Does the ranking of the university I attended in my home country matter to employers in Japan?

5 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Does the ranking of the university I attended in my home country matter to employers in Japan?**

   I’m starting uni this year at a decent uk uni (fairly mid tier accross the board) to study CS. If I wanted to move to Japan in the future (i’m working towards n1 on the jlpt and would move with a few years of experience) I know employers in the west generally care more about experience and skills, however I am unsure if this is the same in Japan? Has anyone else managed to land a job in CS after graduating from a mediocre uni? Is it at all realistic?

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2. Japan is generally quantity over quality. And your reputation carries more weight.

   To get a competitive job in Japan that pays well you want a 4 year degree, masters, liscensure/certificates, and published works.

   Now, keep in mind, after grabbing a 4 year degree you can knock out a masters, liscensure/certification, and publish some works all in under 2 years just by targeting the cheapest and fastest options.

   Then the game is just selling yourself. And the reputation you build up from there.

   Edit: It would seems folks disagree with me.

3. Working experience is values waaaaay more than your academic degree if you are looking for employment.

   I’ve been told once literally PhD it’s a waste of time during an interview.

4. No, because Japan is actually in a labor crunch and has a serious talent shortage in bilingual IT professionals. Japan is far behind the US, the EU, Singapore and even the Middle East due to low poor, backwards IT technologies and horrible work conditions when it comes to attracting international IT talents (and even multilingual professionals).

   In fact, a N1 and a mediocre university are not even basic requirements to land an IT job in Japan. It is that companies are too lazy to work out how to get you the COE, which eventually leads to a work visa. In fact, the mandatory requirement to get a job in Japan is… be already in Japan on a visa other than a tourist visa.

   However, it is generally impossible to get a job after graduation because you will need to be an experienced hire with 4 to 5 years of experience. This is because there is something called Shuukatsu that Japanese companies still practice for new graduates.

5. >I know employers in the west generally care more about experience and skills, however I am unsure if this is the same in Japan?

   Pretty much the same. Once you have a few years of experience under your belt your professional experience will trump whatever formal education you’ve received.