Hi, I’m Kotaro Muramoto, CEO of JOBs Japan. I help engineers from abroad grow their careers in Japan. Here’s a recent success story that shows what’s possible with strong technical skills, language proficiency, and ambition.

Candidate Profile

• Nationality: Vietnam

• Years of Experience: 7 years (of which ~3 years in backend work)

• Tech Stack: TypeScript, React, NestJS, and experience with GCP & AWS

• Japanese Level: JLPT N2

What Motivated the Move

• They wanted a salary bump and a fresh challenge, especially as their life changed (marriage).

• Until then, they had been working in a mostly English environment (e.g. chatbot development), but they were comfortable using Japanese and wanted to leverage that communication ability.

What Made Them Stand Out

1. Strong Full-Stack & Backend Skills
   The combination of React + NestJS + TypeScript, along with cloud experience (GCP, AWS), meant this person could contribute across both frontend and backend immediately.

2. Language + Communication Ability
   Japanese proficiency (N2), coupled with English, made communication easy. That’s often a bottleneck in international environments — they cleared it.

3. High Motivation + Adaptability
   They were ready to embrace new work environments, learn, and grow. Interviewers saw that their mindset matched what the company was looking for (“immediate impact”, flexibility).

4. Employer Confidence as Ready-to-Perform immediately
   Because the candidate had demonstrated breadth in tech and good communication, the company thought of them not as someone who needs long ramp‐up, but as someone who can contribute early.

Employer & Role

• Type of Company: AI product development company in Tokyo, ~400 employees, mission‐oriented: using AI to solve social issues and drive industry innovation.

• Role: Web engineer with full stack / backend lean, expected to contribute to production, likely to work with React on frontend, NestJS on backend, use of cloud infrastructure, etc.

Outcome

• Annual Salary: ¥8,400,000

• Position: Full-Stack / Backend-leaning Engineer, ready to hit the ground running using modern stack + cloud infrastructure

What You Can Learn From This

1. Invest in Modern, In-Demand Tech Stacks
   TypeScript, React, NestJS are very strong today — working with them plus cloud platforms like AWS/GCP opens up high-growth roles.

2. Don’t Neglect Language Skills
   Japanese N2 level is enough to unlock many opportunities if backed by strong tech. Being able to communicate clearly (both verbally and in writing) is a major plus.

3. Show That You’re “Ready from Day One”
   Demonstrate prior experience in both frontend & backend, talk about past projects, cloud deployments, etc. Employers favor candidates who can start contributing quickly.

4. Align Your Job Change Goals With What Matters to You
   It could be salary, type of tech, challenge, work culture — know what you want (and communicate that). This candidate wanted growth and new challenges, and that alignment helped.

Thinking of Your Next Move?

If you have 5-8 years of development experience, are familiar with modern JS/TS stacks, and have at least N2 (or aiming for it), then companies in Japan are looking for you. Let me help you polish your profile, sharpen interview skills, and connect you with roles where you can grow fast.