People often ask me about their chances of getting a developer job in Japan. It’s not something that I’m typically comfortable giving an opinion on, as I believe it always comes down to an individual’s specific circumstances, tactics, and motivation.
Through TokyoDev, though, I’ve helped hundreds of international software developers find jobs in Japan and worked directly with the companies hiring them. This has given me perspective on what makes a candidate attractive to Japanese employers, beyond what appears in job descriptions.
Based on those years of experience, this is my personal framework for evaluating your chances of success. It’s also a good starting point for identifying and fixing anything about your application or experience that might be holding you back from landing a role in Japan.
- Eligibility to work in Japan
- Primary considerations
- Other helpful traits
- What you can do to improve your chances
- Conclusion
Eligibility to work in Japan
As a base condition, you need to be able to acquire a residency status in Japan that will allow you to work.
If you’re not already a Japanese citizen, permanent resident, or able to obtain a dependent visa, this means being able to obtain a work visa. This most likely requires a relevant university degree, but there are some other routes documented in our article on visas for software engineers, including 10 years of work experience or passing an approved IT exam.
Note: If you have been convicted of a crime in another country and served a prison sentence of one year or more, or if you have any drug-related sentences on your record, you may not be able to acquire a work visa or enter Japan at all, even if you qualify on other grounds.
Primary considerations
Beyond basic eligibility to work in the country, the following are key factors to getting a job in Japan. If you don’t have at least one of them, it will likely be very difficult for you to get a job here
You are already residing in Japan and able to work
In this instance, risk is not only the chance that the candidate won’t actually like living in Japan, or will decide at the last minute not to move. It now includes the increased possibility of candidates not being who they say they are.
Additionally, companies who recruit internationally receive an order of magnitude more applications compared to those recruiting locally, so it’s just harder to stand out when applying from abroad. Once someone is already in Japan and able to work, they become more attractive to employers.
You have strong Japanese abilities
Almost all software developers in Japan are Japanese, which means that Japanese is the standard language of communication in nearly all software teams. Many Japanese companies don’t even consider the possibility that there are non-Japanese candidates who want to join them. Multilingual or English-first developer teams, while not unheard of, remain rare.
Companies that require business-level Japanese seem increasingly willing to consider developers applying from overseas. Fewer applicants are qualified for these positions, meaning that you will have fewer competitors.
The higher your Japanese level, the more companies will consider you. If you’re fluent in Japanese, almost every company will be willing to at least look at your application.
The usefulness of Japanese language ability is not restricted to engineering: senior-level developers are often more involved in gathering requirements or talking to stakeholders. Being fluent in Japanese also gives you access to domain-specific Japanese documentation and know-how.
Japanese companies looking to become more international often see hiring developers who speak both Japanese and English as a first step toward building a more global team. With relatively few bilingual developers on the job market, candidates who possess both language skills are particularly attractive to these employers.
You offer something exceptional
In other words, when they look at your resume, a recruiter or fellow engineer is excited at the prospect of working with you. This “something exceptional” could be:
- Experience working at a company famous for its software developers
- Being an author of an open source project with traction
- Building a highly-successful app
- Presenting at developer conferences
- Writing a well-regarded technical blog
- Experience in a unique, related domain outside of software engineering
These accomplishments give employers a concrete reason to believe you’re a first-rate developer before even interviewing you, and help you stand out from the hundreds of other applications they receive.
Other helpful traits
These factors aren’t as make-or-break as those described above, but they all can contribute to your chances of getting hired. The more you have, the better your chances.
Professional experience
Most companies posting on TokyoDev are looking for at least an intermediate level of experience, and often a senior level. You’ll have a hard time getting a company to consider you if you don’t have at least three years of experience, with five or more being desirable.
Novice developers will be competing with Japanese developers; if they do not have the professional experience or native levels of Japanese, then it is hard for companies to justify the additional expenses and efforts for an international hire.
Relevant technical skills
Prior experience with the company’s tech stack is often important, especially if they’re recruiting internationally. While a good developer can pick up a new tech stack quickly, all things being equal, a developer who is already familiar with the stack will be able to onboard faster. Since international candidates will already be adapting to their new lives in Japan, companies are more likely to hire them when they’ll need minimal training on the job.
Also, when companies get a huge number of applications, relevant technical skills are an easy way for them to whittle down the pile.
