Salaries in IT

[gaconvn]

I'm 30 (M) and currently making a little more than 8 million a year with 4 years of experience in Japan as a software engineer. From next year, my goal is to earn at least 12 million per year. I'm not in AI and don't have enough competitive programming skills, so the top companies (Google, Amazon, etc.) are not an option for me. So my question is: how realistic are my expectations? And if it's pretty possible, how can I grow my skills (certification, etc.) to achieve the goal?

 

[hark]

@gaconvn I don't have an answer but just to reword the question: You'd like us to predict if you can get a 50% raise as a "software engineer"

1. from a wage that's not low by Japanese standards.
2. to a wage that's high in Japan
3. with 4 years experience
4. with only a two negative statement about your skill set (not AI and not good enough for FAANG)

next year?

 

[nonkuh]

@hark A 50% raise? At this time of year? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?

 

[uoamerica]

@hark Ballsy, I love it - we need more of that!

The real answer to OPs question is to leave the country for a year, get that pay bump to 12M outside of the country, and then leetcode grind and build up your skill set and then make your way back here while preserving your salary.

Entirely doable but will reset any sort of PR clock if that’s important to OP.

 

[gaconvn]

@uoamerica Leaving the county is not an option for me but doing leetcode is obviously a great option. My expectations may not be realistic but thanks for appreciating my ambition.

 

[uoamerica]

@gaconvn Life is too short to live afraid. Take big risks (as long as you win).

 

[gaconvn]

@hark My experience is 5 years in total. 1 year in my own country. I can surely put some more negative statements,

1. Not crazy good with Japanese. I have JLPT N3 and can manage general communication but not good enough.
2. Don't have much exposure to front end development.
3. No certification to showcase my skills. I have only two basic cloud certifications.

Yes I want to achieve the goal by 2025

 

[iridescentlight]

@gaconvn Ngl without a really competitive skillset OR n2/n1 or equivalent Japanese it's going to be hard to achieve your goal. I know programmers on the 12m or higher that you want to reach but most of them are either paid in USD, work at FAANG or adjacent companies, have high level Japanese or are a team lead or have some hot skill sets (finance programming, AI etc)

8m yen is still a lot in Japan, for a man that's like top 10% and considering CoL unless you're trying to live in a crazy apartment you can live a great life buy nice things and save a lot.

 

[gaconvn]

@iridescentlight Thank you for your comment. That gives me a little idea of what I need to work on.

 

[iridescentlight]

@gaconvn No worries, I believe in you mate. When I first came to JP the first offer I got was 5m yen and I was incredibly distressed, but after improving my Japanese, working my way up etc I was able to land a role at 13.5m yen as a team lead, and most of my team is over 10m yen. It's not impossible, just need to keep working towards your goal and not get discouraged.

 

[gaconvn]

@iridescentlight Thanks for your kind words. I also started with a very low salary, 4 million.

 

[jewelpet]

@gaconvn honeslty if it was that easy we all would have over 10m salaries...but good luck

 

[gaconvn]

@jewelpet Thank you. I know it's not easy. It was not easy to reach 8 million even. But not sure how hard it is that's why taking help from reddit.

 

[jewelpet]

@gaconvn most likely you need to change your job to foreign company in Japan and aim for higher position such as project manager or team leader etc. Usually they want 10 years experience for those though...so I would say difficult.

 

[heretostayy]

@gaconvn There are non faang companies that pay well. For example, SmartNews doesn’t require any Japanese language skills at all (for eng) and offers senior level roles at least 17 million (base + bonus) before stock options. Unfortunately if you want a higher pay and want it bad enough, you just need to slowly grind and build up your knowledge and skills.

 

[arcticwind]

@heretostayy Didn't SmartNews layoff like half of their engineers recently?

 

[heretostayy]

@arcticwind Yes, a year or more ago I think. But they’ve been hiring again since the end of last year.

 

[lifebeyond]

@heretostayy If he's not good enough to think of applying for FAANG he most likely won't get hired by SmartNews either, and certainly not in a senior role. Their standards are not very much lower than FAANG.

 

[gaconvn]

@heretostayy Thank you.

 

[jeanvaljean]

@gaconvn I too work in Japanese IT as a full stack engineer, currently self-employed, made roughly 12m last year but probably less this year.

Earning 8m is a feat itself, given 4 years of experience. Couldn’t have been easy to get there. I’d be proud and grateful for the opportunity.

Now 12m is a high bar (especially not running your own business). You’d have to stand out or hit some jackpot. I barely made 8m back when I was an employee, for reference.

To stand out, the easiest path may actually be data science, even if you don’t like studying. I know a couple of fresh graduates who secured a great-paying position with their Kaggle Competition title. You don’t have to be the top player in order to negotiate your salary.

To hit the jackpot, get lucky (lol). Japan is often considered a stagnate economy but in other words money is stuck in places, waiting to be used. I work with a couple of people who are exceptionally good at sniffing out those money. I’m fortunate to have found them and managed to work together.