and they wouldn't, SWE range for Tokyo seems to be around 10-16m for senior roles correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't matter if food costs are 3-4x cheaper, I'm not going to spend a majority of my salary on food.
If staying in Japan long term is your goal, you won't have a problem. I'd say save up as much as you can while you have a good paying job and then make the move. I've seen rare cases (rare because everyone is sleeping on this opportunity) where people have like $100,000 USD saved up as their retirement and move to Japan to buy an old house to renovate and live out their remaining days in. If you had a dev salary on that to continue working I think you'll live a very good life in Japan. If you have savings or other streams of income and are not desperate for a job, you can wait until you get one with the proper benefits and WLB you need. They do exist even in Japan. The company I work for is perfect in terms of everything but salary. Fully remote, no overtime, low stress, awesome CEO and tech lead, no dress code, flex time, and the list goes on. Just the salary is low but I can't really complain since they gave me a job when I had no experience and low skills. If you're just going to stay in Japan for only a few years and then go back to somewhere like the USA it would probably be a bad idea, financially.
exactly. The rent for the 2-story house I live in an hour south of Osaka is less than $300 in USD (42,000 yen). To live in a place like that an hour outside of downtown Houston (my hometown) and with an equally low crime rate as to what I experience here in Japan, I'd have to pay like I don't even know...over $1500 a month for sure. But actually there's no place in the USA with an equally low crime rate unless maybe it's a gated community. But you still have to go outside of there to go shopping and what not.
Hello, thanks for the video. This is really dev oriented, I work in cybersecurity in Incident & Detection Response, is the job market open in this field ?
Some people are asking me about this but I really don't know much. I do know one guy who worked at the same English teaching company as me and he did get into Cyber Sec. He's a few years into it now. I think anything IT related will have a lot of openings.
Even if I were to pursue option #2 to teach English, I would still need some type of degree? Currently don’t have a degree, just wanted to know if it were possible without one?
Last time I checked that company I mentioned, Interac, did require a 4 year degree in anything. I had a degree in economics when they gave me my first work visa to move over here and teach English. But I've seen people get jobs without it. I met a guy from... I think it was France, who isn't even a native speaker of English and only had a 2 year degree and got hired at a private English conversation school. His approach was just coming over here on a 3 month travel visa and dropping in to schools in person and handing out his resume. I saw some other people do the same.
i have been fortunate at the same time unlucky. i have been working for japanese company remotely and they want me to come to japan but when they are processing the visa, they need a college degree or 10 year working experience or have 2 specific certificate that is held twice a year (one certificate per exam ~ 1 year to get). i don't even have at least one of those choices. any advice?
I have been a full stack software engineer, React, Node JS, with experience using AWS services for 3 years now but no university degree, do I have a chance of getting hired in the future?
That's like exactly what the company I work for is looking for! Japan requires a university degree, 10 years of work experience, or a mix of experience and professional certifications to get your initial work visa. If you get some AWS certifications you'll be good to go. A lot of smaller companies (like the one I'm at) use AWS for the backend on ALL of their projects.
I'm about to make a video on the other ways to get over here. You have a few visa options. 1. Business manager (will require you to invest approx. $30,000 into a business in Japan and can be your own business) 2. Digital Nomad (show proof of making 10 million yen a year, which is like what $70,000 right now - but only lasts for 6 months) 3. Spouse of a Japanese national (marry a Japanese person and have unlimited working and business freedom, just the same as a Japanese person would) If you have the money for a business manager visa lets start a business together. I'll run it while you do your remote job.
How would experience in usa rank up in helping you finding a job as a swe in Japan? I'm only an undergraduate student studying Computer science. I'll be doing my third internship at MSFT next year. I would love to work In Japan.
So, I have exactly one year of work experience as a full-time dev at a tech company in Japan. I got 20+ interviews from Japanese companies recently when I was checking what my options are. And ZERO response from USA companies. I probably would not get hired if I moved back to the USA. Maybe after 2-3 years of experience I could.
@@WebDevJapan Interesting! How is the work life balance in Japan? Is it mostly company dependent, or would you say even swe like yourself can expect to work very long hours?
@WebDevJapan not yet will watch today. Do you still think there are jobs for us beginners?? Alot of layoffs happening. And. Now there hiring only really experienced devs??
I'm trying to learn Japanese, is it possible to get a job without a cs degree and low experience, I only have ie degree. I'm planning to apply in a year or two. What do you think? Thanks.
