TLDR; Aomori JET ALT. Only 9 months in, but already stressed about future. Balancing full-time work, with getting N2 level Japanese *and* gaining new professional skillset (possibly UX or data analytics) for different career/job after JET, specifically around Tokyo is possble. Super stressed out, need some guidance. Apologies if this topic has been done to death on here already. Peace.
>!Howdy folks, I would like to get some opinions on this. I’ll try to keep it short and concise. I am a current JET ALT (2020 group; sent late 2021) working in Aomori. I’m 9 months in, I’ve already recontracted. I’ll most likely recontract again, so I would say I am probably at least at this position until Summer of of 2024. I am already thinking about the future. Before my group even left, our consulates program coordinator warned us about not sitting idling by and not planning out things post-JET. I see why. I have already seen a few JETs have to go back without too much of a plan and they definitely do not seem to be thrilled about it. I myself don’t really miss my home country despite some of the difficulties here, and considering how long I waited for this opportunity, and then waited through the covid lockdowns, I feel the desire to stay in Japan for a while and make the most of this opportunity that I was lucky enough to receive. I figured the best thing to do is to do the best job I can while teaching here and then in the meantime, work on my Japanese ability and professional skills, so that I can land a job in or near Tokyo after JET. The problem I ran into is trying to organize my time. Do I focus on Japanese and aim for the JLPT N2 (took N5 back in July) but neglect the other skills or do I focus on another skill (example; UX Design) but compromise my Japanese study and gamble on finding a job that is more English friendly? Along with the aforementioned UX Design, I am interested in things like Data Analytics. I have zero background in them, so there will be a lot of self-study. I enjoy working with students and seeing their English abilities grow, but I am not sure about the long term prospects of English teaching in terms of career growth and quite honestly, money. I have a general business degree which I think is honestly kind of useless and I am working on getting a TEFL certification. I don’t think graduate school here is really an option unless I get lucky and can get a MEXT scholarship or something. In any case, I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has navigated this type of situation before. Apologies if this sort of topic has been done to death, but its weighing on my mind quite badly and I feel like I need some guidance.!<
10 comments
What is your current level of Japanese? If you’re already at N3, then focus on UX. Startups and other companies will be a bit more flexible with language ability if you’ve demonstrated a good UX portfolio. I’m not knowledgeable about data analyst jobs here, but my gut tells me they want native speakers for such a role.
When it comes to IT, Japanese will be a plus but is often not needed because IT has a lot of foreign English speaking companies in Japan (so make it a priority, but aim for being conversational and increasing your comfort level in everyday life here. For me I started to get really confident in my ability between N3 and N2). A good place to start would be studying to pass exams to get certified like you would for the JLPT. A good place to start to get a general foundation would be CompTIA A+ certification.
Here’s an example of different certifications for different areas you could consider:
1. Help desk
CompTIA A+ certification
Two exams ($226 each)
Learn about networking, operating systems, security, and mobile devices (just the basics)
2. Cloud
* AWS Cloud Practitioner
One exam ($100)
AWS is the largest cloud provider right now
3. Networking
* CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate)
One exam ($300)
Covers security, cloud, and a bit of programming
4. Security
* CompTIA Security+
($381 for one exam)
Also an entry level cert like the A+ for a foundation in cyber security
5. Ethical hacking
* CompTIA PenTest+
One exam ($381)
Marketable (but Security+ before PenTest+ as foundation)
Here’s a video [about the certs](https://youtu.be/W2tTsjkX76o). Here’s a video [about a guy](https://youtu.be/eLhb1WLqFjE) who got a job in Japan with certs.
I could have written all these. hehe.
OP you’re really doing a lot to set yourself up for success, and the first thing I recommend is a cool morning bath, like a really nice one with some fruit. get a clear head.
and then after this cold morning bath, sit down and time budget your whole week. Time budgeting is what i do, and it’s helped me immensely.
first start with work, block out all the hours you work in a day. after that block off any activities that you partake in here, and you should be left with your “free-time”.
set aside 2 days where you work on UX for 2 hours, and set aside 2 days where you study Japanese for 1 hour. Block some time off that you can only use for your hobbies, for workout – for anything that you want to do.
I have major time blocks in 1 learning japanese 2 cataloguing my teaching to use in the future 3 learning programming and 4 learning a third language.
some tips: I never block off 100% of my day. this is overwhelming and I don’t follow it.
you can use sticky notes or magnets to move your time blocks around to suit your week – they don’t always need to be the same.
do not work for mor time than you block. you’ll burn yourself out and not have mental room for the other goals you have.
with the space that you block for hobbies – actually spend it on your hobbies or on yourself. You need downtime if you expect to be that productive.
​
remember that doing the most is a mental marathon, and like all things it requires training. I know my tendencies and my systems, so im able to time budget in a way that leaves me feeling really accomplished, while not overworking myself.
you’re welcome to message me if you’d like to, but this is what works the best for me and I hope you find it helpful as well.
Maybe network with people in the industry you want to work in?
