shousommers20 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hartley, I've notice that you live in Yokohama, Japan from the description under your profile picture. I've been to Japan many times and I love it there. I'm half Japanese and although I can't read and write Japanese fairly proficiently, I can have a decent conversation. Even to say that, I doubt I can work at a Japanese company, so what I wanted to ask is if there are many web development(mainly PHP) jobs around the Yokohama and Tokyo area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HartleySan Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 The short answer is yes, there are a fair amount of web development jobs available in Japan, even if you don't speak Japanese. The following two sites are the two main job-search sites in Japan (which feature jobs for Japanese and non-Japanese people alike): http://www.careercross.com/en/ http://www.daijob.com/en/ Also, while having less job postings, I've found the following two sites to be more "gaijin"-friendly, and in general, to have more jobs geared towards foreigners (meaning that if you apply for a job through either of the following sites, you have a much better chance of actually getting a job): https://jobs.gaijinpot.com/ http://www.jobsinjapan.com/?loc=JJA_IT_Technology With all of that said, if you'll indulge me for a minute, I'll tell you about my experiences in Japan. I'm from Ohio in America and I've been in Japan for 7 years now, spending most of that time working as a translator and technical editor of documentation for a major electronics maker in Japan. For most of my 7 years in Japan, I've also been interested in web development and wanted to get a career started in that field just like you. The simple reason I have not made the leap from translator to web developer in Japan though is not because I couldn't, but because all the job offers I have received in the web development field are no good. If you have little to no previous experience as a web developer (and if you can't speak/read/write Japanese that well), then any job offers you get will likely be low pay and 80+ hours of work a week with no overtime pay. The reason I know this is because I have received several web development offers myself, but they've all been of the type described above (and I even speak almost fluent Japanese). Actually, I've more or less become fed up with the job situation in Japan, and as a result, I am planning on moving back home to America with my family in the near future, and am planning and hoping to get a web development career started there. While I don't know what the future holds, one thought that crossed my mind was to work in America as a web developer for a while, getting my experience up, and then returning to Japan to hopefully get a real web development job here someday. I would probably recommend the same thing for you as well. Certainly, if you don't mind a lot of work with low pay, then you probably could get a web development job (most employers tend to prefer Japanese and half-Japanese foreigners over white foreigners like me), but please keep two things in mind: 1) Without a Japanese work visa (and I'm assuming you're not a naturalized Japanese citizen), your options are limited. 2) You will likely have to travel to Japan for all interviews, which you will likely have to pay for. So, yeah, I think using the jobs site I linked to above is enough to find PHP jobs, but actually getting a job that pays well and doesn't require a lot of work could be tricky. As I mentioned before, I'd recommend getting a web development career started where you live now, studying Japanese in the meantime (passing the JLPT1 would be ideal), and after doing web development for 3 years or so, think about looking into Japanese options if you're still interested. I hope that helps, and feel free to ask any further questions if you have them. I'm more than happy to help out in any way I can. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shousommers20 Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thank you for your insight! Although I have done many research on this, from what you said gives me a lot to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shousommers20 Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 haven't* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Conte Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 You should really check out this thing called Personal Messages. Cool read anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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