It's free. I'm going to tell you about my paid mentoring program but even if you don't want to join I'm still going to suggest the next steps you should take in your coding journey.
japan is a really burocratic country. even if a company wants to hire you.... inmigration will ask for a college degree to them.... if you have money, you could study a technical degree directly in japan. and learn the lenguage while doing it you know how to program already so it will be easy.
If you have 10 years of work experience they will give you a work visa without a degree. But those strict guidelines are only for your initial entry into Japan. They've been very lenient with me at times, even when I was unemployed for some time and collecting umemployment benefits.
Hey Ankit, I have booked for the 14th Oct 2024 webinar with you. However, the payment went twice. Firstly, when I made the payment the error message came as "the transaction is unsuccessful. your account would be credited in 3-4 business days." Now, what I see is the payment has been debited from my account TWICE. Please help !!
Why would you lose your citizenship? I've been working in Japan for 8 years on a miz of work visas and spouse visas. But you can do it all with yearly work visas. I'll never give up my USA citizenship in exchange for Japanese.
I see plenty of job posts, so I guess it's good. At smaller companies, like where I work, there isn't a dedicated UI/UX person. I guess those jobs are at bigger companies.
10 years is what they require to get the initial visa. Either that or some kind of training course / certifications. There are English teachers here with no CS degree and no work experience but they join a coding bootcamp that is certified by the government and then they are able to work in the tech industry and eventually change their visa over from teacher to engineer.
To get your first visa and entry into Japan, they suggest having 10 years of working experience in that industry if you don't have a degree. There are other less common ways of getting in. That will be in another video.
Bro im your regular viewers. please answer my question, I am 2024 graduated in CS I have basic knowledge about LINUX,C,C++,PYTHON,JAVA,JAVASCRIPT and I have completed N5-level. please suggest me as a mentor, what would I do now ? will I continue my N4-level or should I boost my Technical skills ? please answer me in details bro :) Lots of love :)
DO both if you can. Try to get to N3 and maybe choose one of those languages and get really good at it. Become an expert in one of them. Oh, and thanks for watching regularly 😀
Yes, but smaller companies won't have it. At small - medium sized companies and startups you'll be expected to have one things you're really good at but also be able to do a bunch of other things.
Not at the company I work for. It's fully remote, flex time, no dress code, no overtime, super chill. The only downside is the total comp is just barely higher than top tier English teaching jobs over here. But I can't really complain because they gave me my first job and trained me.
I don't have a degree, Knows Laravel and PHP have been doing for a couple of years only freelance not fulltime jobs will or is it possible? I wanna move to JAPAN ??
I have a master's degree in Computer Science(Completed in the UK but an Indian citizen) and over 4 years of experience as a Software Developer Engineer, can I connect with you on LinkedIn?
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
I know some English teachers transition to eikaiwa or translations too, what is your opinions on those?
Owning your own eikaiwa? Yeah, it's an option. Some people make bank with it. Working for an eikaiwa? It's usually worse than an ALT. You'll either have shite pay or shite hours.
Translations are good. I made some pretty good money with it. But it's hard to find steady work. Maybe if you're in the big city you can find it. I didn't like doing it though. After I started learning how to code I stopped the translation freelance work.
@@WebDevJapan You'd need N1 or at least N2 for that I presume? Or could you wing it via CGPT? 😏
I started doing volunteer translation work right before I passed N2. After a few charity gigs to build my confidence and getting the N2 cert, I started taking on paid translation projects. It was fun at the time because my main goal in life was to get better at Japanese and get to N1 level and beyond. But not something I really care to do now.
@@WebDevJapan That's great thinking - Kimi wa atama ga ii ne!? Thank you for the reply 👍
Who will be the next victim of Japan's English teaching industry saved by learning how to code?
I've met 2 guys at my company that did that. Both self taught programmers. There are moments where there are skill gaps, but if someone is able to put it in the work to self study CS, they're good enough to learn on the job imo.
I did a somewhat different route. Studied CS in uni, studied abroad for a a year in Japan. Worked for 2 years, then did language school in Japan. Got N3, then got a job while I was in langauge school. Finding my first job with 2 years of experience was pretty hard, but Japan was also going through a hiring freeze during covid. It took me 6 months to get a job. 2 years later the company I worked for went bust and had offers within 2 months at much better companies. I had the N3 still (was too stressed to take the N2 at the time. Nailed it recently)
The only thing I will say is, the current job market is really good for mid-senior level engineers. Lots of work. Junior position is really competitive. Huge influx of chinese/south asian/south-east asian students doing their bachelor's or masters in CS in Japan. A lot of them speak really Japanese well and have tech experience to back it up. The ones who speak english on top of Japanese are getting jobs fast too.
