I have masters in computer science but it also been years now since then. My japanese is beginners level as i have only worked in diverse development teams where speaking the language wasnt required at the time. Yes i could have spent time learning the language in my spare time but believe me as a new recruit for developers position, I had to study things related to current tasks/interviews the whole time or felt like I could get fired/disqualified for not completing on-time. So yes, even 24hrs felt less.
Anyway, I never had a steady job or I should say a ‘real’ job as recuiters say. My experience only consists of:
2 years of university teaching computer science,
3 + 5 months internship(role: developer, dependent visa),
and in this startup-> 5months but permanent position(role: developer, work visa).
And there are gaps, including the covid one plus nobody considers my university computer science teaching in experience (makes sense anyway).
This is my background and I have tons of questions.
The now defunct startup, had to take back my health insurance card and they are preparing termination letter so that i can collect unemployment insurance?!
1) How/where can i collect unemployent insurance
2) They took my health insurance card and i am pretty sure that I am not genius who will find a new job in under a month. Yes i know rules say that, on work visa unemployment, within 3 months i have to find a real job. My only question for this is, for 1-2 months (lets say) with no job, how i go on without a health insurance card. How i visit a doctor in case i have to? I have work visa, but can i get dependent health insurance card (it already sounds stupid in my head)
3) With such short period in internships and jobs, even if i got to know somebody, they cannot relate to my situation, so yes here i am.
Not a question, but what am I missing more? Like i have no idea what to do next. What documents to ask for, from the company, which might be needed in future before I lose contact with them.
4) And do i need to inform immigration within 14days? Its not 14days yet..
I am so confused and terrified. Even after a permanent job when i thought i almost got my sh*t together, here i am, again preparing my resume and applying to limited job opportunities as you know my jap language skill is what is holding me most and not my tech skills (from feedbacks i received). Also, i have to find a job real quick because of my visa limitation due to unemployment and in times like this i dont know if i can turn into jap language smarts in just a few weeks(not even a question)
[[Sorry if my english is weird too, I am not a native speaker of this either]]
–x—-x—-x–
Someone suggested I include details like tech stack, expected position:
Languages : Javascript, GraphQL, Ruby, Python, PHP, SQL, CSS
Framework and Libraries : React, Expo, React Native for iOS and Android, Next.js, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Apollo Client, Strapi, Redux, JQuery, Laravel, Express.js
Tools & Technologies : Xcode, Android Studio, AWS S3, Microsoft Azure DevOps, Git, GitHub, Heroku, Postman
Example positions i usually apply for:
Frontend developer, Full-stack developer, ios and android mobile developer (only with react native)
–x—-x—-x–
Details of my life below you can totally skip:
When I started university teaching as my first job, I also had another offer from a big company for a tech entry position (which certainly would have brought me to where I want to be today career-wise!) but i dont know why I chose the former. May be because I was interested at the time only to learn from others that academia people have hard time switching to tech field (in terms of being a developer n all). This really hit me! Because at that time I thought people could switch jobs (atleast in related fields, like it’s not that i was teaching biology!) So, after a after short time, I felt some sort of career insecurity(future-wise) because yes, I wanted to teach CS for only a short time but I also wanted to be a developer and learn more after I am done teaching what I already know. [[This was also not a nice time besides the topic of career, I really needed some time off from everything ..like really needed it..so here starts my first ever gap of 1.5 years. Yes, this is big and i NEEDED it, also i did learn some big frameworks so I dont fall behind when I apply for jobs next and this is the first time I travelled to japan as a tourist where i also learned the basic language at a community center.]]
After this I made up my mind to be here (not like in a day or something, many events happened like, my partner coincidently was hired here n all), even though my initial family visa got some time to be processed, covid hit. And now the series of unplanned gap begins. As you know we were told that the border may open next month (where ‘next’ was said every month for atleast a year), with a suspended visa on hand, I was confused that if I should apply for jobs in my own country or here in japan. Well I could not, in japan, because I wasnt here yet so this was always questioned by the recruiters and mostly they needed the candidate already in the country. So internships were the only option I could choose while waiting for borders to open since this is not a job which may create problem leaving, as soon as border opens. Did my first internship for 3 months and then few certifications (to learn & pass time), one or two kaggle competitions, one volunteering …bamn its already 1.5years waiting to finally start my life. By then I didnt cared, I actually started applying for jobs in my own country and the hiring process actually started for me in one company. By the time i reached 6th round, borders opened, I was here in japan and in 7th and final round, hiring team started talking casually asking where I am now, I said ‘Japan’, they looked confused. Ended the session nicely and never updated me about the results.
