Thinking of doing a masters in software engineering from japan and later do job there. please help your little brother here

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1. >Someone told me it’s actually easier to get a job in japan than india as they are in a need for skilled engineers due to the high avg age in there population

   If you have professional experience maybe. But, there is no shortage of fresh graduates looking for jobs in software engineering.

   >What can I expect in the context of college, fees, job package, visa

   College: Masters in Japan is mostly research based. You join a lab and start research from the very beginning of your Masters. There are some classes your first year, but don’t expect to learn anything practical from them. Most of your learning will be self-taught by doing research.

   Fees: Tuition at national universities cost about ¥535,800 per year, and as a foriegn student, you can apply to get your tuition exempt. So, tuition is very cheap. Your main costs will be dorm/apartment and food.

   Job: In engineering, most students get Masters. So, you’ll be on the same playing level as a fresh graduate. Fresh graduate job hunting in Japan is different than most countries (I don’t know anything about India though). In Japan, you do job hunting one year before you graduate. You are hired, not for a specific position, but for you as a person. Compared to developed countries, salaries in Japan are very low. But, compare to developing countries, it’s higher. Software developer new grad salaries in Japan are about 4m – 6m yen per year.

   Visa: Getting a student visa for university is very easy.

   >I don’t know any japnese yet but m willing to learn it as I am interested in it

   The number one challenge you will have in finding a job is speaking Japanese. If you cannot speak Japanese fluently enough, then your options for jobs will be severely limited. I’m a professor in computer science and I have had many international students. The number one difference between students who find jobs and ones that don’t after they graduate Masters is whether they are fluent in Japanese or not (the number two reason is if they did internships or not, which puts you at a worse spot because you need Japanese for internships). Remember, you do job hunting one year before you graduate, so you’ll only have this year (last year of Bachelors) and Masters first year to learn Japanese. It’s not a lot of time, and you will probably have to spend significant amount of time everyday studying Japanese.

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