All I'm saying is, your best bet in getting a job here is getting some experience in your home country and also having some japanese skills. My current job I don't need to speak Japanese at all, but being decent at Japanese and being able to take care of myself without anyone's help really does mentally make life living in japan WAAAY easier.
I think I just had a call with them last week
New to the channel - it's a gold mine so far! Thank you for the insights and for all the advice. As a 38 year old looking to career change with
Glad to hear that! You can connect with other people who are going in the same direction in my Discord.
@@WebDevJapan Cracking. I will have a gander, thank you 🙌
hello we are same age but i am already a software engineer here in the Philippines., but I am not that fluent in English, trying to learn nihonggo and english at the same time, I also want to have a job and work in japan.
What is N5?
@@kirill4531 Google JLPT
I have a degree in education, but in this country, being a teacher is not respected in terms of salary. So, I started looking for other jobs, and now I’m just beginning to learn coding, which led me to you.
Keep inspiring others, sir. I’ll look forward to each of your videos.
Congratulations on getting started with changing your life!
Zach, the videos are popping off!
I think it's because they are refreshing and authentic and you know what you're talking about.
Cheers :-)
Awesome! Thank you! Freemote bootcamp review coming soon!
Great video! I’m actually studying HTML CSS & JS now while looking to apply for jobs. Did teaching and closed my school as it wasn’t for me anymore. Great content! 👍 L
I hate to be the online course sales guy but I'm doing an Apprentice program where I guarantee you'll have $500 in freelance web dev contracts by the end of the 3 months of working with me or your money back. But there's a 0% chance you wont have the $500 because I'll just send you projects directly from my own clients if you don't get your own.
Hey man, I've been learning Japanese for a month now. Also, I study CS. I was learning Japanese just for fun, but maybe it can be useful. Thank you for this video.
Yeah! With Japnese language ability and tech skills you'll have some good opportunities!
@@WebDevJapan still 2 years until graduation. hope ill have the money for it after uni lol
I have a cousin educated in Vietnam who has been coding for a company in Japan for years. The pay was meh, around $2-3k a month but for a Vietnamese citizen who doesn't speak a lick of Japanese or English, it is very good.
How did your cousin get a job in Japan without English AND without Japanese?
@@WebDevJapan Unsure about specifics but I guess knowing coding language was enough. It was a Japanese Vietnam hiring program.
Thank you for this free information. Appreciate it!. Although Im n3 level, my japanese conversation s not that good. Currently full time working IT student working as a factory worker with ssw visa here in japan . 2 yrs from now, I hope to find a job in tokyo or intership
Are you currently an IT student? Or did you already complete an IT degree?
2 questions:
1. What's the median salary of a software developer in Japan?
2. How much of that salary in % stays in your pocket at the end of the month?
Very good questions.
1. Median is probably 5-6 million a year total comp.
2. I'm at the lowest end of software dev salaries so my tax rate is 10% . After tax and insurance I have around 81 - 82% of my gross salary deposited into my bank account. If you're in the 3.3 million to 6.9 million tax bracket you'll probably have around 70% in your bank at the end of the month. That's just my estimate. Next year I'll be in that bracket so I'll let you know.
@@WebDevJapandollars bro, we don't all know the exchange rate of Yen
@@xgtwb6473 If you can't convert that yourself, you are done for. Stop being lazy
@@xgtwb6473 Google "6 million yen to USD" hope this helps.
@@xgtwb6473 that changes daily
When I first came to Japan that would have been almost $60,000
Now its a litle under $40,000 probably
Thanks for this helpful video! I've been studying coding for a couple of months now and am eager to break into the industry. I'm especially interested in finding entry-level coding opportunities in Japan, as I've spent time in Asia before and feel drawn to the culture and lifestyle. I’ve been working on projects in JavaScript, building websites, and improving my skills every day, hoping to eventually land a remote or in-country position. Your advice on how to navigate the job market in Japan is super motivating. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! I'll be making some more in-depth videos about the job search.
really informative !!
Arigatou Ogazaimasu
dou itashimashite
I agree with your opinion as a Japanese. I used to wanna be a techer, but working as a teacher is so bad in my country. Most schools force u to prepare for class without pay and basic slary is low af for working hours.
Yeah, it's a similar situation in the USA also
Couldn't help but noticing you got that vibe like the X Files' Lone Gunmen.
I had to google that to know what you're talking about lol but yeah I used to watch that show all the time with my dad when I was a kid so I guess it could have done some subliminal programming to me.
