Hi, I will be starting my second year as Master’s student in CompSci in a private university in Japan.
My biggest concern right now in job hunting. I have minimal japanese – about N4 and I don’t have work experience as I went straight to Master’s after Undergrad.
I know many I.T companies required atleast N2 level of Japanese but is it possible to look for jobs that doesn’t require japanese as I’ll be going to a developer or security role. Would not knowing japanese butcher my chances of getting a job. I would like to work here for a few years.
How do I target companies that won’t require japanese language skill or work experience. Many of the job hunt platforms here require japanese.
4 comments
It may not butcher your chances of getting a job, but it may cap how far you can advance.
With inadequate Japanese, you might just become that technical guy that works in his own corner of the office raking in 5 to 6M per year and can get the job done but has no chance at being promoted to upper management roles.
I have minimal Japanese level but managed to get a decent jobs just fine. There are quite a few companies here that doesn’t require any Japanese, just look around on LinkedIn, and do internships to look for return offers, should be easy with an ongoing Ms degree.
I know many companies that don’t require Japanese. Accenture is an example.
I’m a Sr Software Engineer and I get recruitment messages all the time, as long as I know “conversational Japanese,” I’d have plenty of offers. – You should consider knowing at least N5.
There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of companies:
– 日系, Japanese style. Low starting pay, and pay can be better with Japanese ability, but is mostly correlated with tenure. Working conditions are anywhere from “black” (very bad) to okay.
– 外資系, international style. Higher starting pay, pay is not influenced as much if at all by Japanese ability, and is mostly correlated with results. Working conditions are anywhere from okay to amazing. These are companies like Google and Indeed.
I recommend to anyone in the industry here to target the second type. These will help:
– https://www.tokyodev.com/
– https://japan-dev.com/