Hello everyone, I’d appreciate some advice.
I’m a 26-year-old working in R&D as an AI Engineer for a large Italian company in Italy. I have about 1 year of experience and I’m trying to assess if moving to Japan would be feasible.
My job focuses on generic implementation and deployment rather than model training or research. I mainly use Python and Go (I'm involved in some Blockchain PoCs, though nothing production level yet). I also have a bit of experience with standard backend development.
As for my Japanese, I’m N2-ish (I can pass N2 mock tests) and my speaking is at least conversational. I’m planning to get my cert this December.
I'm not planning to apply from abroad because, although I'm self taught, in 2 years, I plan on attending a language school first to reach N1 (I'd do it anyway because I'm very very passionate about the language specifically and really want to reach a high proficiency level). I'd hopefully have 3 years of working experience by then.
I know that getting a job there is very hard because of saturation and the people that apply are really good, but I still want to take my chance.
However, I have concerns about my degree. Due to my family's financial situation, I always had to work full-time after high school and had to enroll in an online university to get my Bachelor’s degree (3 years laurea triennale). Before that, I obtained a 2-year diploma specialized in software development and focused on networking, which helped me land my current role
My questions are:
- Would recruiters filter me out because my degree is from an online university? In Italy (and Europe), it is legally recognized as much as any other degree, but I’m worried about the perception in Japan for recruiters…
- Is focusing deeply on my current stack at least a bit competitive in that market? I also know languages like Java and PHP, but I haven't used them professionally yet;
- Would learning Cloud (AWS, GCP or Azure), and improving my portfolio around that be optimal? I helped a data analyst on my team with GCP and really enjoyed it, and since my work revolves around deploying models, I’m wondering if this is the best path forward, although I'm aware that Cloud is an experience heavy role.
Thank you so much in advance for your help and patience.
by Puzzled_Laugh6524