I applied in the jet programme this year for my entrance to japan. Also an IT graduate but bit behind on the tech side coz i graduated in 2019 the last programming software i use is visualbasic 2016. I hope you do some vlog about your journey and learning process sir.
I'm planning on it! Jet would be nice. I got put on their short list but they didn't give me a final response before I got an offer from Interac so I jsut took the Interac job.
@@WebDevJapan if i fail that's my 2nd option but bit too expensive for me gonna borrow some money lol. Also do some alt or interact experince too
Already got N1 recently, I guess the most challenging part for me is lack of degree and several years unemployed
Though I do get 2.5 years of software engineer experience and have some small side projects
Honestly just to think about it is is kinda scary for me as a super introvert even before I actually started trying to apply...
Congrats on N1! Very few make it that far. So, you're unemployed right now?
Yeah I was in a serious burnout and resigned
Ur story sounds like mine but I’m just learning Japanese. Good luck! The problem with work tho is that it’s really hard to find honest meaningful work
Honestly just forge a degree. Depending on the company, most places don't even verify where you got the degree. It also heavily depends on the country you apply from. If you are in 3rd world countries, it may be harder, but 1st world countries, i doubt the hiring companies even cross reference to see if your degree is real or not. They only ask for a photocopy of it anyways.
@@Mike-lu1pt Can't help but agree. The previous job was a bunch of cancelled projects or weird goals from upper management decisions.
I just left the navy in January, my experience was similar to a Linux network administrator. I’ve got security+ and Google IT Support. I’ve got a spouse visa. I’m enrolled in a university (UMGC) in a CS major and business administration minor program. It just sucks that JLPT is only twice a year and that I need a degree :/
Also there’s usajobs.gov for civilian jobs on military bases
Wait, so you're in Japan? If you're in Japan and have a spouse visa all you need are the tech skills and be able to speak Japanese in the interview.
I think one think worth mentioning from my research is that coming over on a tourist visa will not be as helpful because you have to leave the country and apply for the work visa from abroad. Everything else you said sounds viable, thanks for making this!
Good point! Thanks
Some countries can get the 6 month tourist visa so that may help some people.
Oh yeah I should have mentioned that. And the lucky ones who get a one year working holiday visa!
I stayed at a share house and made some friends in Japan. They said it was v easy to get a job for IT in Japan, even knowing very little Japanese. I just don't want to forgo my comfy US dev salary 😭
If you save up at least $100,000 USD and move to Japan you can just buy an old house for the price of a luxury car and live comfortably for the rest of your days even on an average Japanese tech salary.
If you buy an old house you likely need to do a major renovation. As a Japanese person I know in my country there are a lot of old abandoned houses but the insulation of the house is bad , the quality is bad, it's not earthquake safe, there are a bunch of reasons why we don't buy an old house. People should think about the reason why the locals don't do it. Also, people say even though our salary is lower compared to western countries but the cost of living is much lower too so it doesn't matter (or even better). Don't trust it too much because the cost of many essential items is the same as other countries such as the clothing, shoes, a smartphone, hair cut, electronic appliances, cars etc. So you will relatively need to pay a lot more for those things.
Currently in first year of Comp Sci and learning n1 Japanese is it worth applying for internships in Japan or just in my home country?
depends on what country you are in. If u are in the USA in my opinion its not worth I. USA has all the top tech companies and has the most pay in tech by far.
There are some internships in Japan that accept people from outside of Japan. Why not try applying? If you're interested in coming to Japan just try it. hennge global internship program is one of the most well known.
People looking into this probably have large job gaps like me, in the west you need a job to get a job due to unemployment bias, so my question would be if the Japanese are the same or are they desperate for workers enough to put up with it.
If you can speak Japanese companies that need skilled workers don't really care about much other than:
1. If you can get the work done
2. If you get along well with the other team members
Me and so many other people are out here getting hired with very low skills. I'm one year into this job and probably still wouldn't be able to get hired in the USA. At the 9 month mark of having full-time work experience I got 20+ interviews with Japanese companies. But at the same time absolutley ZERO responses from USA based companies..nothing other than automated rejection emails.
How good of Japanese would you say is needed for a CS job in Japan?
Can you make a video about what to learn to get a high paying it job in japan ik it's depends on the work but can you atleast give a basic path to coding language to learn first etc much appreciated and lovin' your content ❤ (am also learning Japanese by the time i get a job will probably passed n3 Japanese)
You can start web development learning. You can find roadmap videos. For frontend there is, coding addict. For the rest there is udemy, courses by Maximilian are great. Let me know if you need help
Yes! I had a thumbnail made for the video but haven't made the video yet.
