Originally, my plan was to start work in Japan by the end of 2017. But after reading some stories, I'm not sure whether my plan is anywhere near realistic:
By Summer 2017 I will have finished my bachelor's in Game Design. I picked up learning japanese a couple of months ago. I put in 1-2 hours of study everyday. My idea was to reach jlpt N2 by summer next year. However, after reading stories of people who had been studying for years until they got to that level of proficiency, I kind of got rid of that idea. Right now, my plan is to at least make it to N3 by next summer.
The reason I want to work in Japan is because I want to work on japanese games - they are what I grew up with and they are the reason I started pursuing a career in this field in the first place.
I will be 26 when I have my Bachelor's in Summer 2017 - by that time, I'll probably have JLPT N3 as well.
Can I expect to land a job in my field in Japan by that time? I'm very good in my studies and I have worked on actual (award-winning) game projects in the past. But does it matter if I'm not proficient in Japanese?
After reading all kinds of (mostly un-)success stories of people trying to find work there, I'm somewhat disillusioned.
So my alternate strategy was to find a small job to support myself in Japan until my Japanese proficiency reaches at least N2 so I will have it easier finding a job in my area of expertise.
My native language, however, is German - not English. I'm not sure whether teaching english would be an option for me. I'd be able to do an English proficiency test showcasing my (more or less) Native Level proficiency (C2). But is that enough? I had a quick look at some recruiting sites and it looks like even the ones accepting Non-native speakers expect their applicants to at least have visited bilingual schools/ have received education in english for 12+ years. I don't fall into this category.
German teaching jobs are supposedly rare (I mean who would want to learn it anyway haha) too.
On the other hand, I can't really imagine that finding any kind of job in Japan is impossible.
I'm really uncertain right now and this is why I'm making this thread. I really want to start my career in Japan as soon as possible. Does my plan to go to Japan by late 2017 and support myself there (with any kind of job, really) sound unrealistic? Did I overlook something? Or did I just read too many negative stories for the last couple of hours and it's not half as problematic?
By Summer 2017 I will have finished my bachelor's in Game Design. I picked up learning japanese a couple of months ago. I put in 1-2 hours of study everyday. My idea was to reach jlpt N2 by summer next year. However, after reading stories of people who had been studying for years until they got to that level of proficiency, I kind of got rid of that idea. Right now, my plan is to at least make it to N3 by next summer.
The reason I want to work in Japan is because I want to work on japanese games - they are what I grew up with and they are the reason I started pursuing a career in this field in the first place.
I will be 26 when I have my Bachelor's in Summer 2017 - by that time, I'll probably have JLPT N3 as well.
Can I expect to land a job in my field in Japan by that time? I'm very good in my studies and I have worked on actual (award-winning) game projects in the past. But does it matter if I'm not proficient in Japanese?
After reading all kinds of (mostly un-)success stories of people trying to find work there, I'm somewhat disillusioned.
So my alternate strategy was to find a small job to support myself in Japan until my Japanese proficiency reaches at least N2 so I will have it easier finding a job in my area of expertise.
My native language, however, is German - not English. I'm not sure whether teaching english would be an option for me. I'd be able to do an English proficiency test showcasing my (more or less) Native Level proficiency (C2). But is that enough? I had a quick look at some recruiting sites and it looks like even the ones accepting Non-native speakers expect their applicants to at least have visited bilingual schools/ have received education in english for 12+ years. I don't fall into this category.
German teaching jobs are supposedly rare (I mean who would want to learn it anyway haha) too.
On the other hand, I can't really imagine that finding any kind of job in Japan is impossible.
I'm really uncertain right now and this is why I'm making this thread. I really want to start my career in Japan as soon as possible. Does my plan to go to Japan by late 2017 and support myself there (with any kind of job, really) sound unrealistic? Did I overlook something? Or did I just read too many negative stories for the last couple of hours and it's not half as problematic?