Jak jsem získal práci IT inženýra v Japonsku jako čerstvý absolvent

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The Route the Author Took

Japan’s official new-grad hiring schedule is set by the government: information sessions open in March of the junior year, selection starts in June, and offers come in October. That’s the official story. The author’s experience (class of 2023, master’s degree, backend engineer) was quite different.

MyNavi — Japan’s largest job hunting portal, central to Japan’s standard employment system — was registered at university orientation but never opened once. The university career center wasn’t used either. No ES (entry sheets) or SPI (standardized aptitude tests). Instead, the author relied on engineer-specific job platforms and student IT communities.

Here’s the route the author took:

Student IT community / engineer job platform → Summer internship → Fast-track selection → Early offer (fall of M1)

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The Author’s Job Hunt Timeline

Here’s how things unfolded chronologically for the author — a 2023 grad, master’s student in computer science.

Year 1 of undergrad: Part-time work at an IT startup

Right after entering university, the author started working part-time at an IT startup. This wasn’t about job hunting — it was just an interest in programming. But in hindsight, that hands-on experience became a significant asset during job hunting.

Among the author’s peers, most had some kind of practical work experience by the time the main selection rounds started. You don’t need to start in your first year, but having some real-world coding experience through part-time work or internships before the main round helps. Without it, talking about technology at a practical level in interviews gets tough.

Summer of M1: Summer internship

The author met companies through Supporterz 1-on-1 events — events where you can have short meetings with multiple companies in a single day. That led to a summer internship invitation. It was a 3-day short-term internship. The author was focused on just 2 companies from the start.

Fall of M1: Fast-track selection → Offer

Summer internship participants were offered a fast-track selection route. Where the normal process required document screening plus 5 rounds of interviews, the author’s document screening was waived and interviews started from round 3. The HR contact from the internship continued providing support and advice throughout the process.

By early November, offers came from both companies, and the job hunt was over. Some of the author’s peers also wrapped up around the same time.

The deciding factor

The final choice came down to two things: the team felt like a good fit, and the company’s wide range of business areas meant there’d be opportunities to try different things through internal transfers. These were things the author could only judge because of the internship — actually talking to employees and experiencing the workplace atmosphere firsthand.

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The Student IT Community Divide

The most important factor in this whole job hunt was student IT communities.

The author knew about Supporterz from the first year of undergrad. Supporterz is one of the major IT job hunting platforms in Japan. It runs 1-on-1 meeting events, hackathons, and tech study sessions (Geek Project) over 150 times a year.

Whether you’re part of communities like these or not changes everything.

Large B2B companies (companies that provide services to other businesses rather than consumers) aren’t well-known to the general public. Without being in a community, you might never learn these companies exist. Companies that are hard to find even on MyNavi or Rikunabi show up naturally at Supporterz 1-on-1 events.

Services International Students Should Know About

Supporterz — A major platform for IT engineer job hunting. 1-on-1 events let you meet companies directly. Often serves as the entry point to summer internships.

connpass — A platform for IT study groups and meetups. Hundreds of events run every month, and students can attend for free. Go to a meetup on a topic you’re interested in and talk to people at the networking session afterward. If things go well, you might get involved in organizing events — which itself becomes something you can bring up in interviews.

University and regional student IT communities — Engineering student communities exist at universities and in various regions. Job hunting information flows naturally from senior students, so finding and joining one early gives you an advantage.

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What the Author’s Interviews Were Like

In the interviews the author went through, technical topics and extracurricular activities were roughly 50/50.

Technical side

Some companies the author interviewed with required “live coding” — writing code in front of the interviewer while explaining your design decisions out loud.

One interviewer asked: “If you could use any AWS services freely, what architecture would you design?” The author drew on personal development experience, explaining a cost-efficient architecture and the reasoning behind each technology choice. It felt like they were testing hands-on experience rather than textbook knowledge.

The author also took Track, an online coding test platform, at several companies. Think of it as the IT equivalent of the SPI aptitude test.

Extracurricular activities and motivation

Non-technical questions came up too. “What did you work on during your student years?” and “Why this company?” are asked at IT companies just as they are elsewhere. The author talked about student council work and serving on the university festival organizing committee. The impression was that teamwork and communication skills were being evaluated alongside technical ability.

Proving yourself through code

IT company hiring processes include opportunities to demonstrate your skills through code. Coding tests and live coding sessions let you prove your technical ability. Unlike traditional job hunting that relies heavily on ES essays and interview responses, engineer hiring gives you a chance to show what you can actually build.

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Když věci nejdou podle plánu

If you don’t get a summer internship

There are fall and winter internships too, though there may be fewer opportunities compared to summer. You can also get an offer through the regular selection process (general entry).

If you don’t have practical experience

It’s not too late. Attend study groups to get into tech communities, build a portfolio through personal projects, join hackathons. All of these become material you can talk about in interviews. There are plenty of free hackathons and study sessions out there — look around.

If you’re not getting information

This is the most concerning pattern. If you rely only on the university career center or MyNavi, you might never discover how IT job hunting actually works. Meanwhile, don’t neglect practical setup like getting a phone number and bank account if you’ve recently arrived. Start by signing up for services like Supporterz that specialize in IT engineer recruiting, and look for study groups. Once you’re in a community, information starts flowing to you naturally.