@@WebDevJapan can you please include these below details in the video as well?
1. How did you go about your freelance journey? Which site?
2. What are the your most favourite technologies you work on?
3. What technologies make up most of your earning? And to what level do you need to be good at them?
4. What level of JLPT should I achieve before moving? So that I can have a good enough transition in terms of living in Japan, even if the company doesn't require that I know Japanese
I'd love to freelance and live in Japan someday. I have 2.5 years experience in web development. I have yet to learn Japanese. Thank you.
@@WebDevJapan much appreciat can't wait for the video ✌️
What's the comps look like?
I heard that while jobs are plenty perhaps, the compensations are must less than what one might expect compared to US market for example.
Yes, it's low..especially if you convert to USD because the exchange rate is bad. But the rent for the 2-story house I live in with a family of four is roughly 15% of my net monthly salary that get's deposited into my bank account every month.
You motivate me again to learn japanese and coding. Omg, i really want to go to japan so bad and get a web dev job, currently I got burnout because thinking that i can't never go there, because i have to work here doing something i dont like 9 to 5, while have to learn new things and beside that i want to switch career and must learn japanese and coding, because live in my country is suck, but i only have associate degree in electronic engineering, and doing self taught for learning code, i will take N5 test this year at december, hoping it as a first step to my new journey. Regarding your mentoring program, is it really free for the first time? i really need guide and direction to make sure i go to the right path, but im not sure i can pay much for it, because salary here is not good, but maybe i can pay some ammount of money for you
Hey! Yeah the first call is free. You can sign up anytime. I was in the same situation. I was teaching English 50 hours a week as the head teacher of an English school and was in the middle of a divorce. But I still found time to study programming in order to pull myself out of that horrible situation.
I am in Japan with a job hunting visa because I graduated with a CS degree in a top university, but finding a job without relevant 3y+ experience and JLPT N5 is difficult for me. Maybe the whole job hunting isn't for me, can't land an interview.
I have a paid program where I help you land a job. It sounds like you should be able to get a job if you make the right preparations. But yeah, having at least N3 would make it a lot easier.
Hello Zach, thanks for the useful content. How is the demand for embedded software development in Japan? Thanks.
Hey! I don't see a lot of openings for it. Maybe I just don't know where to look...Someone has asked me this before and I couldn't find anything then either.
Hi, I'm currently living in Japan and obtained my bachelor's degree in 2017. I am engaged in self-study and focusing on the react part of web development. Do you think I have a chance to land a job? My Japanese language proficiency is at N3 level.
Yes. I didn't have an IT degree and I got hired. What exactly did you study in your IT degree?
Hi. I’m also from japan working in tech industry.
Nice! How many years of experience?
@@WebDevJapan it’s been 3years.
I have a quick question.
What about overworking conditions?
I have heard stories about people overworking and expecting you to work for long hours etc.
Does that apply here as well?
Yeah some companies are like that. There isn't any overtime where I work. It's been just over a year and I never really worked overtime. It's a flex schedule so there was maybe like one or two hours in the whole year where I stayed an hour late but then I left an hour early the next day. Some people in the company choose to stay overtime and get paid more. But not me. I've got my own things to do. Just check the job description in full and the contract before you sign it.
@@WebDevJapan Ah awesome!. Thank you very much for the insight!
I'm English fluent since I was 13, but they'll never hire me as an English teacher because I'm not " native ".
That depends on which country you're from. Some companies, like Interac, are shifting to "native level" instructors because less people from countries like the USA are willing to come over here for such a low salary. Especially now with the exchange rate.
Does your country have a 90 day travel visa agreement with Japan? I met a guy who was not a native speaker and was from Europe. I can't remember which country...France or Italy maybe. He came over on a travel visa and went into every English conversation school in Tokyo he could find, asking to meet the manager/owner and handing out his resume. He did get a job and stayed for years.
Thank you for the videos man. I'm starting university for a bachelor's in SWE this November, and I want to move to Japan after a few years of experience here in the US. I don't want to move without being able to communicate, so I was wondering if reaching N2 within 2 years by studying for a few hours each day sounds reasonable.
try watching 'learning japanese isn't actually that hard' by Trenton《トレントン》
Nice! Yeah I've seen a guy have N1 by the time he graduated university. If you stay consistent you can do it. I took sooo long because in the early stages I would go for weeks or even a month without any real study and then it's almost like starting over every time you sit down with the textbook. Hit me up when you're getting ready to start the job search.
