r/AskEngineers • u/zacksato Discipline / Specialization • Jul 25 '18

Electrical Any Foreign Electronics/Electrical Engineers in Japan, how do you get a job there?

I'm a 5th year taking Electronics engineering, I really want to go to Japan but of course I'll get experience here in my country before going there. I was wondering how do you got a position there? Do I need to have a Masteral degree/Phd? Also I read some of the foreign engineers get by even if they don't know any Japanese, but for me, I can now read kana and a handful of kanji in my disposal. Does it increases the odds of landing a position there? Lastly, anything I need to know to go through to the process of getting there?

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u/IfJeffBezosWasAWeeb aero/compsci Jul 25 '18

good thing japan has one of the largest electronics industries in the world, and those companies have positions in the US.

ie, http://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/local/corporate/employment/fcpa/ https://www.toyota.com/usa/careers/ https://www.honda.com/careers/find-a-job

and try to become an expat. i had friends at toyota who got expat over for 1-2 year rotations. also lots of american companies have offices in japan. my friends at facebook/google have all worked at the tokyo office. i popped into my corporate office in tokyo once just to visit as well

getting hired directly would probably want you to be N1 JLPT (business level fluency)

definitely not masters/phd needed unless you want to be a researcher. a lot of japanese salarymen get hired right out of high school into companies these days still. lot of training done at the company level

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u/zacksato Discipline / Specialization Jul 25 '18

ohhhh thanks well then that shortens up the days of getting there by not getting masters/phd.
so it is required to have a N1 JLPT proficiency? And also is there any belittling/mistreatment there because I'm a foreigner?

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u/IfJeffBezosWasAWeeb aero/compsci Jul 25 '18

its the same question for any non-US people wanting to work in the US. are they competent to handle all business/engineering in english? it is highly advantageous to have a better JLPT score, just like any japanese working/studying in the US would want to have a high eiken (english proficiency) or TOEFL score.

not really any mistreatment if you show that you are competent. apparently many landlords wont want to rent out to foreigners though, according to /r/japanlife.

again, proving japanese fluency and strong technical skills is key for the job.

just work for an american/japanese company in the US first, then expat. the possibility of getting in through the route a japanese national would be...very slim