What is my best course of action?

Hey guys,

I'm currently a 22-year-old student doing my second bachelor's degree in Software Engineering. I still have 2 years to finish the degree. My first bachelor's was in International Relations (I graduated this year). I have also passed the N1 level of the JLPT and right now working in sales while using Japanese at my job (the job isn't my cup of tea tbh).

I haven't visited Japan yet, though I'd love to try living there not as a tourist, which would require me either working or studying there. I prefer studying in a Japanese university and it's definitely a better option than studying in my country, but if it doesn't work out I want to have other options, such as getting a job. I'd rather work in IT sector. It seems that programming job is the most popular choice among expats in Japan (correct me if I'm wrong).

Getting a master's degree would require me to spend almost 2 years in my university (1.5 years to be exact). It's still possible for me to enroll in master's for both IR, CS and SE but I'm afraid I'm not ready for master's in STEM right now. I'd definitely graduate, but I also need to get good grades in order to be able to apply for the research student MEXT scholarship in the future (1.5-2 years from now maybe). Although not without difficulties, so far I'm getting good grades in my second bachelor's. Still I'm afraid that getting master's in an engineering program through MEXT would be too hard due to my humanities background. I'm not really good at math at the moment. I don't think I was a math guy before (apart from two years in middle school lol). Math is doable though, I just need a lot of practice and spend a lot of time studying. I'd have to study so much from now on if I want to accomplish it. Getting master's in IR in Japan through MEXT seems way easier but still not guaranteed.

l don't feel like I want to do research in SE and most engineering students who got into Japanese university though MEXT seem to do electrical engineering, which doesn't interest me much. Doing my thesis in IR (it was a research) was quite interesting and IMO it would be easier (and relevant nevertheless) to write a research proposal in IR field instead of SE because of the current events and recent developments in relations between my country and Japan. I also have better connections with my IR professors than the SE ones. I might be wrong, but the embassy here also seem to prefer humanities / social sciences students (there's little to no info online about previous scholarship winners but I found two international law students).
However, even if I get the scholarship and finish IR masters in Japan, what's next?

I heard that the degree doesn't matter in Japan when it comes to getting a job, especially if you graduated from a top-ranking university. It's possible to get into such a university with MEXT. I understand that apart from the degree it's helpful to have years of experience. Most people here recommend working in your home country for a couple of years before finding a job in Japan. That would require me to spend 2 years before I finish my degree + for example 2 YoE (assuming I get a job right after graduating), which is 4 years from now on. That's a lot of time. I already spent so much on just learning the language and getting a degree in IR…

1) Am I making a mistake by doing second bachelor's degree in SE instead of master's in CS / SE?
2) Is getting a master's degree in IR and self-study programming a good plan? It sounds like gambling as it's never guaranteed to get the scholarship, but even if I succeed, will it reduce my chances of getting a programming job (or any other stable job per se) in Japan as I won't have a STEM degree?
3) Should I continue studying SE as my second bachelor's and then try to apply for the MEXT scholarship for IR as it seems to be easier than SE? — this option seems to be the best IMO, though I'm afraid that switching majors that much would negatively affect me and my chances of getting the scholarship would be even lower. Or should I get into master's in SE?
4) What do you think would be the best course of action for me?

Any help would be welcome 🙁

by Fancy_Preference6791

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