I just watched the video. He basically described everything I did to get to JLPT N1
Does age play a big role when trying to find a software engineer role? Do japanese companies cherish older people more than younger people?
There is ageism...some companies might not hire you if you're older but others don't care. I think Japan in general cares more about age than the USA.
hey i would like to ask you about, which programming language do you use at your job tasks ?
Everything is in TypeScript. For an entire year at my job that's the only language I've used.
don't you also use react ?
@@haverrts Yes. The tech stack is React, TypeScript, Next.js, and AWS
AWS is for backend and deployment.
@@WebDevJapan btw i'm planing to get a cs degree for 4 years of studying at china, plus learn the front end and then apply for work at japan for a front end dev like you .
tell me your opinion about it and thank you.
@@haverrts sounds good! Please study a lot of Japanese language.
I'm currently a second year on a CS major. I was wondering if interns / work experience at either big corps or startups would look better for my resume in order to find a job in Japan. Does it make a difference? Also, is it possible to find a job as a fresh graduate with around N3 Japanese or should I have more experience in my home country?
Internships and any other kind of work experience will be a huge help. The guy I interviewed in my previous video got a job with no degree, no work experience, and N3. But he was already in Japan. That is the biggest part, just already being here.
Thanks for the video. I'm a self-taught Unity/Unreal gamedev with almost unrelated diploma, but around 3 years of work experience. My Japanese is a bit rusty, but I once had N2 back when there still were only 4 levels, I've worked at a local Toyota plant as a translator/interpreter for 1.5 years and been to Japan several times as business trips. Do you think it'll be possible for me to land a gamedev job?
I just search game dev in Japan for the first time. The jobs are there. Finding one that will bring you over to Japan from overseas might not be easy. But if you were already over here on some type of visa you could probably get one, assuming you polish up your Japanese.
www.daijob.com/en/jobs/search_result?jt[]=312&job_types[]=312
Yes, but you probably won't be able to get over here initially as a game dev. The government will want either a degree in it, 10 years of work experience, or 2 professional certifications that they consider to be trustworthy.
I'm currently 17 and want to move to japan and also have plans of pursuing a software engineer major. I am doing dual enrollment (high school and college student). I have so much more research to do and I've also been very busy! After college and university I really want to work as a programmer in japan. Do you have any personal tips for me? Thank you!!!
That's amazing that you're getting started so young! If I could go back in time to when I was 17, I would be making preparations to do a CS degree at Temple University Japan campus: www.tuj.ac.jp/ug/majors/computer-science
Can you schedule a meeting with me in my Calendly? The link is on my channel and description of this video. The meetings are to get people in my paid mentoring program but I don't care about that. I just want to talk with you.
is it actually worth it to move to Japan to work in tech? my parents are Japanese but I moved out of Japan as a kid, I work as a dev making pretty good money where I'm at and so far most of the tech jobs for mid-senior level that I see in Japan pay peanuts... on top of that isn't the WLB god awful? I'm currently full remote at mine, wondering if I should make the move because my family's in Japan and I'd love to see them more often if possible. Any advice for me?
I was wondering the same thing
If you're coming from the US, you can't look at the salary amounts in USD as identical to how they are here in the states. $60,000 USD equivalent in JPY is a LOT more than $60,000 USD is in the US, because everything we pay for here is exorbitantly more expensive than it is in Japan. Sure the engineering jobs will pay "more" here in the US, but when almost everything like food is at least 3x more expensive here, you're not really getting paid that much more in context are you?
@@NickInRealLife Yeah but that's assuming you're getting offers from both places with the exact same pay. If the jobs in Japan offered to match my pay of 400k USD TC I would immediately get up and move but the fact is that they don't and they wouldn't, SWE range for Tokyo seems to be around 10-16m for senior roles correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't matter if food costs are 3-4x cheaper, I'm not going to spend a majority of my salary on food.
If staying in Japan long term is your goal, you won't have a problem. I'd say save up as much as you can while you have a good paying job and then make the move. I've seen rare cases (rare because everyone is sleeping on this opportunity) where people have like $100,000 USD saved up as their retirement and move to Japan to buy an old house to renovate and live out their remaining days in. If you had a dev salary on that to continue working I think you'll live a very good life in Japan. If you have savings or other streams of income and are not desperate for a job, you can wait until you get one with the proper benefits and WLB you need. They do exist even in Japan. The company I work for is perfect in terms of everything but salary. Fully remote, no overtime, low stress, awesome CEO and tech lead, no dress code, flex time, and the list goes on. Just the salary is low but I can't really complain since they gave me a job when I had no experience and low skills.
