Hi frens.
I am thinking about moving to JP in 2-3 years and would appreciate if you could share your opinion on a couple of points.
Warning: I have been into this idea for a couple of years already. I do not expect Japan to be a perfect place (I am aware it is not), and I have visited the country multiple times.
I am 28F, and I work as a program manager in IT (6 years of project/program manager experience, if it matters).
1. What skills (language, obv) and certificates would you recommend me to focus on to land a 10M+ job in this field? I mainly focus on the Agile management style and have a lot of education in this direction, but it seems to be not the most popular way to manage things in Japan. Maybe I got the wrong impression, though 🙂
2. Best places to search for IT, western-style companies?
3. Is there any profit in hiring a recruiter?
4. I do have a bachelor's degree, but it is unrelated to IT. I plan on getting a master's in IT Management within a couple of years; however, if it doesn't work out – can I still apply for a working visa if my diploma has nothing to do with my job?
Any other advice or things I should pay attention to is highly welcomed.
Cheers!
by Tearmea
4 comments
following as i am in a similar field and looking to move in a couple of yrs too
> 10M+ job
Isn’t going to happen in a PM role. You’ll be lucky to get 6-8.
> best place to search for jobs
Google. But really, if you have to ask this question you probably won’t make it. This is an incredibly basic thing that 30 seconds on Google can give you answers to.
> hiring a recruiter
Don’t bother.
> unrelated degree
Eh, it’s fine. Just expect employers to question you about it or raise a few eyebrows.
To land a 10M++ job in Japan, you would have to either work for a foreign owned company or have a high level Japanese (at least N2) and stellar resume. You would also have to know the Japanese (business) culture as they operate a bit differently.
I’m not sure how things are done now but when I was there 8 years ago, waterfall was the more adopted model for projects (IT company).
Unlike the jobs in North America, PMs are not sought after here. Making 10 million as a PM is nearly impossible unless you get lucky enough to start at Spotify or Google.
Around 6 million even with years of experience should be the expected range, not that those jobs are not real (10+ million) for PMs, it’s just a hyper-competitive market. Think of it like a Google or Meta gig in the States. If you are not getting offers or interviews at companies like that in your home country, you won’t get them here ever.
N2 is a requirement for PMs, and honestly, I would say business fluent is a near requirement at that pay scale. You will be the glue that holds discussions together so you need to be able to connect the language barrier between teams.
Languages: Go, Ruby, and such are all the rage. I can’t think of any particular certificates unless you are focused on IT work specifically. Then any of the Azure stuff is good to have.
Recruiters are usually scams, they don’t get plugged into high-paying jobs because, unless its C level, those roles get plenty of applicants.