I’ve been studying at a Japanese language school in Tokyo for about six months now. While I have around three years of experience in the IT and Blockchain, my expertise mainly lies in project management(I manage a team of around ten people in my country for a long time) and Linux operations. I don’t have extensive coding experience.
I’m curious if there are roles similar to “IT Help Desk” , “O&M” or something else available here. Because I think it may be difficult for Japanese people to let a foreigner like me directly as a project management manager.
My Japanese language skills are currently at an N4 level, which I understand is quite basic. However, I’m fluent in English and possess a business-level.
Any advice or insights on how to navigate the job market here with my background would be greatly appreciated.
6 comments
Generally, you have a few options. A. Improve you Japanese enough that it’s no longer a deal breaker. B. Get good enough at what you do that whether you speak Japanese or not no long matters. C. Willing to accept low paying job that other people avoid.
If you choose C while working toward A and B then maybe contacting dispatch agencies from your country?
You need high level Japanese for help desk because it involves helping people (who mostly have no idea how computers work). I think generally for IT if you don’t want to speak the language you need to look outside Ops.
Without knowing too much about you or the current openings there, but Rakuten has always let English speakers work there in various roles (their official language is English). Plus I can see them having a suitable role there for your experience. Might be worth a shot.
Experience working there seems to vary a lot based on which team you work with but that’s pretty much with any large companies.
I personally know a few friends who work there who only speak English +non JP language.
Gaijin banks are hirers of limited English foreigners but that’s been taken over by Indians.
I am not sure how the market looks at the moment for recruiting in general and IT in specific, but headhunter companies usually do not require Japanese as far as I know. Not a job for everyone and salary is usually heavily commission dependant I believe, but it could be an entry point perhaps,
Try the financial industry (banks, securities, insurance). They will hire people with good tech skills even if the J needs work. Try agents like Hays, RobertWalters, etc.