Salaries in IT

[gaconvn]

@jeanvaljean I'm proud and satisfied at my current state. I just want to hustle my way up. Thank you for your comment. I'll surely try to hit the jackpot besides upgrading my skills

 

[nonkuh]

@jeanvaljean Did you get a cs degree to get where you are?

 

[jeanvaljean]

@nonkuh Yes I got a cs degree in socal

 

[a17]

@jeanvaljean I have a business degree but I want to change careers to something within CS and move to Japan. What field within CS do you think has the highest demand? Any insight on if a CS degree is requires to land a job? Or if I have the skills is that enough? Did you work for a company in SoCal first before you moved to Japan?

 

[jeanvaljean]

@a17 Just a quick thought but maybe look into IT consultant positions? There’s plenty open, good paying & you can leverage your business degree/experience there.

For software engineering positions, you do need some coding experience, not a CS degree. maybe QA positions, but not good-paying.

I did work for an ex-Intel venture in San Francisco. I moved there as I graduated in SoCal. Very good paying and a lot of great experience.

 

[a17]

@jeanvaljean Thank you for that suggestion, I will look into IT consulting as a possible route! You mentioned that a CS degree may not be necessary if I have the coding experience. What are some in demand coding languages? I read that Python may be a good starting point. I assume I would need at least a few years of work experience in the states before a company in Japan would consider me ?

 

[jeanvaljean]

@a17 Python is more than a great choice to get started in coding. Just an important note here, a coding language itself doesn’t really have value in it. Python for example is tied to data science, which takes its own course of education on top of learning Python. Same principle applies to other languages at varying degrees.

For prior work experience, or to frame it more realistically, you’ll need to out-compete Japanese candidates, where you’re in a disadvantage because businesses expect upfront cost in hiring foreign workers. Simply put, you need to have some serious talent or get very lucky.

Another thing to worry about is why you want to move to Japan. I wouldn’t have come and worked here if I wasn’t born here. All my pre-COVID friends have moved back to the states because Japan wasn’t as good as they thought.

 

[a17]

@jeanvaljean So I actually have citizenship and can speak both languages. Luckily I wouldn’t need a company to sponsor me if I were to get hired. I’ve lived in the US all my life but the quality of life is getting worse each day. With the rising cost of living I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a home here in the states, at least not in SoCal where I live. I have some family in Japan and I feel like I fit the culture better there whenever I visit. I was trying to think of the best way to find a job over there and I just didn’t think my business skills were transferable, hence the reason I was thinking that learning some coding would be better in terms of finding a decent paying job. I do have a programming cert from a local community college here and was thinking I can use that as a starting point.

 

[jeanvaljean]

@a17 Sounds like a plan! Good luck.

 

[blight91]

@gaconvn In general, if you want to make more than the average in your industry, you've got to do more than the average person in your industry. You've got a big advantage in the Japanese market in that you speak English, because that opens up higher-paying jobs right off the bat.

But it sounds like you need to improve your skills. It doesn't need to be AI or AI related, although that helps. Front-end development is among the lower-paid areas, so fine that you don't know it. Mobile is a bit better, back-end is the highest IME.

You don't have energy/motivation to boost your skills outside of work, so what remains is to do that at work. Join, or better yet propose, ambitious projects that stretch you and make you learn new things. Get the company to send you to conferences, and network. If you have a company blog, write an article for it. Etc.

Finally, the quickest and easiest way to boost your salary is to get better at interviewing. It's a skill that needs to be trained like any other. I'd aim to interview 1-2 times per year just to test the waters and polish your interviewing skills. Probably want to start with companies you don't mind being rejected by.

 

[gaconvn]

@blight91 Yeah interviewing once/twice a year seems to be a very good idea. I can test my skills and also get ideas about market needs. With my company I'm growing myself but at a very slower rate. Seems like I really need to find motivation/energy to work on myself after work hour as well. Thank you so much for your insightful comment.

 

[njn]

@gaconvn Why not prepare to join a FAANG? If you focus on preparing for 6-months you can get in. You have to leetcode every day though, and review DataStructures, and Sorting Algos.

 

[gaconvn]

@njn I really tried a few times but always failed for my lack of consistency. I find it very difficult to manage time after work and family chores. I'm almost mentally exhausted at the end of the day after work. And I'm always in doubt that should I learn competitive programming or use the time to increase my knowledge about the domain I'm working on?

 

[njn]

@gaconvn Yeah is an investment that you need to think about. 12M/year on standard Japanese company, or startup is really unlikely unless you become project lead/manager.

 

[gaconvn]

@njn Thanks for your comment.

 

[seanzee]

@gaconvn With your current skillset, think as you are blessed with 8m income. Want 50% increase by next year? Go do enough sales to earn you incentives

 

[savedbygracethrufaith0713]

@gaconvn Have you looked into banking / finance / asset management sectors?

 

[gaconvn]

@savedbygracethrufaith0713 I work in the finance sector but haven't seen into banking or asset management companies. I thought the banking sector will not be willing to pay a higher salary as they'll be hardcore Japanese companies. But that is just my dumb guess.

 

[savedbygracethrufaith0713]

@gaconvn Lots of foreign staff at these companies. I have a few friends in the business. Some perm some contractors. All very well payed. Above your target.

 

[gaconvn]

@savedbygracethrufaith0713 Thanks. Great to know. I actually had one interview for a contractual position but they were working with some obsolete tech stack from 90's. I'll try to explore the banking sectors as well.