Here’s some background.
My wife and I are both US citizens with bachelor’s degrees, and have been talking about moving to Japan for the past 3 years or so. I have recently begun my career in IT and I am finishing up my A+ certification right now. After that I plan on going for CCNA, Security +, then fully diving into cloud certs. I plan on working my way up the ranks in IT as quickly as I can within 5 years so that I am more marketable when we move. We will both be studying Japanese from here on out, and I should hopefully be around N2 level by then.
We’ve also both agreed that we’re not moving until all of my student loan debt is paid off (~$50k). We will be aggressively paying this debt off and saving most of what we make afterwards for the move. We own both of our cars outright, and I predict that we could probably get around $10k total when we decide to sell them.
My wife currently works as a baker and is at the beginning stages of starting her own jewelry business. We know that it may be tough for her to continue her business in Japan due to visa restrictions, but we’ll figure that out closer to when we move. (Any advice on this would be appreciated) I don’t mind supporting both of us on my salary if it’s possible, but she’s open to finding a part time job once we get over there if she has to.
Does anyone know what kind of salary I could expect with 5-6 years of experience in IT for networking or cloud roles?
Would it be possible to support a family with that salary?
Thank you guys for all of your help!
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**My wife and I plan on moving around 5 years from now**
Here’s some background.
My wife and I are both US citizens with bachelor’s degrees, and have been talking about moving to Japan for the past 3 years or so. I have recently begun my career in IT and I am finishing up my A+ certification right now. After that I plan on going for CCNA, Security +, then fully diving into cloud certs. I plan on working my way up the ranks in IT as quickly as I can within 5 years so that I am more marketable when we move. We will both be studying Japanese from here on out, and I should hopefully be around N2 level by then.
We’ve also both agreed that we’re not moving until all of my student loan debt is paid off (~$50k). We will be aggressively paying this debt off and saving most of what we make afterwards for the move. We own both of our cars outright, and I predict that we could probably get around $10k total when we decide to sell them.
My wife currently works as a baker and is at the beginning stages of starting her own jewelry business. We know that it may be tough for her to continue her business in Japan due to visa restrictions, but we’ll figure that out closer to when we move. (Any advice on this would be appreciated) I don’t mind supporting both of us on my salary if it’s possible, but she’s open to finding a part time job once we get over there if she has to.
Does anyone know what kind of salary I could expect with 5-6 years of experience in IT for networking or cloud roles?
Would it be possible to support a family with that salary?
Thank you guys for all of your help!
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The good news IT and 5 years experience is visa worthy.
The bad news the earnings potential will be at least half at the beginning of what you would make in the USA
I no longer live in Japan (trying to get back eventually) but I had a similar trajectory and was able to move on a three year visa, which I could have renewed.
I moved with very little Japanese ability (maybe N4 but never tested). I do have a Japanese grandparent, so I can return on a heritage visa, but that didn’t factor in with the type of visa (engineer) I had at the time.
So, as for the process, basically I got a job in in the US with US-based global company, and over the years I made the necessary contacts in Japan and the US and was able to eventually get a job. You could say that I “willed” it. Making my intentions known to everyone also went a long ways and I actually had a couple opportunities to move, but I waited for the right circumstance.
There are a lot of little details which are important for the immigration process, but they are just that – details – and the naysayers will try to discourage you based on them. My opinion and experience is that at this stage the big picture is more important. Tbh i never even read the MOFA site. My company handled almost everything except housing.
Because I am now over 60, I do not think I could get an engineer job there again due to mandatory retirement, but there’s no doubt in my mind that I could have done it again as I have been asked to come back a couple times.
Salary wise, I was paid about 150k or so based on the exchange rate at the time. We could have easily lived on half of that.
You have 5 years to build the network I did, make the most of it.
I just moved out of IT 3 years ago. Been in Japan 30+ years. So those are my creds.
I’ll give all monetary units in JPY, mindful that the exchange rate has run the gamut since then.
As I was tracking through IT, it really depends on the company. I started my first IT job at Y7.5 mil, with a merit bump to Y8.5 after 1 year. This was more or less entry level. Ran that job for 3 years.
Since then, my pay has been in the neighborhood of 10-12 mil. Recently was able to break through and get a higher level position.
You can live on these salaries in Tokyo/Yokohama no problem. But, yes, it will be a bit less than your US counterparts.