PaulI’m often contacted by bootcamp grads in Japan who are looking for help finding an entry-level software engineering role here. Although I’m not usually in a position to help directly … Read more
I ask everyone I interview for recommendations of their favourite or recent books, movies, TV shows, games, and podcasts. This page is a running compendium of their recommendations, along with … Read more
Paul: Philippe Khin is the Tokyo-based founder of SewaYou, an app that helps you easily find language partners in your area. Philippe and I talked about him coming to Japan … Read more
Paul: James Balcombe pivoted his career from international school computer science teacher to software engineer at a startup in Tokyo. James and I spoke about his early interest in computers, … Read more
Paul: Jayson Cunanan moved to Japan from the Philippines in 2011 to follow his dream of using higher education to find a better life. Jayson and I spoke about his … Read more
Paul: Drew Terry is the founder of OpenSalary.jp, a website promoting salary transparency for the tech community in Japan. Drew and I spoke about starting his career as a software … Read more
Paul: Raymond Murphy is a creator and marketing creative who first arrived in Japan in 2004. He launched ‘Cnota Gaelach’, a Tokyo-based Irish apparel brand in 2021. Raymond and I … Read more
Paul: John Rajeski is an aspiring people / data analyst, a recent global educator, and a former Silicon Valley start-up co-founder. John and I spoke about his early career in … Read more
Paul: With 15+ years experience in Product Management, Arnout Hemel’s team at Grab in Singapore grew GrabInsure into one of the largest InsureTechs in South East Asia. Arnout relocated to … Read more
Paul: Originally from the UK, Lawrie moved to Tokyo in 2018 to work as a software engineer at Mercari, the Japanese marketplace unicorn. Lawrie is now at travel tech startup … Read more
Paul: Sushant Pandey is the founder of Scurid, a distributed digital identity platform bringing scalable security to the world of IoT. A Shibuya Startup Visa holder, Sushant will be relocating … Read more
Paul: I first learned about Jatin Kumar after stumbling upon an online post about his GoCurry community last year. I was fascinated to learn more about Jatin’s background as a … Read more
Paul: Tanmay Goel is a Tokyo-based product manager and organiser in the product management community here, with a background as an international student & entrepreneur, and interests including tech, the … Read more
A few months ago I got an itch. It started gradually, arriving unannounced, so quietly at first I barely noticed it. But then, over time, it became more noticeable. This … Read more
In early May I posted a poll on LinkedIn asking those thinking about changing their Japan IT jobs this year what was most important to them in looking for a … Read more
Paul: A recent introduction to Miho Tanaka from Sasha at Le Wagon Tokyo was a case of perfect timing, as I’d just been reading about Miho’s work at Startup Welcome … Read more
Paul: I’m delighted to welcome back Andrew Bishop with another guest post. Andrew dipped his toe into the NFT market last week and I thought it would make an interesting … Read more
Paul: Greg Jeanneau is a talented UI/UX designer who moved to Tokyo from his native France in January of this year. We talk about Greg’s background as an engineer, his … Read more
Paul: Today we have a guest post by my friend Nathan Dibley. It’s Magic Missile code in Python for all you D&D fans! Nathan: Hi there. This is a D&D … Read more
Paul: Andrew Bishop moved his family during the pandemic from Hong Kong to Tokyo late last year. His story focuses on the differences in quarantining between Tokyo and Hong Kong … Read more
Paul: Sylvain Pierre is an entrepreneur, co-founder of the Le Wagon Tokyo coding bootcamp, and Tokyo resident since 2016. We talk about how Sylvain got into entrepreneurship, his experiences in … Read more
Paul: I met Andrew Bishop way back in 2000 when we worked together in the IT recruiting team at PANACHE, a Tokyo-based technology, staffing and services company. We’ve been friends … Read more
Paul: I met Misha Yurchenko for the first time a couple of years ago after coming across his excellent newsletter (you can find it and more of his writing at … Read more
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Lydia Beukelman, a US-based corporate Japanese instructor, for her ‘Business Success Japan’ podcast. We spoke about culture, burnout and life in Japan. … Read more
Paul: James Ryland and I met at 8:25 am on Monday, November 15th, 1999. I remember the date and time well as it was my first day of work in … Read more
Paul: Ji Youn Yoo is an in-house recruiter at Google’s Tokyo office in Shibuya Stream. We worked together a few years ago in the IT team of a recruiting agency … Read more
Paul: Asumi Saito is a young data scientist turned non-profit organisation founder from Tokyo. We met over Skype in 2017 when Asumi had just finished her master’s degree at the … Read more
Paul: Gerard Noakes is an in-house recruiter at Indeed’s Tokyo office. We met in the summer of 2016 when Gerard joined the recruiting agency I was working at. His first … Read more
I’m often asked how to write an IT resume for the Japan market. Over the past 20 years, I’ve read thousands of resumes written by IT people from all over … Read more
Paul: Andy Hall is an indie game developer, originally from the US. Now living in Kawasaki, Japan, Andy and I met in early 2000, when Andy joined a Tokyo-based IT … Read more
I originally wrote this piece for LinkedIn and it received far more exposure than anything else I’ve ever written for the platform (almost 40,000 feed views so far). The topic … Read more
All the Employer Branding activities in the world will not help you hire the best talent if your current employees think you’re a crap place to work. Posting photos of … Read more
I saw an advice post that a “busy” recruiter wrote: If I don’t get back to you in 2 WEEKS send ME a follow-up email. This recruiter was very busy … Read more