Experience at a product company
Most Japanese companies with English-speaking development teams are product companies rather than outsourcing companies. When you’re building your own product, you’re incentivized to think beyond short-term goals and focus on creating something valuable over the long term.
Outsourcing companies, on the other hand, tend to view developers as a cost. Their profits depend on the difference between what clients pay them and what they pay their developers. As a result, Japanese outsourcing companies that hire international developers often do so through overseas offices in countries where salaries are lower.
Product companies are different. They see developers as creating value, so they’re more willing to deal with challenges like complicated onboarding or higher salaries, if it means hiring someone who can make a significant contribution.
But having the right technical skills isn’t enough. Product companies also want developers who already understand how to build and improve a product, rather than having to teach new employees that mindset. I’ve even seen some TokyoDev clients explicitly require product development experience in their job descriptions.
English ability
While most software engineering teams work in Japanese, the next most common language is English. For teams working primarily in English, having fluent English abilities is nearly a requirement.
When applying to these companies, your application should demonstrate that you can communicate professionally in English. As discussed in our guide to writing resumes for jobs in Japan, this means making sure your resume is free of typos and reads naturally. AI can help with this, but be careful not to take it too far. I know of many companies that will reject applications that lean too heavily on AI.
Steady employment history
While lifetime employment is no longer an expectation among software companies in Japan, especially the kind that hire internationally, they do expect a new hire to stick around at their company for at least a couple of years.
Listing a couple of jobs where you stayed less than two years isn’t going to disqualify you. What matters more is if your resume shows a habit of changing jobs frequently over the course of your career. For example, if you have 10 years of experience but have never stayed at a company for longer than 18 months, Japanese companies may be reluctant to consider you.
Professional experience as an employee
Japanese companies tend to prefer candidates who have experience working as employees at other companies. If you’ve spent most of your career freelancing or running your own business, you may find it harder to get hired, even if you have strong technical skills.
When hiring a developer, companies aren’t just looking for someone who can write good code. They also want someone who can work effectively as part of a team, collaborate with other departments, and contribute to a product over the long term.
Freelancers and entrepreneurs can certainly have these skills, but their work experience doesn’t always make that obvious. Companies may also worry about whether someone who’s used to working independently will be happy adapting to the structure of a larger organization.
Demonstrating you’re prepared for life in Japan
When you’re applying from abroad, companies want to know: why Japan? Their fear is that they will invest significant time, money, and energy into bringing you to Japan, only to have you quit shortly after because you haven’t been able to adapt.
Demonstrating some sort of tangible connection to Japan shows companies that you aren’t just blindly applying to jobs here. This could look something like: having even basic Japanese skills; studying a Japanese sport, art, or craft; or a family connection.
Beyond having a connection to Japan, you should also demonstrate that you’ve done some basic research into what living and working here would actually be like. This includes understanding typical salaries, the cost of living, and how working in Japan might differ from your home country. Companies want to feel confident that you have realistic expectations about life in Japan, rather than an idealized image that might not survive moving here.
What you can do to improve your chances
If you’ve concluded that your chances of getting a developer job in Japan right now aren’t so great, but you really want to live here, what should you do?
The easiest but highest-risk way is to just move to Japan. Getting a visa that allows you to reside in Japan, such as a Working Holiday, J-Find, or Student visa, would be the first step. These aren’t the most attractive statuses to employers, but they will help you demonstrate your commitment to living here, and potentially make it easier for a company to hire you.
The most challenging but rewarding approach is to demonstrate you’re a first-rate developer. This approach has the advantage of helping you in your career no matter where you’re looking for work.
The barrier for many of the “exceptional developer” activities I described is lower than you’d think. For instance, as an event organizer, I struggle to find volunteers to give talks. As a result I welcome even beginners who have never presented at an event before.
Perhaps the most straightforward method, though, is to become fluent in Japanese. It’s something anyone can do, given enough time and persistence. If you’re truly dedicated to living in Japan, you’ll want to pick up Japanese skills anyway.
Conclusion
This list of factors is just a starting point, and won’t conclusively determine whether or not you’ll be able to get a job in Japan. Every candidate has their own combination of strengths and weaknesses, and different companies will value them differently. You don’t need to check every box to get hired, but the more you have going for you, the more you will stand out to companies.
Ultimately, there’s no single path to becoming a developer in Japan. You’ll need to decide which approach makes the most sense for your circumstances, how much risk you’re willing to take, and how much effort you’re prepared to put into making it happen.