27 ms·

Very true, but I was a little shocked to see how little of a software industry there actually is. Outside of embedded systems, there's a decent bit of B2B, but

by T-R 16y ago

Very true, but I was a little shocked to see how little of a software industry there actually is. Outside of embedded systems, there's a decent bit of B2B, but even in those more software oriented companies, programming is seen as an entry-level field to get promoted out of as quickly as possible, and a lot of projects are outsourced to India. This is probably related to the lack of 4-year CS programs in Japan - it's largely considered a vocational field, so you either go to Tokyo Tech, or learn English and leave the country.

wahnfrieden 16y ago
How does the situation compare for startups (scarce as they may be) and foreign/US-owned companies in Japan? What you described has been a depressing reality for me as someone who majored in CS and Japanese.
- aphexairlines 16y ago
  There are foreign companies doing interesting work here in japan. People at ibm, google, ms, etc that I know are happy. Others that are still growing like Gilt are recruiting and offering above 10m yen/yr. I'm at amazon, really enjoying it, and we're hiring :)
- T-R 16y ago
  There's a HN Tokyo group, but as far as I'm aware (I asked a few of them), most of those who have started businesses did it through their spouse - the visa situation is a little difficult for starting a business, but it can be done (I haven't asked patio11, though, he would probably have some insight on this). The guys at (now apparently defunct) starling software seemed to imply on their blog that they were successful starting in Canada and opening a branch in Japan. On the other hand, getting hired is a touch difficult, too. Companies that post at websites like Career Cross are mostly looking for fluency and lots of enterprise experience - I never even had any luck getting a reply. Most companies who are looking to hire foreigners also only want people who already have the right kind of Visa (an Engineering Visa - btw, if you have one, GrouponJP is hiring a PHP+Perl programmer to do some marketing analysis stuff). Things aren't all bad, though. I got my job in Japan by going to one of the Recruit/MyNavi events for Japanese students who had studied in English speaking countries. Recruiters chase down the few foreigners there, but admittedly only one company was actually hiring programmers, and I ultimately wasn't happy there - YMMV. Some video game and consumer electronics companies also hire foreigners, but large companies usually make all applicants take a test that's difficult for native speakers - I applied to Capcom, but they expected me to be fluent and take the test like everyone else. Of course, that depends on the company - you might have more luck elsewhere, and if you're close to fluent, it's worth a shot either way. Try to apply as a "new college graduate" if you can - there's a whole lot of bias against anyone who's held a previous full-time position, and I'm sure it doesn't disappear when they look at foreigner's resumes. The other route is through foreign companies - I know at least one person at Google Tokyo who originally interviewed in the U.S. On the other hand, I know someone else at Lockheed Martin who's been fighting to get into their Japan office for years now - so how difficult it is depends on the company. My advice - do Study abroad, JET, or just a 2~3 month trip; go to Tokyo (I personally prefer Osaka, but the jobs are in Tokyo) and go to the HN Tokyo meetup; if no one knows of any openings, apply to a bunch of foreign companies there; if that doesn't work, get a nice black suit and go to a recruiting event.

by T-R 16y ago

wahnfrieden 16y ago

How does the situation compare for startups (scarce as they may be) and foreign/US-owned companies in Japan? What you described has been a depressing reality for me as someone who majored in CS and Japanese.

aphexairlines 16y ago
There are foreign companies doing interesting work here in japan. People at ibm, google, ms, etc that I know are happy. Others that are still growing like Gilt are recruiting and offering above 10m yen/yr. I'm at amazon, really enjoying it, and we're hiring :)
T-R 16y ago
There's a HN Tokyo group, but as far as I'm aware (I asked a few of them), most of those who have started businesses did it through their spouse - the visa situation is a little difficult for starting a business, but it can be done (I haven't asked patio11, though, he would probably have some insight on this). The guys at (now apparently defunct) starling software seemed to imply on their blog that they were successful starting in Canada and opening a branch in Japan. On the other hand, getting hired is a touch difficult, too. Companies that post at websites like Career Cross are mostly looking for fluency and lots of enterprise experience - I never even had any luck getting a reply. Most companies who are looking to hire foreigners also only want people who already have the right kind of Visa (an Engineering Visa - btw, if you have one, GrouponJP is hiring a PHP+Perl programmer to do some marketing analysis stuff). Things aren't all bad, though. I got my job in Japan by going to one of the Recruit/MyNavi events for Japanese students who had studied in English speaking countries. Recruiters chase down the few foreigners there, but admittedly only one company was actually hiring programmers, and I ultimately wasn't happy there - YMMV. Some video game and consumer electronics companies also hire foreigners, but large companies usually make all applicants take a test that's difficult for native speakers - I applied to Capcom, but they expected me to be fluent and take the test like everyone else. Of course, that depends on the company - you might have more luck elsewhere, and if you're close to fluent, it's worth a shot either way. Try to apply as a "new college graduate" if you can - there's a whole lot of bias against anyone who's held a previous full-time position, and I'm sure it doesn't disappear when they look at foreigner's resumes. The other route is through foreign companies - I know at least one person at Google Tokyo who originally interviewed in the U.S. On the other hand, I know someone else at Lockheed Martin who's been fighting to get into their Japan office for years now - so how difficult it is depends on the company. My advice - do Study abroad, JET, or just a 2~3 month trip; go to Tokyo (I personally prefer Osaka, but the jobs are in Tokyo) and go to the HN Tokyo meetup; if no one knows of any openings, apply to a bunch of foreign companies there; if that doesn't work, get a nice black suit and go to a recruiting event.