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I was kid and, reading Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero, etc. I used to imagine how would it be to be a hacker living in the future in Tokyo. Well,

by 6t6t6t6 10y ago

I was kid and, reading Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero, etc. I used to imagine how would it be to be a hacker living in the future in Tokyo. Well, now is the future, I live in Tokyo and my work involves "hacking virtual realities" and "artificial intelligences"... And I must say that it is quite less exciting than what I thought.

pinum 10y ago
Want to swap jobs?
- stuxnet79 10y ago
  +1 He is living the dream :) But a better question would be how was he able to live every nerd's wet dream? Japan does not seem to be making huge strides in AI at the moment so even if you are able to find a dev job in Japan it seems unlikely that it would involve robotics.
  - mikekchar 10y ago
    If you speak Japanese, there are huge numbers of companies doing robotics in Japan. All the big names. I bumped into someone on the Shinkansen the other day working for Hitachi and doing robotics. Of course it is robotics for manufacturing... In Tokyo and Osaka, my understanding is that many IT jobs are in English. Japan is also probably one of the easiest countries in the world for IT/engineering workers to get a visa: have a degree and a job offer and you are set. I don't know how many robotics jobs are English, though (the guy I was talking to was Japanese and didn't speak English). I think it's probably a lot easier to find a job like that than you think. The reality is, though, that the salary (especially if you actually want to live in Tokyo rather than Chiba, etc) will likely be shockingly low compared to US salaries. I think senior devs are going for the equivalent of around $80K these days. Possibly you can make up some of that with bonuses, though. I don't work for a Japanese company (and I'm not in Tokyo), so I don't know the details.
- 6t6t6t6 10y ago
  In Japan is relatively easy to find a Job in IT as a foreigner. Specially in startups. And more specially if you are somehow "senior". All the good Japanese engineers are already working for a big company and they are not likely going to change to a smaller one. For Japanese workers, security is usually the priority number one. So yes, if you have a degree in STEM, it's really not that hard to emigrate to Japan. To know Japanese would open a lot of doors, but it is not mandatory if you have a good CV. Also, anybody can get a decent level of Japanese with two years of study. On the other hand, you can probably make much more money in California, or even in London than in Japan. And also, the work-life balance in Japan is practically inexistent. When you sign a job contract with a Japanese company, they assume that you are giving your entire life to them. You are allowed to go home to sleep and bathe, but just because they are kind with you. So yes, Tokyo has interesting things, but is not as amazing as we thought it would be. Also, there are no punks... everybody obeys like robots.
gambler 10y ago
While we have some impressive technologies, the way we apply them to real life is usually at best boring, and at worst depressing as fuck. I can't name any tech introduced in the last 10 years that made my day-to-day life better or at least more interesting in some significant way. Kindle, maybe? Definitely not smartphones. My hopes for the AI field are dwindling. The current tide of hype will probably culminate in a few mediocre services from Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Etc. The services will have serious downsides, the downsides will be downplayed by the marketing, everyone will begin to integrate with them, and as a result we will get more complex, unstable and invasive software. I still have a lot of hopes for VR, since it's not widely available yet and there is room for creating fundamentally new things there during the adoption period. Hopefully, the ideas of Bret Victor will not go unnoticed.
jefurii 10y ago
Hey at least you don't have to worry about Russian mycotoxins or hundreds of megabytes of illicit data stashed in your head, and you're probably staying somewhere nicer than Cheap Hotel.
- 6t6t6t6 10y ago
  Sure! But not that nicer. A 50m2 flat is all what an engineer can usually afford in Tokyo.

by 6t6t6t6 10y ago

pinum 10y ago

Want to swap jobs?

stuxnet79 10y ago
+1 He is living the dream :) But a better question would be how was he able to live every nerd's wet dream? Japan does not seem to be making huge strides in AI at the moment so even if you are able to find a dev job in Japan it seems unlikely that it would involve robotics.
- mikekchar 10y ago
  If you speak Japanese, there are huge numbers of companies doing robotics in Japan. All the big names. I bumped into someone on the Shinkansen the other day working for Hitachi and doing robotics. Of course it is robotics for manufacturing... In Tokyo and Osaka, my understanding is that many IT jobs are in English. Japan is also probably one of the easiest countries in the world for IT/engineering workers to get a visa: have a degree and a job offer and you are set. I don't know how many robotics jobs are English, though (the guy I was talking to was Japanese and didn't speak English). I think it's probably a lot easier to find a job like that than you think. The reality is, though, that the salary (especially if you actually want to live in Tokyo rather than Chiba, etc) will likely be shockingly low compared to US salaries. I think senior devs are going for the equivalent of around $80K these days. Possibly you can make up some of that with bonuses, though. I don't work for a Japanese company (and I'm not in Tokyo), so I don't know the details.
6t6t6t6 10y ago
In Japan is relatively easy to find a Job in IT as a foreigner. Specially in startups. And more specially if you are somehow "senior". All the good Japanese engineers are already working for a big company and they are not likely going to change to a smaller one. For Japanese workers, security is usually the priority number one. So yes, if you have a degree in STEM, it's really not that hard to emigrate to Japan. To know Japanese would open a lot of doors, but it is not mandatory if you have a good CV. Also, anybody can get a decent level of Japanese with two years of study. On the other hand, you can probably make much more money in California, or even in London than in Japan. And also, the work-life balance in Japan is practically inexistent. When you sign a job contract with a Japanese company, they assume that you are giving your entire life to them. You are allowed to go home to sleep and bathe, but just because they are kind with you. So yes, Tokyo has interesting things, but is not as amazing as we thought it would be. Also, there are no punks... everybody obeys like robots.

gambler 10y ago

While we have some impressive technologies, the way we apply them to real life is usually at best boring, and at worst depressing as fuck. I can't name any tech introduced in the last 10 years that made my day-to-day life better or at least more interesting in some significant way. Kindle, maybe? Definitely not smartphones. My hopes for the AI field are dwindling. The current tide of hype will probably culminate in a few mediocre services from Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Etc. The services will have serious downsides, the downsides will be downplayed by the marketing, everyone will begin to integrate with them, and as a result we will get more complex, unstable and invasive software. I still have a lot of hopes for VR, since it's not widely available yet and there is room for creating fundamentally new things there during the adoption period. Hopefully, the ideas of Bret Victor will not go unnoticed.

jefurii 10y ago

Hey at least you don't have to worry about Russian mycotoxins or hundreds of megabytes of illicit data stashed in your head, and you're probably staying somewhere nicer than Cheap Hotel.

6t6t6t6 10y ago
Sure! But not that nicer. A 50m2 flat is all what an engineer can usually afford in Tokyo.