English Teacher
As much as this doesn't have anything to do with Computer Engineering I am sure I would enjoy it. I love working with children so I think maybe being an Alternative Language Teacher (ALT) would be a fun job. This is by far the most readily available job in Japan. With my credentials I would fair a very good chance of landing one of these jobs.
I am also going to apply for a few linguistic school jobs in Japan. This differs than the ALT jobs in that my students would tend to be professionals wanting to expand their knowledge of English for career related reasons. I think this would also be an interesting job.
The thing about an English Teacher is that it would just serve as a gateway for me to get back to Japan and build up my arsenal of Japanese knowledge. Ideally what I would want to do is go to Japan as an English teacher, spend a few years teaching English, and then find a job more related to my major once I am over there. From what it seems it is immensely easier to get a position in engineering once you already are residing in Japan.
I am also going to apply for a few linguistic school jobs in Japan. This differs than the ALT jobs in that my students would tend to be professionals wanting to expand their knowledge of English for career related reasons. I think this would also be an interesting job.
The thing about an English Teacher is that it would just serve as a gateway for me to get back to Japan and build up my arsenal of Japanese knowledge. Ideally what I would want to do is go to Japan as an English teacher, spend a few years teaching English, and then find a job more related to my major once I am over there. From what it seems it is immensely easier to get a position in engineering once you already are residing in Japan.
Fulbright Scholar
The United States and Japanese government have a long-running program that gives college graduates the opportunity to travel abroad and conduct independent research. This program is fairly competitive, but I do plan on applying for it. The problem here is finding a good research proposal. Looking at past proposals they seem to be fairly broad in category. I could do anything from a technical research topic to a social issue. A lot of thought will need to be put into this before the application.
Graduate School
Going to graduate school in Japan is another possibility. Surprisingly it is considerably cheaper in Japan that it is in the United States. Right now I am about $20,000 in the hole from undergraduate student debts. I would have to take out more to go to graduate school and could very well be in $40,000 in debt by the time I get my Masters. My only realy worry about this route is the linguistic requirement. Right now I can communicate in Japanese just fine, but I dread to think of how a Japanese graduate course in electrical engineering would be. Still, often times these classes are in English.
Domestic Job
I could always get a job in the United States and then hope that the job involves some sort of traveling to Japan. I would definitely get paid quite a bit more money and would have no trouble getting a job within Computer Engineering. This wouldn't be in Japan however and I would likely distance myself from Japan after I get the job.
Japanese Job
The other option would be to find a non-teaching related job in Japan. This could prove to be a little difficult as the economy isn't doing too well right now in Japan and usually foreigner jobs are the first to go. Still I do have experience at a Japanese company so this option cannot be overlooked. I would be willing to take a dent in my salary just for the fact that the job location is in Japan.
I'm sure after living in Japan a while the novelty will go away and it will just become the place that I live. However, the aspect that I think will keep me wanting to live in Japan is the people . Sure it started to get redundant going to festivals/temples and traveling to cities, but the friends that I went with made me appreciate every single moment of it.
I'm sure after living in Japan a while the novelty will go away and it will just become the place that I live. However, the aspect that I think will keep me wanting to live in Japan is the people . Sure it started to get redundant going to festivals/temples and traveling to cities, but the friends that I went with made me appreciate every single moment of it.
I think that the friends that you make will define how much you enjoy living in an area. From my experience in Japan it seemed like it was difficult to make a genuine Japanese friend (outside of the obligatory courtesy that most people display), however once you made a friend you had one for life. I love to get out but I also love to stay in sometimes on lazy weekends. It seems that Japan allows for a comfortable balance for both of these.
Anyways this has more or less just been a way for me to hash out what has been in my mind. This fall will be pretty hectic with applying for jobs, taking tests, hoarding reference letters, and also going to class in the midst. I am going to try to use this blog more as a personal blog for now on.
Anyways this has more or less just been a way for me to hash out what has been in my mind. This fall will be pretty hectic with applying for jobs, taking tests, hoarding reference letters, and also going to class in the midst. I am going to try to use this blog more as a personal blog for now on.
1 comments:
Hi Tim. It's good to see that you're preparing your come back to Japan.
Some countries like France, Australia, and Canada have a working holiday visa exchange program. This allows citizens from these countries to work one year in Japan and is a very nice gateway to getting a full-fledge working visa, since like you said it's much easier to get an engineering job once you're there. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to exist for US citizens.
Another way is to come with a tourist visa and use the 3 months that you get to look for a job full-time. Being in Japan is invaluable to do job interviews. Spring seems to be the best season for that.
The danger with becoming an English teacher is that it will possibly make it difficult for you to come back to engineering later, because you will be labeled as an English teacher. Engineering is also a field in which you need to keep up-to-date. To me this is a dangerous move and only makes sense if you're thinking really long term (getting your ALT position, getting married, then coming back to engineering). It seems fair to give a try to finding an engineering job before resorting to the ALT solution.
Anyway, if you're truly motivated, I'm sure you will make it. Getting a job in Japan is difficult but not impossible at all.
The A in ALT means assistant by the way. This is because this is the Japanese teachers who prepare the lessons and the ALT is only here to provide native speaker assistance. You will never be in charge of preparing the lesson alone. This can be disappointing but it's quite normal since you don't become an English teacher just like that.
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