Software Work in Tokyo

topic posted Thu, May 10, 2007 - 12:11 PM by  offlinet¤mmΨ
I just came back from a 3 week stint in Japan and absolutely LOVED it. Seriously thinking of moving over there for a little while (6months - 2 years). I'm an Oracle applications software developer. One possibility is trying to do Oracle consulting over there, but I'd like to do something new.

Anyone have any recommendations on getting a software position in Tokyo? Also, how tough is the business culture in Japan? That's the one warning I get - it's a great place to visit, but very tough to work in. Any truth to that? Maybe if I worked for an American software company.

Thanks for any guidance... I'm just beginning my research.

--tom
posted by:
t¤mmΨ
SF Bay Area
  • Re: Software Work in Tokyo

    Mon, June 11, 2007 - 9:32 PM
    I'm not sure what Oracle's presence in Japan is, but if you can get a company to sponsor your move to Japan and pay you a non-Japanese salary, you'll be so far ahead of the game it will not even be comparable to the experience of Japanese citizen employees. In general pay ranges from 40-60% of equivalent jobs in the USA, but can require commonly a 50 hour workweek that can slide toward 60 hours per week without much reason for it.

    Another option is living here but working remotely; I've seen it done, particularly with programmers. And because of the wage discrepancy, even if you take a wage hit, you'll still be making more than working code for a Japanese company.

    OTOH, if your work is at all relevant to the financial sector you will be more able to command a livable wage - or even an exorbitant wage.

    Here is a thread relating to some of this, where an IT professional is looking to move:
    tokyopia.com/tk/forum/index.php
    There are many other threads in that forum about living in Japan and working as well.

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