I recently started the job search for a junior software developer role in Tokyo and I was wondering how hot the market is right now. Will it be difficult to find an entry level job? I recently completed my Computer Science undergrad at a Canadian University and have 2 FAANG internships on my resume. Any tips would also be appreciated.
Edit: My Japanese level is very basic.
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**How is the current job market for Software Developers?**
I recently started the job search for a junior software developer role in Tokyo and I was wondering how hot the market is right now. Will it be difficult to find an entry level job? I recently completed my Computer Science undergrad at a Canadian University and have 2 FAANG internships on my resume. Any tips would also be appreciated.
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What’s your Japanese level? That’s the most important thing when finding a job as an entry level…well Japan in general. Entry level is hard especially if you don’t have at least JLPT N2+speaking skills and new grad positions that don’t require Japanse are difficult to find. If you do have the Japanese ability, you definitely can. If you’re looking for more english speaking jobs the international companies and companies you see on Japan Dev though, they are looking for mid-level and up & are more competitive. Honestly, if you don’t have N2 and up, just get experience in your home country first, study Japanese on the side and then try looking for jobs in Japan unless you want to take the more difficult route of yoloing it to Japan to find something. It’s up to you.
How badly do you want to work in Japan as a new grad and are you fine with potentially not working as a dev for 1-2 years & starting with a low salary? Looking for a job during language school could be an option, but that’s potentially a year or more without dev experience and like I mentioned before majority of entry level jobs will require Japanese. Some people also come over as an ALT and switch into a dev job, but you’d have to balance learning Japanese with a full time job and studying dev stuff and personally I wouldn’t reccomend that pathway.
Also new grad salary is like 3-4 million if that matters and if you have any student loans keep that in mind. Some make less than that & some more than that.
If you have 2 FAANG internships I would highly suggest searching in the US. Japan doesn’t view FAANG internship as highly and they pay accordingly. Just to put this out there, Amazon pays L2 (what you’d be entering as) around $130k/year and L3 (if you got a master’s) $155k/year. Compare that to Mercari or PayPay an entry level dev makes ¥4-6 million. Not to mention, the entry level market is super saturated everywhere so having those 2 internships will give you a leg up in the most competitive market (US).
It’s not the best right now. Some startups are starting to implode with the small number of VCs being extra conservative (read: SoftBank). There are some more established companies out there that you can look into (check out Tokyo Dev)
Would recommend getting some more experience in Canada or the US first and learn Japanese on the side. You can also find a job that has a branch in Japan and transfer there.
It’s better on the data science side but in general you are looking at far lower wages and slow innovation compared to the U.S.
Personally I couldn’t live here comfortably as a salaried employee compared to consulting.
Junior level is really bad currently, there’s a shit ton of junior devs with no Japanese from all over the world competing to get in and very few roles.
The actual lack of man power is in the mid-career sector where they are ironically really hurting for talent.
Your best bet is to either get 3-4 years of good experience in your home country as a SWE, or join a company that allows internal transfer to Japan and come through that way.
Barring that, if you get N2 level Japanese you will have an incredibly good shot overall, I’ve seen some seriously mediocre devs get hired over skilled ones just because they can speak the language.
Good luck hey, sorry theres no easy way in but it’s worth the grind if you’re truly committed to working here.