MMoving to Japan

Can I find a job with no degree, but 8+ years of IT experience?

  • February 8, 2025

I'm 33 with a little over 8 years of experience in IT (networking, database management, & application administration), but I dont have a college degree. I've been studying Japanese for a year or so casually with a tutor (about half way to N4 level).

I've started reaching out to language schools, as my plan is to go to Japan for 2 years of language school to get to N2/N1 and then start job hunting, but I'm hearing that a degree is pretty much a prerequisite for finding a job that will sponsor your visa. Now I'm worried I'll get there and find myself unable to stay after language school. Is the degree really that mandatory, or can I make up for it with my work experience?

by Vordrak_Noth

3 comments

  1. Generally speaking it’s a completed education or 10 years experience. But well known employers can usually fudge the experience a bit if you have technical certifications.

    So having 8 years experience and not 10 is your first problem.

    Your next problem is that Japan is generally a very highly educated country. You’re going to need to get your resume through screening from automated tools and recruiting teams. With no bachelors degree, even with a relevant lesser education and enough experience, there is a good chance your resume will be sent straight to the bin.

    You’ll also need to come up with a plan for how you’d keep your irons in the fire while you’re at language school. If you get lucky and are called for an interview, your interviewer will ask how you’re keeping up to date with industry trends and how you’re keeping your skills fresh.

    So… Could you find a job? Maybe. Won’t be easy. When choosing a language school you’ll also want to discuss with them the potentiality of changing your status at the end of your studies to the job hunting status. Not every language school can help, and of those that can they won’t provide help for every student in every program. Support from the school is a requirement of the status.

  2. Oh wait im not even joking some guy uploaded a completely clear step by step guide on exactly this LOLLLL i just watched the video. he gives instructions for even your case so i think you’d be fine; just search up “how to get an it job in japan” and its some white guy beside a computer screen i think

  3. My experience:

    I came to study in a language school, after a while I decided I wanted to stay in Japan.

    Having 7+ years of experience at the time I found a part-time job in IT, and after some months the company was willing to sponsor a engineering visa.

    I got rejected as I don’t have a bachelor degree.
    They told me that if my highschool was something more technical/IT oriented they could’ve used those years too to reach the 10 years mark but I didn’t (I did a lyceum which in my country is way harder than a technical school but what do I know).

    I’ve been told an ITPEC certification higher than FE level can be used in place of a degree, but doing that exam in Japanese is way above my Japanese level at the moment.

    So in the end I’m going with the spouse of Japanese national route but that’s not something you can really plan for when coming into the country.

    Also, fyi, years worked in part-time do not count towards the 10 years requirement.

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