Anyone here from the land of Japan?

Hi folks,the subject says it all. I was hoping to find out good places for job hunting. Specifically for people wanting to break into sec/net/IT field.

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l!ght

Thank you for the input. Actually JLPT thing is not the main concern. I have experience working in all-Japanese company and did reading/writing/speaking in Japanese. The problem is that IT positions advertised (and they do advertise through recruiting companies) have very high experience expectations. I mean 6+ years, 10 years etc. I have seen these ads stay for months and months without being closed. So, I guess there aren't that many people with such experiences, who are a foreigner and already living in Japan. If you have 10 years of experience in the field and you are a foreigner, you probably do NOT want to come to Japan. Why? There will be many more positions available at home country. And you don't need Japanese skill. I didn't notice any junior positions.

esswok

I know you asked about Japan, but China may be simler about IT jobs?
My personal expierence in China,reguarding IT: if you want to break into IT in Asia you should be of middle school age no older.
IF you are good, IT and speak english well you can get a job.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2799161&trk=anet_ug_hm

Asia, China, Southeast Asia and Middle East Job & Career Network

this is an asia job site you need to be a member of this site. it may work for you I joined somewere on the CLN

XiaoTech

Middle school age? Was that a typo? Maybe you meant middle aged, as in an experienced tech?

I know I want to work in Japan one day, but my Japanese is not quiet N2 yet, and little tech experience. If the OP is fluent in Japanese, I doubt he is interested in China (although I wouldn't mind going to China for a visit. Chinese food is vastly superior than Japanese food imo).

あぁ、いつか戻りたい、日本。

l!ght

XiaoTech wrote: »

Middle school age? Was that a typo? Maybe you meant middle aged, as in an experienced tech? I know I want to work in Japan one day, but my Japanese is not quiet N2 yet, and little tech experience. If the OP is fluent in Japanese, I doubt he is interested in China (although I wouldn't mind going to China for a visit. Chinese food is vastly superior than Japanese food imo).あぁ、いつか戻りたい、日本。

Japan is an interesting market. Security is almost not a necessity for the businesses. I was once told by one of the Managers "Hackers have nothing to steal from us". Like hackers are not known to delete or post PII on the Internet for fun. I never bothered going for any of the Japanese level tests. I can read (yes with a dictionary), write (yes, also with a dictionary) and speak. So what is the problem ?

Shockwave29361

My input may not be as useful but better than nothing I suppose. I work in Okinawa for a consulting/engineering company. All of the Americans I work with have either gotten out of the military and got citizenship or are over here on an X-year contract. From what I've seen, people over here get jobs by knowing someone or their co-workers know someone. Most organizations are fairly close-knit and you can develop a reputation among them fast. Here is a website for the Marine bases, http://www.mccsokinawa.com/, there is an Air Force base here also but their employment office severely underpays IT positions.

esswok

I meant middle school:
The OP said he wanted to break into IT. ( I took that as wanting to begin a tech career)
Middle school ages in China are doing IT, My 33 year old wife built PC's and worked in the school networking labs when she was in middle school.

I am basing what i said on my personal expierence living in China and my wife being born in China. Since I was born in America and lived in America my whole life and also lived in China I do feel that i am qualified to say, Chinese in general are futher advanced at a much younger age than Americans.
If you want to break into IT in Asia you should be middle school age that is when they begin.
My wife has just recently graduated from an American college even though he already has a BA in China. She said that the courses that she took here at the American college, Math and Science were exactly the same as the classes that she took in middle school in China.

l!ght

esswokYour opinion is of course valid. However, it is valid for those who try it in China. Saying that to get into IT in "Asia" you have to be in middle school is just not accurate. Asia is not just China. In fact in Japan knowledge of networks, for that matter computers in general is very low. It is way lower than in US and cannot eve be compared to China. If you ever saw "computer class" at schools in Japan you would laugh. It is more like trying to learn office suite, draw pictures etc.Shockwave29361I would love to work in or around the base (although I am in Kanto area), but many jobs require getting DoD clearance at least from what I saw in jobs postings). I am not an American citizen, so that is impossible.

Zentraedi

esswok wrote: »

I meant middle school:
The OP said he wanted to break into IT. ( I took that as wanting to begin a tech career)
Middle school ages in China are doing IT, My 33 year old wife built PC's and worked in the school networking labs when she was in middle school.

I am basing what i said on my personal expierence living in China and my wife being born in China. Since I was born in America and lived in America my whole life and also lived in China I do feel that i am qualified to say, Chinese in general are futher advanced at a much younger age than Americans.
If you want to break into IT in Asia you should be middle school age that is when they begin.
My wife has just recently graduated from an American college even though he already has a BA in China. She said that the courses that she took here at the American college, Math and Science were exactly the same as the classes that she took in middle school in China.

esswok wrote: »

I know you asked about Japan, but China may be simler about IT jobs?
My personal expierence in China,reguarding IT: if you want to break into IT in Asia you should be of middle school age no older.
IF you are good, IT and speak english well you can get a job.

Don't listen to this guy. His posts are based upon irrational hyperbole and 3rd hand anecdotes.

Anyway, it's not that easy to break into things here without experience. If you had come over with prior experience and were learning Japanese, that would be a different story.

If you really like working on certs, try applying to Cisco and Microsoft partners. Currently, many of the large companies are moving their internal IT staff to managers and leaving the grunt work to on-site vendors and unpromotable legacy employees. Many of those vendors rely on certified staff to keep up partnership levels. Keep in mind, having just a CCNA won't mean a thing.

Once you get some of those base level certs like CCNP and MCITP:EA, you could really go for some of the areas that are lacking and desperately need here in Tokyo. From what I've seen, Juniper and Avaya skills are not as common, but still in high demand.

Other in-demand skills are: Checkpoint, Exchange, Sharepoint, Oracle, Solaris, and Red Hat.

For now, just try daijob and careercross. You could also try submitting your CV to all the headhunters: Robert Walters, Trade Winds, etc.