IT Engineer Jobs in Japan

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IT Engineer Jobs in Japan for Foreigners

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IT Engineer Jobs in Japan for Foreigners

IT Engineer Jobs in Japan for Foreigners

For Japanese companies, information technology (IT) has become one of the significant parts for promoting business: many IT engineers work not only at IT companies but also in manufacturing fields, which is one of the main industries in Japan. Due to the increasing number of foreign tourists, the number of web media and apps for foreigners is increasing in Japan. Therefore, the demand for foreign IT engineers with language skills is also increasing. For example, more than 80% of the IT engineers recruitment at Rakuten, one of Japan's leading IT companies, is non-Japanese. Not only major IT companies but also minor and venture companies are actively recruiting skillful foreign job seekers.

With the increase in job offers of foreign IT engineers, the number of workers who obtain technical visas in Japan is also increasing. According to the survey on employment published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan, the number of foreign IT engineers working in Japan has increased by about 56% in the five years from 2008 to 2013. Especially, those IT developing countries such as China, Korea, and India account for the number of working engineers; 90% of the increase.

Moreover, the Japanese government established a new status of residence called Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) to attract foreign IT human resources.
So, what kind of skills are required to work in Japan as a foreign IT engineer? This article answers the question. Also, we pick up the job posting websites and temporary-employment agencies. Please check it out and find the best job for you.

Contents

Career Change: IT Recruitments for Foreigners

Technology is constantly evolving in the IT world, and the required skills and experience change according to the situation. Nowadays, a lot of new services are provided due to the spread of smartphones. When looking for an IT job in Japan, well-experienced people with advanced skills and the latest knowledge are more demanded rather than high-level Japanese language acquirers, such as JLPT N1. In particular, there is no problem with little Japanese skills if you work for applications or Web medias specialized in foreigners. In this case, English and Chinese skills are often emphasized.

An Example of Job Change Offer for Foreign Engineers
Occupation Application Engineer
Job Description System planning, development, maintenance, and operations related to the utilization of SMBC Group data, etc.
Area Tokyo
Wages Monthly salary 284,000 yen ~
Work Style Weekly two-day off (Saturday, Sunday), public holidays, paid leave, year-end and New Year holidays, childcare leave, caregiving leave (120 days of annual holidays)
Working Time 9:00~17:30 (1-hour break)
Welfare
  • Social insurance
  • Commuting allowance
  • Housing allowance: max 40,000 yen/month
  • Singles dormitory available
  • Overtime allowance
Applying Conditions
  • Experience in application development or as a leader/sub-leader in system development projects
  • Japanese: Business level
  • Any nationality OK (*>diversity environment with various nationalities)
  • Welcome those with experience in application development using Java/Python
  • Welcome those with cloud development experience in Salesforce, AWS, Oracle Cloud, etc.

*As of January 2024 (contents may have changed).

Visit doda Engineer IT (in Japanese)

Recommended the Job Posting Websites for Changing Career Foreigners

This is a job-offering website specializing in IT engineers. The number of recruitment is higher than other websites. You can search with conditions such as occupation, programming language, ability, and experienced business field. As registering the scout function after becoming a free membership, you can receive job offers from companies that are interested in you. Also, you can clip your favorite job postings to the Job Requisition Data Comparison Table, which makes it easier to compare and manage many job postings.

Visit Rikunavi NEXT IT Career (in Japanese)

This is a job-offering website specializing in the IT and web industry. You can use the career-change agent service, which professional agents introduce you non-disclosure recruitment, by registering a free membership. Also, you can search for jobs with your desired conditions. The IT and web occupations are subdivided into 10 categories so it is easy to access recruitment information that suits your needs. In addition to Tokyo, Kanagawa and other metropolitan areas, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, and so on have bases, so it is supportable for local job changes. The career change counseling is open on weekends and holidays as well as on weekday nights. The website owns plenty of useful articles such as career change manuals and successful job change guides for the IT and Web industries.

Visit doda Engineer IT (in Japanese)

Temporary Staff: IT Recruitments for Foreigners

The wage for temporary IT engineer staff is usually higher than for other temporary staff. You can expect even higher wages if you have IT qualifications and English skills. For a foreigner to work as a temporary engineer staff, it is necessary to register with a temporary agency. Although the required conditions for registration are different with each agency, you must need a resident status that allows you to work in Japan (*). Besides, you might need some communication skills in Japanese to register. If you are interested, it is a good idea to check the conditions before registering.

The IT industry in Japan faces a serious shortage of engineers. Therefore, the number of recruitment that inexperienced people can apply is increasing. If you have no experience as an engineer but considering a career as it, you can first work as temporary staff to acquire skills, and then change to a full-time employee. Regardless of the experience, registering with a temporary IT agency helps your career as an IT engineer.

*Resident status that allows you to work in Japan: technical, human knowledge, international work, Japanese spouse, permanent resident spouse, or permanent resident.

An Example of Temp Works for Foreign Engineers
Occupation Security Engineer
Job Description
  • Security operations and monitoring of the system
  • Contacting clients in case of alerts (via email in English) *About 10 cases per day
  • Reporting on security monitoring results
  • Handling inquiries (via email in English)
  • Creating monthly reports on the monitoring results (in English)
Area Tokyo
Wages 338,700 yen/month
Working Time 9:00 ~ 17:30 *7.5 hours for working
Term of Contract from February 1, 2024. *long-term (more than 6 months)
Applying Conditions
  • Experience in operations administration
  • Business document creation and comprehension in English

*As of January 2024 (contents may have changed).

Visit Pasona Temp (in Japanese)

Recommended IT Engineer Temporary Agencies for Foreigners

This IT temporary agency handles recruitment for general temporary staff and planned temporary staff(*). It also welcomes inexperienced engineers. It has various occupations for IT engineers such as programmers, SEs, network engineers, user support services, help desks, web creators, and so on. A Professional consultant who is familiar with IT and web engineers is in charge of matching with job offers. Therefore, they can introduce a suitable job along with the user's skills. Besides, there is extensive support for temporary engineers. For example, there are incentives for acquiring qualifications and special prices for hotels and leisure facilities.

*Planned temporary staff: It is a temporary worker that can be a full-time worker after finishing the contract term if you and the company agree with each other.

Visit Adecco (in Japanese)

This company took over the operations of PASONA TECH, which specializes in sending temporary IT engineers, on October 1, 2022. It introduces a wide range of jobs such as IT engineers and creators. After registered the free membership, you can receive private job offers. Besides, you can take a free career counseling, free technical seminars, and skill upgrading training at a discounted price. For those who work as PASONA TECH's temporary engineers, a support system is irregularly in place that refunds the full amount of the qualification acquisition fee that was pre-declared. If you are looking for recruitment that can improve your career, this agency is the most recommended.

Visit Pasona Temp (in Japanese)

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