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Alternativní cesty

Supporterz isn’t the only route for IT job hunting.

Service	What it offers
Supporterz	1-on-1 events and hackathons. Also functions as a student community
paiza Shinsotsu	Your coding test skill rank determines which companies you can apply to
Track Job	Match with companies through programming challenges
Gaishishukatsu.com	Find IT positions at foreign-affiliated and major Japanese companies

Regarding salary and benefits, many IT companies use annual salary systems and tend to list compensation clearly in job postings. The information is out there if you look. Once you start working, your employer will handle health insurance and pension enrollment automatically.

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Související články

• Japan’s Employment System for Foreigners — The big picture of Japanese hiring: new-grad batch recruitment, resumes, visa changes, and more
• How Payments Work in Japan — Money basics you’ll need once you start living in Japan
• Health Insurance & Pension in Japan — What you need to know about insurance and pension after getting hired

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Reference:

• Cabinet Secretariat “Requests Regarding Job Hunting and Recruitment Activities” https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/shushoku_katsudou/index.html (accessed: 2026-02-18)
• Supporterz, Inc. Official Site https://biz.supporterz.jp/ (accessed: 2026-02-18)
• connpass Official Site https://connpass.com/ (accessed: 2026-02-18)
• Givery, Inc. “Track Test” https://tracks.run/ (accessed: 2026-02-18)

FAQ

Jak se lisi hledani prace IT inzenyra v Japonsku od standardni cesty?

Vetsina IT spolecnosti pouziva platformy pro hledani prace specificke pro inzenyry a studentske technologicke komunity, nikoli hlavni portaly MyNavi/Rikunabi a testy zpusobilosti SPI. Platformy jako Supporterz a komunitni akce na connpass jsou cestou, jak mnoho IT inzenyru — vcetne autora tohoto clanku — nachazi staze a nakonec pracovni nabidky, casto obchazejice vetsinu standardnich kroku vyberu.

Jak dulezite jsou letni staze pri hledani prace v IT v Japonsku?

Letni staze jsou de facto vstupnim bodem do procesu naboru IT. Dokonceni staze casto vede ke zkratcene ceste vyberu, kde jsou prvni kola skriningu prominuta, a HR kontakt ze staze pokracuje v podpore po cely proces. Autor obdrzel nabidky od obou spolecnosti zacikem listopadu prvniho roku magisterskeho studia, temer vylucne prostrednictvim stazni cesty.

Co je Supporterz a proc je dulezity?

Supporterz je jedna z hlavnich platform pro hledani prace v IT v Japonsku, ktera porizuje vice nez 150 akci schuzek 1-na-1, hackathonu a technickych studijnich zasedani rocne. Umoznuje setkani primo se spolecnostmi — vcetne B2B spolecnosti, ktere nejsou na hlavnich portalech prominentni — a casto je vychozim bodem pro letni stazni prilezitosti.

Potrebuji predchozi pracovni zkusenosti k ziskani IT prace v Japonsku jako cerstvý absolvent?

Prakticke zkusenosti s programovanim vyrazne pomahaji. Vetsina koleg autora mela pred zahajenim hlavnich kol vyberu nake realne zkusenosti prostrednictvim brigad nebo stazi. Bez toho je obtizne diskutovat o technologii na prakticke urovni pri pohovorech. Budovani portfolia prostrednictvim osobnich projektu nebo hackathonu vsak muze nahradit formalni pracovni zkusenosti.

Jak vypada technicke pohovor v japonskych IT spolecnostech?

Technicke pohovory v japonskych IT spolecnostech casto zahrnuji live coding (psani kodu pred tazatelem pri vysvetlovani rozhodnuti o navrhu), online testy kodovani prostrednictvim platforem jako Track a architektonicke otazky cerpajici z prakticke zkusenosti, nikoli z ucebnicovych znalosti. Netechnicke otazky o tymove praci a motivaci typicky tvorira zhruba polovinu pohovoru.

Mohou mezinarodni studenti pouzivat stejne cesty hledani prace jako japonsti studenti?

Ano — platformy jako Supporterz, connpass a paiza jsou otevrene pro mezinarodni studenty. Autor clanku pouzival tuto cestu specificku pro inzenyry misto hlavnich japonskych pracovnich portalu a zjistil, ze byt soucasti studentskych IT komunit byl nejdulezitejsim faktorem. Zacit brzy a vstoupit do komunit, kde informace o hledani prace plynou prirodzene, je klic vyhoda.

Co kdyz zmeskam cyklus letnich stazi?

Podzimni a zimni staze take existuji, i kdyz muze byt mene prilezitosti nez v lete. Muzete se take prihlasit prostrednictvim pravidelneho procesu vyberu (obecna prihlas) bez staze. Mezitim se navstevovani studijnich skupin, budovani portfolia a ucast v hackathonech stava materialem, o kterem muzete mluvit pri pohovorech, a pomaha vam vstoupit do komunitnich siti, kde se sirily moznosti.