If you're just going to stay in Japan for only a few years and then go back to somewhere like the USA it would probably be a bad idea, financially.
exactly. The rent for the 2-story house I live in an hour south of Osaka is less than $300 in USD (42,000 yen). To live in a place like that an hour outside of downtown Houston (my hometown) and with an equally low crime rate as to what I experience here in Japan, I'd have to pay like I don't even know...over $1500 a month for sure. But actually there's no place in the USA with an equally low crime rate unless maybe it's a gated community. But you still have to go outside of there to go shopping and what not.
Hello, thanks for the video. This is really dev oriented, I work in cybersecurity in Incident & Detection Response, is the job market open in this field ?
Some people are asking me about this but I really don't know much. I do know one guy who worked at the same English teaching company as me and he did get into Cyber Sec. He's a few years into it now. I think anything IT related will have a lot of openings.
@@WebDevJapan Thank you for your answer !
Even if I were to pursue option #2 to teach English, I would still need some type of degree? Currently don’t have a degree, just wanted to know if it were possible without one?
Last time I checked that company I mentioned, Interac, did require a 4 year degree in anything. I had a degree in economics when they gave me my first work visa to move over here and teach English. But I've seen people get jobs without it. I met a guy from... I think it was France, who isn't even a native speaker of English and only had a 2 year degree and got hired at a private English conversation school. His approach was just coming over here on a 3 month travel visa and dropping in to schools in person and handing out his resume. I saw some other people do the same.
i have been fortunate at the same time unlucky. i have been working for japanese company remotely and they want me to come to japan but when they are processing the visa, they need a college degree or 10 year working experience or have 2 specific certificate that is held twice a year (one certificate per exam ~ 1 year to get). i don't even have at least one of those choices.
any advice?
what are those certs?
@@WebDevJapan PhilNITS cert
I have been a full stack software engineer, React, Node JS, with experience using AWS services for 3 years now but no university degree, do I have a chance of getting hired in the future?
That's like exactly what the company I work for is looking for! Japan requires a university degree, 10 years of work experience, or a mix of experience and professional certifications to get your initial work visa. If you get some AWS certifications you'll be good to go. A lot of smaller companies (like the one I'm at) use AWS for the backend on ALL of their projects.
How easy is it to work a remote US based job and live in Japan?
I'm about to make a video on the other ways to get over here. You have a few visa options. 1. Business manager (will require you to invest approx. $30,000 into a business in Japan and can be your own business) 2. Digital Nomad (show proof of making 10 million yen a year, which is like what $70,000 right now - but only lasts for 6 months) 3. Spouse of a Japanese national (marry a Japanese person and have unlimited working and business freedom, just the same as a Japanese person would)
If you have the money for a business manager visa lets start a business together. I'll run it while you do your remote job.
How would experience in usa rank up in helping you finding a job as a swe in Japan? I'm only an undergraduate student studying Computer science. I'll be doing my third internship at MSFT next year. I would love to work In Japan.
So, I have exactly one year of work experience as a full-time dev at a tech company in Japan. I got 20+ interviews from Japanese companies recently when I was checking what my options are. And ZERO response from USA companies. I probably would not get hired if I moved back to the USA. Maybe after 2-3 years of experience I could.
@@WebDevJapan Interesting! How is the work life balance in Japan? Is it mostly company dependent, or would you say even swe like yourself can expect to work very long hours?
Does Enrolling in Japanese language school requires formal education ?
I don't think so. Some require that you pass JLPT N5 before you enter the school.
@@WebDevJapan Okay Sir.Thanks for replying.
which technology that you us as a Software Engineer in Japan,
I'm at a small start up. We are using React, TypeScript, Next.js, and AWS for backend & deployment. Other companies use a lot of Java.
WHATS YOUR OPINION ON WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE. TO LEARN CODE??
freeCodeCamp.org
That's where I started. But there are tons of resources. If it doens't fit with your style then try the Odin Project.
Did you check it out?
@WebDevJapan yes free oder camp. Thanks going threw the beginning now.
@@lillyinthefield2787 did you see my newest video? We are going through the course together in my Discord with live Q&A
@WebDevJapan not yet will watch today. Do you still think there are jobs for us beginners?? Alot of layoffs happening. And. Now there hiring only really experienced devs??
I'm trying to learn Japanese, is it possible to get a job without a cs degree and low experience, I only have ie degree. I'm planning to apply in a year or two. What do you think? Thanks.
what is ie degree?
