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I did this and lived there for 11 years, half of it working at mobile game companies at scale. Yeah, comparatively the salaries suck compared to the US, but I g

by bojo 6y ago

I did this and lived there for 11 years, half of it working at mobile game companies at scale. Yeah, comparatively the salaries suck compared to the US, but I got to experience a culture completely different from my own the entire time. Only optimizing for cash seems like a waste of a life, so many interesting things to do besides chase money. I’m now back in the States though, and all that skill building I did in Japan paid off. Making boatloads managing a software engineering department.

deleted 6y ago
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nonbirithm 6y ago
I've always wanted to live in Japan. I sometimes feel like I'm optimizing way too much for money, and reading the article it seems like I only have 5 more years to practically have a chance at being able to live in Japan. So I'm convinced that maybe some things are worth giving up for happiness. So what am I supposed to do in order to accomplish the goal of working in Japan? I've self-studied the language since high school and would say I'm competent at reading and listening but not production. I haven't taken the JLPT yet but I would study for it if I'm going to take this seriously. I also have a lot of savings so money is not really as much of a concern. I would really, really want to if time is quickly running out for me, but I don't understand what relationship I have to the country that would merit being able to stay there at least on a work visa besides the fact that I want to live there and enjoy the culture, which TFA states is not good enough of a reason. The author's NLP job was itself related to the Japanese language, but there is no specific connection to Japanese that my skills would provide. And I haven't so much as gotten a response back from my dozen attempts at an internal transfer at a Top 100 company. Sometimes it feels like the only reason you're able to get a job is because you know the right people, and I don't personally know anyone living in Japan.
- bojo 6y ago
  As long as you have a 4 year university degree you can apply for and get sponsorship from a company if they are willing to do the paperwork for a work visa, and just renew as required. Knowing Japanese helps a lot, but some tech companies hire English speakers - possibly because most of the employees are foreigners anyways. You can apply directly to companies if you can manage to track down their career pages (and read it if no English version), no prior connections required. However, it’ll be hit or miss as to whether they will sponsor you, and a big question mark if American during this COVID crisis.

by bojo 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

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nonbirithm 6y ago

I've always wanted to live in Japan. I sometimes feel like I'm optimizing way too much for money, and reading the article it seems like I only have 5 more years to practically have a chance at being able to live in Japan. So I'm convinced that maybe some things are worth giving up for happiness. So what am I supposed to do in order to accomplish the goal of working in Japan? I've self-studied the language since high school and would say I'm competent at reading and listening but not production. I haven't taken the JLPT yet but I would study for it if I'm going to take this seriously. I also have a lot of savings so money is not really as much of a concern. I would really, really want to if time is quickly running out for me, but I don't understand what relationship I have to the country that would merit being able to stay there at least on a work visa besides the fact that I want to live there and enjoy the culture, which TFA states is not good enough of a reason. The author's NLP job was itself related to the Japanese language, but there is no specific connection to Japanese that my skills would provide. And I haven't so much as gotten a response back from my dozen attempts at an internal transfer at a Top 100 company. Sometimes it feels like the only reason you're able to get a job is because you know the right people, and I don't personally know anyone living in Japan.

bojo 6y ago
As long as you have a 4 year university degree you can apply for and get sponsorship from a company if they are willing to do the paperwork for a work visa, and just renew as required. Knowing Japanese helps a lot, but some tech companies hire English speakers - possibly because most of the employees are foreigners anyways. You can apply directly to companies if you can manage to track down their career pages (and read it if no English version), no prior connections required. However, it’ll be hit or miss as to whether they will sponsor you, and a big question mark if American during this COVID crisis.