Then, I am here in japan, with beginners level japanese, with few options where [entry level + beginner language] is acceptable. It took few months of searching and also interviews, and i started with a 2months internship. After i completed that, the same process started, took few months (as companies also take time for their whole hiring process, 1whole month of various rounds for this one) but i did land two offers (both had awesome teams), sadly i had to select one.
This one had 6months of probation but its permanent position- developer. And at the end of 5th month, yes, the company had to shut down.
Edit: spaces
Anyway, thanks in advance!
13 comments
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>How/where can i collect unemployent insurance
If you are actually being terminated (解雇), then immediately bring your 解雇通知書 to Hello Work and start collecting unemployment right away.
Make sure that you’re actually being terminated — don’t agree to resign (退職). The distinction is very important.
>They took my health insurance card
>
>how i go on without a health insurance card
Go to your city hall and register for national health insurance (国民健康保険).
If you’re already on it, then ask for a replacement card.
In addition, ask if you’re eligible for any health insurance payment exemptions (健康保険免除) and residence tax exemptions (住民税非課税世帯), then go to your local pension office and ask for the same (年金免除).
>What documents to ask for, from the company, which might be needed in future before I lose contact with them.
* 給与明細
* 離職証明書
* 雇用保険被保険者証
>And do i need to inform immigration within 14days? Its not 14days yet..
Yes.
1. Talk to hellowork (unemployment office). They can also help you with job searching. Because they’re firing you/laying you off, you should be able to get benefits immediately.
2. Go to your city hall and sign up for national health insurance. By law, you must have health insurance. Once you get a new job, go back and tell them you want to cancel because your job will cover it from there (if they do cover it). You’ll pay both health insurance and pension on your own until you get a new job.
4. There’s not really any benefit to waiting to tell immigration. You need to report the last day of employment when you report. You can inform them online.
With a masters in computer science, just go for Rakuten/Line etc until you are back on your feet. They do not require Japanese and if you pass their coding tests and are not awkward they’ll likely hire you.
I don’t have much to contribute with your questions, but like someone else pointed out, perhaps look into applying at Rakuten. I know it’s not ideally recommended by former employees and some posts on this sub, but it’s a start somewhere and they don’t really emphasize much on your Japanese language ability. Also, even if the role rays 3 YOE, and you don’t meet the threshold, just apply. With a Masters in CS, they’ll most likely reach out to you for an interview. I hope someone here also reaches out to you in private if they know any places hiring. Good luck and hopefully you’ll get through this. I’ve been there.
Would help if you wrote your tech stack and expected position.
I have no advice to you but good luck!!!sometime, moving to new environment is the stepping stone for your success
I was engineer manager at klab and for me people adding libraries don’t sell me much. Any real project or app developed and released? Also any publication? I did plenty of angular and react but I don’t put in my resume “angular”. Work history I describe precise “ticket system using angular for xxx, using this for X, that for Y” and if possible link. Also how my work helped the development process and achievement. That’s what I look when choosing engineer for projects (like how much optimized , faster render, size or data base etc, with numbers)
My coworker also are manager at tech team in Rakuten and they have similar view.
If u need I can send u my work history resume so u can check how to write one .
Good luck and hang in there.
You’ve probably fount it already but Japan-dev and Tokyo-dev job boards seem good for foreigners
I’m hiring for frontend / fullstack, especially those who can start quickly. Job description is here: https://japan-dev.com/jobs/exawizards/exawizards-fullstack-engineer-generative-ai-product-team-0my7zi
If you can pass the online test, I’ll be your first interviewer. If you can show us your knowledge, experience doesn’t matter (at least not as a minimum requirement).
And, for the record, I’m not a recruiter; I’m the head of the department this position is for.
Update your linkedin profile and look in there too.
Are you based in Tokyo?
My company is looking for frontend devs with a lot of your skillset, Japanese language not required. DM me for a chat.
Couldn’t quite understand your post since it sounds like you’re under a ton of stress (I know the feeling, I’m going through it right now…). But I’ve been in the same exact situation as you.
For (3), since you need a job quickly with little experience, try applying to haken companies. The work sucks and doesn’t pay shit, but you’re likely to get hired.
Regarding (4), I just spoke to a recruiter about it yesterday and it sounds like an often unenforced rule. I’ve also gone almost 3 months without notifying them and didn’t have any issues when I finally landed a job, although the labor bureau did notify me that immigration was starting to ask around.