[Working Abroad] #1 What I did to build an international career

In my previous article, I wrote about how I went to graduate school on a local government scholarship.

In this article, I would like to summarize what I did to build an international career.

One of the reasons I decided to go to graduate school abroad was that I had the goal of "working abroad" in the future.

However, I didn't know from the beginning what I should do to get closer to working abroad.

Should I go to graduate school abroad and look for a job locally?
Should I gain a few years of experience in Japan before going abroad?
How much English preparation is needed?
What kind of experience resonates with overseas recruiters?

Looking back now, I think what was important was not just going abroad suddenly, but deciding on the level of company I was aiming for and working backward from there to gain experience.

This article is specifically about aiming for an international career as a software engineer. If your profession changes, the necessary experience and the points that are evaluated will likely change as well.

First, decide on the level of company you are aiming for

When aiming for an international career, I think the first thing you should consider is not just "I want to go abroad," but what level of company you are aiming for.

Are you aiming for a major company like Big Tech?
Are you aiming for a fast-growing startup?
Are you aiming for a typical local software engineer position?
Are you aiming for a nomadic "work as much as you want, whenever you want" lifestyle?

If this remains vague, the experience you need will also remain vague.

If you are aiming for a major company, it is easier to explain if you have experience in service development at a certain scale or experience in team development. I also had experience involved in service development at a mega-venture company, and I was told that this experience caught their eye during the selection process.

On the other hand, if you are aiming for a startup, it is easier to convey your experience of thinking for yourself and advancing development in a fast-changing environment. In my case, I had experience doing a long-term internship at a startup where I was involved in development with a sense of ownership.

Also, you cannot ignore the issues of visas and work permits when working abroad. In the case of small companies, they may not be used to hiring foreigners or providing visa support. Of course, it depends on the country and the company, but in my case, I thought it was realistic to focus my efforts on companies that were somewhat large or seemed accustomed to hiring foreigners.

Look at the gap between your current experience and the company you are aiming for

In international job hunting, you are not evaluated solely on your English proficiency.

Of course, English is important. However, what is looked at even more is concrete practical experience.

What kind of product were you involved in?
What was the scale of the service?
Which features were you responsible for?
How much did you think and act on your own?
How did you develop within the team?

You need to explain these experiences on LinkedIn, your CV, and in interviews.

I had no experience working as a full-time employee in Japan. However, I did not go to graduate school abroad with absolutely no development experience either.

During my student years, I was involved in development for a total of about one year through long-term part-time jobs and freelance work.

Looking back, this was quite significant.

Of course, it is not the same as having several years of experience as a full-time employee. Still, compared to having no development experience at all, I feel it was a major advantage.

I have been exposed to actual product development.
I have experience developing in a team.
I have been responsible for implementing my own assigned scope.
I have written code as part of a job.

Just having these experiences increases what you can write on LinkedIn or your CV, and makes the content you can discuss in interviews more concrete.

Convert experience into a 'communicable format'

International recruiters may not understand Japanese company names or job titles as they are.

That is why you need to convert your experience into a format that the other party can understand.

For example, just saying 'I did an internship' is weak.

Instead, it is better to say:

• Involved in developing a service with actual users

• Developed a product as part of a team

• Responsible for everything from design to implementation for a certain feature

• Developed while considering priorities in a fast-paced environment

• Took ownership to drive feature improvements

Explaining it in ways like these makes it easier for the other party to visualize.

In my case, my experience being involved in service development at a mega-venture was easy to explain as experience being exposed to large-scale service development.

My long-term internship at a startup was easy to write about as experience where I was given a wide scope of responsibility and developed with ownership.

My development experience from long-term part-time jobs and freelance work also served as material to show that I was not completely inexperienced.

In other words, gaining experience and articulating that experience were a set.

I think it is also a valid option to gain a few years of experience before going abroad.

I went to an overseas graduate school without any experience working as a full-time employee in Japan.

In the end, that route led to me finding a job locally.

However, looking back now, I don't think it would have been too late to gain a few years of experience before going abroad.

In fact, if you have a certain level of company in mind, working for a few years in an environment where you can supplement the experience you currently lack is a very realistic option. Considering the recent progress of AI, it is likely that there is not much appeal in hiring foreigners without practical experience.

If you are aiming for a major overseas tech company, experience working on an in-house service with a large user base is strong. If you are aiming for a fast-growing company or a startup, experience in developing with a sense of ownership in a fast-paced environment is easy to convey.

Of course, there is value in any way of working.

However, from the perspective of communicating to overseas recruiters, there are situations where experiences such as "I was developing an in-house service," "I was involved in a service with a large number of users," or "I was involved in the development of major features" are easier to explain.

What is important is not the number of years itself.

What did you build in those few years?
What kind of responsibilities did you have?
In what kind of environment did you develop?
How can you explain that experience to the next company you are aiming for?

I think it is important to be conscious of these points while gaining experience.

What to do first

If you are aiming for an international career, I don't think you need to create a perfect plan from the beginning.

However, if you just vaguely want to go abroad, it becomes difficult to see what kind of experience you should choose.

First, look at job openings abroad.
Look at the LinkedIn profiles of people working at the companies you want to aim for.
See what kind of experience those people have.
Think about what you are missing compared to your current experience.
Choose an environment where you can fill that gap.

I think just doing this will change your perspective quite a bit.

An international career does not begin after you go abroad.

What kind of experience will you gain while you are in Japan?
How will you articulate that experience?
Which country or market are you targeting?
What level of company are you aiming for?

I think it already begins from the point of thinking about these things.

I didn't have a clear path from the beginning either.

Inspired by my brother's study abroad experience, I became interested in going overseas. I saw potential in the engineering profession, built development experience through mega-ventures, startups, long-term part-time jobs, and freelance contracts, which eventually led me to graduate school abroad and local employment.

However, there were times along the way when I almost took a detour.

Next time, I would like to write about the option of finding a job in Japan that I was considering before going to graduate school abroad.