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mrmachine
Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 12
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 Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 4:29 am Post subject: programming or teaching in osaka |
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i'm moving to japan in late jan / early feb and plan to live in osaka. i'd like to get a programming job if i can. i have 5 years experience working in sydney with SQL, ASP, PHP, Photoshop etc (web development). but my japanese is still very basic. i've been studying in australia for 6 months already, but i'm not able to have a decent conversation in japanese yet. my alternative fallback job is teaching english, but i'd rather not do that if i can work as a programmer.
what are my chances? should i resign myself to the fact that teaching is the only thing i can do in japan, at least until my japanese skill increases dramatically? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 4:43 am Post subject: Re: programming or teaching in osaka |
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| mrmachine wrote: |
i'm moving to japan in late jan / early feb and plan to live in osaka. i'd like to get a programming job if i can. i have 5 years experience working in sydney with SQL, ASP, PHP, Photoshop etc (web development). but my japanese is still very basic. i've been studying in australia for 6 months already, but i'm not able to have a decent conversation in japanese yet. my alternative fallback job is teaching english, but i'd rather not do that if i can work as a programmer.
what are my chances? should i resign myself to the fact that teaching is the only thing i can do in japan, at least until my japanese skill increases dramatically? |
You are barking up the wrong tree here as this is an ESL website and most of the posters here are language teachers. Try posting on http://www.gaijinpot.com in the IT thread or have a look on the IT section of http://www.jobsinjapan.com or http://www.jobsinjapan.com/jobs/it.html What can you do that a qualified Japanese programmer can not do?
Nice to know you think so highly of language teaching as a last resort. Makes me feel a whole lot better about myself, though thats what you may find yourself doing till you get established and learn the language. |
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mrmachine
Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 5:10 am Post subject: |
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hey paulh, i mean no offense to english teachers in japan by saying it is my second choice. it's just that i don't think i will be great at teaching english due to my character and nature. i'll be less comfortable in front of a class than i will typing codes. but at the same time i'm interested to do it for the experience and to put myself out of my comfort zone and learn something new.
so forget about the IT stuff for a moment, if i am to teach in osaka/wakayama, how tough is it going to be to find work and get up to speed? i don't have any experience teaching and i never went to university. i want to make learning japanese a priority and i have a little savings so i was considering doing full time study and part time teaching or private conversation practice etc. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| mrmachine wrote: |
it's just that i don't think i will be great at teaching english due to my character and nature. i'll be less comfortable in front of a class than i will typing codes. but at the same time i'm interested to do it for the experience and to put myself out of my comfort zone and learn something new.
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About 90% of the people who come to Japan for the first time have no teaching qualifications or experience. Mainly employers look for people with a degree (for the work visa), are reasonably personable and sociable, and good at chit-chat. Teaching at a conversation schools is not so much about 'teaching' but providing a role model for speaking English, allowing conversation practice for paying 'customers' who will speak anything from no English at all to fairly fluent speakers. A lot of the the time you will be making small talk with small groups (2-3 students at a time) of similar level students, 6-7 classes a day. Not rocket science but requires no special teaching skills except having a valid work visa and a personality that wont bore your students to death. You wont be in front of a class so much, as in most private language schools you will be in a cubicle or small room,and it will be like teaching out of a wardrobe.
| mrmachine wrote: |
so forget about the IT stuff for a moment, if i am to teach in osaka/wakayama, how tough is it going to be to find work and get up to speed? i don't have any experience teaching and i never went to university. i want to make learning japanese a priority and i have a little savings so i was considering doing full time study and part time teaching or private conversation practice etc. |
Just out of curiousity what kind of visa would you have? I don't know about getting IT jobs but for teaching jobs you need either a working holiday visa, a work visa (which requires a university degree). I imagine IT jobs require previous related experience, certification and a sponsor for your work visa.
At the entry level it doesnt take long to learn how to teach English and get up to speed. the bigger language schools have teachers teaching 3 or 4 days after they arrive in the country and some people get no training what so ever- they learn OTJ. If you wont to learn how to teach properly of course, learn some skills and techniques it will take you a little longer. A certified CELTA course in Australia for example costs about AUS$1500 and takes a month. Not really needed for teaching at an entry level in Japan but highly recommended if you plan on going in cold with a live student as soon as you get here. MOst students dont reallycare about your qualidfications and experience but simply pay to sit in a room with a native speaker for 40 minutes.
Its pretty hard to find work in Osaka at the moment (especially during winter) and Wakayama though nice is pretty rural. It would be like working in Gosford or Wollongong, rather provincial. I live near Osaka (near Nara, in southern Kyoto) and though I dont know what the job situation is like it is possible to find jobs if you are persistent, not too picky about where you work. Dispatch companies (they send teachers to work in high schools as ALTs) are always looking for people but the pay is not good and there are generally poor working conditions and benefits.
If you want to study Japanese you are going to need more than a little money as language schools to study Japanese are quite expensive, you still need to eat, and you wont have much time if you are working all day as well on a conversation teachers salary. People either work full time to stay afloat, save a little bit of money, or they are professional students, do nothing but study Japanese 4-5 hours a day and live on the smell of an oil rag. Very few teachers, i have found teach English and become good at Japanese, which in itself, is a full time endeavor requiring a lot of discipline and hard work. Remember you have 2000 Kanji to learn as well and find time to use the language, pretty hard to do when you are speaking English all day. Immersion in a Japanese company situation is best but actually finding people to have conversations with is harder than it sounds, unless you enjoy talking to strangers.
If you are on a student visa its possible to study full time, but then you have the question of finding someone to hire you as a teacher on a student visa as well as making ends meet. Private students, as Glenski will tell you, its possible to get on a casual basis but they dont fall out of the sky, you will have to go out and find them, and you usually have to be able to speak some Japanese to negotiate fees and find out what their needs are etc, have teaching experience to know what and how to teasch them, and be somewhat established here. Most people will pick up privates by pirating old students from their conversation school or by word of mouth, handing out flyers. It may take you 6 months of living here to collect a good number. Plenty of students who want to study but most want to pay nothing for it, or free 'language exchange' (which is mostly English) rather than a paying concern.
Sorry if this sounds disconcerting but for someone starting out in your position you will have to make your way here, find somewhere to live, get a job and find a way of paying your bills. Once you have got established then you can start hunting out Japanese lessons and privates, but none of this will happen over night. Bank on spending 6 months to a year in Japan to get yourself set up with an apartment and finding your way around Osaka. Im sure there may be IT jobs but you have to know people and know some of the language. It will take time.
For jobs in Osaka I suggest you look at Kansai Flea Market which has all the Kansai job classifieds.
http://www.kfm.to
Good luck.
Last edited by PAULH on Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:51 am Post subject: |
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Just in case you were wondering what an average language teacher at NOVA does all day have a look at this fairly (objective) NOVA website
http://www.vocaro.com/trevor/japan/nova/level_up.html
May not be your cup of tea or your first choice of job but with no Japanese ability and skills that Japanese will be able to use this may be one of your only alternatives at least in the beginning. This is not to say IT and tech jobs are not out there, they are just pretty hard to find, thats all. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:56 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| i'd like to get a programming job if i can. i have 5 years experience working in sydney with SQL, ASP, PHP, Photoshop etc (web development). but my japanese is still very basic. i've been studying in australia for 6 months already |
| Quote: |
| i never went to university. |
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