r/JapanDev

Hello! To start, I am an American undergraduate student from Georgia (pursuing a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech). I have just accepted a full time 12-month internship in Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan working for NTT that will start in January. NTT has a very long (12+ year) relationship with my university accepting, training, and working with tech interns so I am not too worried that they will give me tools I need to succeed once I get started.

I've studied abroad before in Europe so, among other basic travelling skills, I know how important it is to put forward an effort to integrate myself into work culture and respect customs. I've done a bit of snooping here and my own research and one thing that you hear a lot is the work culture of Japan can be intense. This is something I am prepared for, but I wanted to field out any advice from anyone who has done something like this before, or if you have something you think any incoming-intern should know. I want to spend the next 2 months preparing however I can so that I make the best impression possible.

Thank you everyone! I'll try to respond if anyone has follow-up questions so I can elaborate but I just set up my reddit account so I don't know how notifications work (lol).

I’m a software developer from India, and I’m exploring the possibility of moving to Japan for work.

I’d love to hear from developers who have already made the move or are currently working in Japan.

A few things I’m trying to understand:

• How realistic is it to get a software development job in Japan while applying from India?
• Is Japanese language proficiency necessary, or are English-speaking roles genuinely available?
• Which skills and technologies are currently in demand?
• What salary range can someone with around 3 years of experience realistically expect?
• How difficult is the visa and relocation process?
• Is moving to Japan financially worthwhile after considering taxes, rent, and living expenses?

I’m not looking for a sugar-coated answer. I’d appreciate honest experiences, practical advice, and even reasons why moving to Japan might not be a good decision.

Thanks in advance!

Summary :

I have 6 yoe as data professionnal (did two years as a data analyst/scientist, two years as a consultant and two years as a data engineer) and I am wondering if switching to a product/project manager role would be beneficial or a handicap to move in Japan in the coming years.

Long version :

I work in data for 6 years now, but I have always worked on-premise. Now, I am searching a job in Japan and in my home country (because I still don’t have N2, I don’t expect to be hired in Japan in the near future), and I am stuck in both job markets. I had a lot of interviews in France, two recruiters in Japan, and I am mainly screwed because of my lack of cloud-related production experience (before anyone asks, I have a GCP cloud architect certification, but recruiters don’t care). I feel like I am too senior (expensive) to be hired without prior experience on cloud, and I carry my wife and baby so I can’t undersell myself just for the experience.

It happens that I did a lot of project management during those 6 years, and I wouldn’t really mind switching my career to be a data product/project manager.

I was just wondering if having a career in Japan as a product/project manager as a gaijin was harder, easier or more or less the same as having a career with a technical profile.

In terms of employability, Japanese level expectation, salary and so on.