I am a software engineer and I wanna work in Japan. Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan? I have been actively applying to several Japanese companies but they said I’m not a candidate they’re looking for. Any thoughts? Arigato!
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**Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan?**
I am a software engineer and I wanna work in Japan. Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan? I have been actively applying to several Japanese companies but they said I’m not a candidate they’re looking for. Any thoughts? Arigato!
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>Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan?
Let’s put it like this: “Whilst not always obligatory, would certainly be beneficial to have if the company ends up choosing between two candidates with more or less equal industry-related skills”.
Also, really depends on the industry you’re trying to find a job in, some do require business\fluent\native-level Japanese due to the nature of work.
​
>I have been actively applying to several Japanese companies but they said I’m not a candidate they’re looking for. Any thoughts?
Not necessarily it’s due to the language skill or, more precisely, lack of it, you’ve never mentioned which industry you are into and which positions you have been applying to. Also, whether your skills and experience match their requirements (written in the JD, as often there are the “hidden” ones that only the company HR and probably recruiter is aware of).
Also, Japanese companies quite often judge the candidates by some completely “irrelevant” (as from westerners point of view) criteria, like motivation to join that very specific company, knowledge about the company, history and management, how the person behaved during interview etc. etc.
It depends a lot on you skill level. When I was a junior dev, I needed to work on my Japanese because the companies that likely to hire me was Japanese companies or dispatching agencies for Japanese companies. My first employer even gave a small allowance for people passing N2 and N1 and every bit of money helped.
Now as a senior dev I haven’t used Japanese at work at all for the last 5 years. I also interviewed for dozen of positions in that time period and none required it as well. And it’s not rare for my last 3 companies to hire people from all over the world who speak zero Japanese.
In fact, nowadays if a recruiter contacts me and says their position requires Japanese then I would consider it somewhat of a red flag, as the pay will likely to be on the lower side.
I’m in a similar situation. I’ve got about 9 months under my belt (coming up on a year soon) and everywhere I’ve applied to has either rejected or ghosted me thus far. FWIW, I’ve been applying to mainly Java Backend / Fullstack roles using LinkedIn and I’ve even tried reaching out to Recruiters (none have really returned my messages).
The consensus I got from both friends who work in Japan as Software Developers and the recruiters I’ve spoken to on LinkedIn (in the past) was that at one point it was possible to get a job straight out of University without any language skill / experience so long as you had your CS Degree (and were ready for rates far below market average in North America).
Now it feels like unless you have 3+ years of experience or JLPT N4 (this seems to be what most job postings are requiring) that they won’t be willing to even look at you for international relocation.
I’d like to be proven wrong on this so if anyone has better insight into the Japanese tech market right now, please correct me.
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan?**
I am a software engineer and I wanna work in Japan. Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan?
I have been actively applying to several Japanese companies but they said I’m not a candidate they’re looking for. Any thoughts?
Arigato!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>Do I need to have N2 first in order to work in Japan?
Let’s put it like this: “Whilst not always obligatory, would certainly be beneficial to have if the company ends up choosing between two candidates with more or less equal industry-related skills”.
Also, really depends on the industry you’re trying to find a job in, some do require business\fluent\native-level Japanese due to the nature of work.
​
>I have been actively applying to several Japanese companies but they said I’m not a candidate they’re looking for. Any thoughts?
Not necessarily it’s due to the language skill or, more precisely, lack of it, you’ve never mentioned which industry you are into and which positions you have been applying to. Also, whether your skills and experience match their requirements (written in the JD, as often there are the “hidden” ones that only the company HR and probably recruiter is aware of).
Also, Japanese companies quite often judge the candidates by some completely “irrelevant” (as from westerners point of view) criteria, like motivation to join that very specific company, knowledge about the company, history and management, how the person behaved during interview etc. etc.
It depends a lot on you skill level. When I was a junior dev, I needed to work on my Japanese because the companies that likely to hire me was Japanese companies or dispatching agencies for Japanese companies. My first employer even gave a small allowance for people passing N2 and N1 and every bit of money helped.
Now as a senior dev I haven’t used Japanese at work at all for the last 5 years. I also interviewed for dozen of positions in that time period and none required it as well. And it’s not rare for my last 3 companies to hire people from all over the world who speak zero Japanese.
In fact, nowadays if a recruiter contacts me and says their position requires Japanese then I would consider it somewhat of a red flag, as the pay will likely to be on the lower side.
I’m in a similar situation. I’ve got about 9 months under my belt (coming up on a year soon) and everywhere I’ve applied to has either rejected or ghosted me thus far. FWIW, I’ve been applying to mainly Java Backend / Fullstack roles using LinkedIn and I’ve even tried reaching out to Recruiters (none have really returned my messages).
The consensus I got from both friends who work in Japan as Software Developers and the recruiters I’ve spoken to on LinkedIn (in the past) was that at one point it was possible to get a job straight out of University without any language skill / experience so long as you had your CS Degree (and were ready for rates far below market average in North America).
Now it feels like unless you have 3+ years of experience or JLPT N4 (this seems to be what most job postings are requiring) that they won’t be willing to even look at you for international relocation.
I’d like to be proven wrong on this so if anyone has better insight into the Japanese tech market right now, please correct me.