@@WebDevJapan industrial engineering
how much is for the calendy meetings?
It's free. I'm going to tell you about my paid mentoring program but even if you don't want to join I'm still going to suggest the next steps you should take in your coding journey.
@@WebDevJapan this is the project of my life, ill join jpn classes today, thank you so much,
Do japenese busines really looking for people with degrees in IT what about self thought doing this 10 years?
japan is a really burocratic country.
even if a company wants to hire you.... inmigration will ask for a college degree to them....
if you have money, you could study a technical degree directly in japan. and learn the lenguage while doing it
you know how to program already so it will be easy.
If you have 10 years of work experience they will give you a work visa without a degree. But those strict guidelines are only for your initial entry into Japan. They've been very lenient with me at times, even when I was unemployed for some time and collecting umemployment benefits.
@@WebDevJapan hm maybe looking remote work is better option? i like Japan want to invest but if this is barear i need to reconsider
Hey Ankit,
I have booked for the 14th Oct 2024 webinar with you. However, the payment went twice. Firstly, when I made the payment the error message came as "the transaction is unsuccessful. your account would be credited in 3-4 business days."
Now, what I see is the payment has been debited from my account TWICE. Please help !!
What?
@@WebDevJapan Yes, that's TRUE
Bro he is not ankit purohit you looking for ! Ankit purohit is also swe in Japan !
@@POLO120FPS by mistake, I posted the message here. Sorry for all the trouble !
id love to work in japan but dont want to lose my citizenship
Why would you lose your citizenship? I've been working in Japan for 8 years on a miz of work visas and spouse visas. But you can do it all with yearly work visas. I'll never give up my USA citizenship in exchange for Japanese.
@@WebDevJapan hm didnt know it was possible with just work visas so ill give it a look, thanks
Question how's the UX/UI sector here in Japan.
I see plenty of job posts, so I guess it's good. At smaller companies, like where I work, there isn't a dedicated UI/UX person. I guess those jobs are at bigger companies.
Is a degree required if you have close to 10 years of tech experience?
10 years is what they require to get the initial visa. Either that or some kind of training course / certifications. There are English teachers here with no CS degree and no work experience but they join a coding bootcamp that is certified by the government and then they are able to work in the tech industry and eventually change their visa over from teacher to engineer.
But don't you need a degree anyway? Even to get work visa.
To get your first visa and entry into Japan, they suggest having 10 years of working experience in that industry if you don't have a degree. There are other less common ways of getting in. That will be in another video.
What if I wanna stay in the USA?
and work remotely for a Japanese company? You won't be able to pay your bills.
@@WebDevJapan I don't need a whole lot of money though 😆
As a beginner???
Bro im your regular viewers. please answer my question, I am 2024 graduated in CS I have basic knowledge about LINUX,C,C++,PYTHON,JAVA,JAVASCRIPT and I have completed N5-level. please suggest me as a mentor, what would I do now ? will I continue my N4-level or should I boost my Technical skills ? please answer me in details bro :) Lots of love :)
DO both if you can. Try to get to N3 and maybe choose one of those languages and get really good at it. Become an expert in one of them. Oh, and thanks for watching regularly 😀
Is QA good carrier in 2024
Yes, but smaller companies won't have it. At small - medium sized companies and startups you'll be expected to have one things you're really good at but also be able to do a bunch of other things.
Isn’t working in japan really terrible? Especially as a foreigner? 💀😭
Not at the company I work for. It's fully remote, flex time, no dress code, no overtime, super chill. The only downside is the total comp is just barely higher than top tier English teaching jobs over here. But I can't really complain because they gave me my first job and trained me.
@@WebDevJapan how much is that usd? Is your goal to keep working in japan ? You should definitely come work in the us after you get some experience
I don't have a degree, Knows Laravel and PHP have been doing for a couple of years only freelance not fulltime jobs will or is it possible? I wanna move to JAPAN ??
Anything is possible. If you can't speak Japanese, the open jobs for you will be few but they are out there.
you mean the indian guys don't have working experience but just master degree?
Yes, they are fresh grads
gay
Thank you
I have a master's degree in Computer Science(Completed in the UK but an Indian citizen) and over 4 years of experience as a Software Developer Engineer, can I connect with you on LinkedIn?
Yes, I'm Zachary Taylor. If you're trying to get a job in Japan you can schedule a meeting with me.
@@WebDevJapan sure, quiet a lot of Zachary Taylor in LinkedIn. I'm unable to filter out.
shit pay omegalul
Yep, wait until I make a video showing my finances.