That’s what I did & now working in marketing in Tokyo.
Social capital is a huge plus!
Network, start meeting people. Did the same thing you’re wanting to do. Go to meet ups.a lot of people were willing to talk to me.
I would say first work on your Japanese. That will be useful no matter what career path you choose and will also be useful for daily life stuff. Even a lot of private hire ALT gigs will want at least N3. I recommend taking Japanese fairly seriously because it can be really easy to plateau if you’re not constantly pushing yourself. Make sure you’re focusing on all 4 skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening).
To give you a sense to expected pacing, I came in with next to 0 Japanese, but like languages, live in an area with few English speakers and made Japanese a priority. My progress was roughly as follows (Times are all measured from when I entered Japan)
N5: 6 months
N4: 1 year
N3: 2.5 years
N2: 3.5 years
N1: 5 years (expected/goal)
I didn’t have access to any sort of class or tutor during the early days and having one definitely would have sped things up. On the upper levels, doing more explicit test prep than I do (I don’t do a lot) would allow you to pass the test faster, but wouldn’t necessarily improve your skills faster.
As for what balance of Japanese and computer stuff? I guess it depends on how much of a long game you want to play. Most programming positions that require Japanese will require N2/N1. You could always go ham on Japanese, use those skills to get a private hire teaching gig, then work on the programming stuff and transition over.
If you neglect your Japanese too much, it’ll make life stuff harder. If you do a little Japanese, then pivot to programming, it’s entirely possible that you’ll just never go back to Japanese and never achieve professional level Japanese. Is that something that matters to you? I’ve heard that transitioning to programming is pretty hard and involves continuing to study programming even after you get a job, so I think it’s unlikely that you’ll have the time/energy to keep studying Japanese after getting a programming job.
My other random advice would be to keep your LinkedIn updated. Once I put my N2 certificate on there I started getting a bunch of messages from recruiters
Data analytics is SUPER over saturated. So many people with those skills already and not enough jobs, same with UX/UI. Idk why universities keep selling these as a get rich soon careers when they’re far from it.
Learning Japanese will give you a better chance at getting a job than learning to code/design/tech will.
I’m in a relatively similar situation where I feel like I only have a little bit of time to get the job I want. Here’s my two cents:
For starters, your business degree is alot more versatile than what I have so you may be in luck. studying BI or business analytics is a good adjacent path to Data analytics. That said the general rule of thumb in Japan with technical positions is that if your skills are highly valuable, your japanese skills are looked over(when I say looked over I mean N1-N2 might become N3 level). These situations almost always are exclusive to SDEs but I can imagine data science and analytics are similar since you need to use R and Python and probably a bunch of visualization software.
Japanese should be studied every day at least 2 hours, but in my opinion the skills that take a 4year uni degree to get should come first.
Do you have experience in UX or data analytics? If not, then this is gonna be tough. Not as tough as it might be if you were looking for work from outside Japan, but still pretty tough.
Personally, I would focus predominantly on the new career stuff. You are going to need to get a job where business-level Japanese ability is not a requirement, because if you are only just at N5 you will not be at the level you need to be any time soon. (By which I don’t mean N2; I mean “able to work on technically demanding projects to a deadline using jargon-heavy Japanese that even native speakers would struggle with if they weren’t in tech themselves”).
You are probably going to want to register with a recruitment agency – Robert Walters, RGF, etc. – and talk to a recruiter about your options. You are going to want to head to tokyodev.com and japan-dev.com and see what kinds of roles are being recruited for; and make sure you are picking up those skills.
You are right that technical ability can offset the need for Japanese – but UX is a tough one because the job involves a lot of discussion (with customers, product management, sales, etc.) as well as technical know how; and data analysis usually requires making data insights available to stakeholders (through the use of communicative channels: reports, visualisations, public facing stuff).
If you want my advice, forget about UX or data analytics – learn programming and become a backend software engineer. There are plenty of good reasons for this:
– There are more jobs, more regularly posted, with better pay
– You have far less chance to need to speak Japanese
– You have far more chance of getting an entry level role as a foreigner (although still quite small)
– You have plenty of excellent learning resources out there; plus there are coding bootcamps in Japan that teach in English and help graduates find work. They may even have part time online versions that you could do alongside work.
– The expat programmer community is big and varied; you can probably talk to people online and find opportunities a bit easier than with UX/data (this is speculation on my part)
– Recruitment agencies will be able to offer you more roles, as there are more to offer.
– It’s much easier to switch over into data/UX later, once you’re already gaining experience in tech. Heck, if you’re in the right company, they might train you and slip you directly into a new role.
– If you’re torn between data and UX (two pretty different disciplines) then odds are you haven’t really committed to either, and you might as well jump on the coding bandwagon now before you go too deep into one of those other things 😅
If you want my *real, honest, but probably unsatisfying* advice – you should go back to your home country, get a few years of experience there, then return to Japan with a mid-level position. By and large, this is the most reliable way to break into the best tier of tech jobs in Japan.