H O W T O S U R V I V E A N D T H R I V E A S
A N E N G I N E E R I N A F O R E I G N L A N D
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O E D O R U B Y K A I G I 0 4
L E O N A R D C H I N
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I ’ m L e o n a rd
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Ye t A n o t h e r
E n g i n e e r
f ro m
C o o k p a d
H E L L O !
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B u t , y o u p ro b a b l y k n o w m e f ro m h e re :
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H O W T O S U R V I V E A N D T H R I V E A S
A N E N G I N E E R I N A F O R E I G N L A N D
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O E D O R U B Y K A I G I 0 4
L E O N A R D C H I N
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O K
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A L O T O F E N G I N E E R S
H E R E I N J A PA N S AY
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– J A PA N E S E E N G I N E E R D U D E
“I really want to work overseas”
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W H AT T H E Y R E A L LY
M E A N I S …
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– J A PA N E S E E N G I N E E R D U D E
“I really want to work in America”
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O R , M O R E L I K E LY…
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– J A PA N E S E E N G I N E E R D U D E
“I really want to work in Silicon Valley”
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W H Y S I L I C O N VA L L E Y ?
• Lot’s of great engineers
• Great salary
• Lot’s of cool startups
• It’s easier to get funding from VCs
• and more!
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T H AT ’ S C O O L .
I T ’ S G O O D T O H AV E R E A S O N S
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B U T…
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V E RY F E W P E O P L E
A C T U A L LY D O I T
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W O R K I N G I N A F O R E I G N
C O U N T RY I S H A R D
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A N D I T A C T U A L LY
D O E S N ’ T M AT T E R
W H I C H C O U N T RY
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A S Y O U C A N P R O B A B LY
T E L L F R O M M Y FA C E ,
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I ’ M A N A U S S I E
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2003
2014
THIS IS MY
11TH YEAR
IN
JAPAN
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2003
2014
AND ABOUT MY
8TH YEAR
WORKING AS A
RUBY PROGRAMMER
IN .JP
2006
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I T H I N K I ’ V E G O T H I S
“ W O R K I N G O V E R S E A S ”
T H I N G D O W N PAT
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T H I S I S H O W I D I D I T
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9 9 T W O B I G P R O B L E M S
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
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W H AT D I D N ’ T W O R K
• Just living in Japan (but it helps)
• Dating a Japanese person (but it helps!)
• Marrying a Japanese person (this helps too!)
• Hanging around with friends in your own language
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✔ Great for basics and
structure
✗ Costly
✗ Diminishing Returns
I S T U D I E D F O R 3 M O N T H S A T
T H E YA M A S A I N S T I T U T E
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✔ Helps you set goals
and learn with structure
✗ Just a piece of paper.
Not really valued
✗ Content is often not
practical
I T O O K A F E W T E S T S T O O
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M O R E I M P O R TA N T LY
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– T H O M A S E D I S O N
“Genius is one percent inspiration,
ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
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– M E
“Learning a language is one percent study,
ninety-nine percent practice.”
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P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
P R A C T I C E
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
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P R E R E Q U I S I T E :
J O B S K I L L S
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✔ Expect multilinguals
✔ Less competition?
✗ Small job pool
✗ Few truly local
companies
J O B S I T E S F O R F O R E I G N E R S
E X I S T ( J O B 1 ! )
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✔ Huge pool of openings
✔ Local companies
✗ Don’t expect foreigners
✗ Difficult to navigate
J O B S I T E S TA R G E T I N G N A T I V E S
C A N B E B E T T E R ( J O B 2 ! )
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T H E R E I S A B E T T E R WAY
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S A M E A S B A C K H O M E …
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N E T W O R K
B Y J O I N I N G T H E R U B Y C O M M U N I T Y
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T H A N K Y O U ,
R A I L S M E E T U P T O K Y O !
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T H A N K Y O U ,
R U B Y K A I G I !
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
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I S T H AT I T ?
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H O W T O S U R V I V E A N D T H R I V E A S
A N E N G I N E E R I N A F O R E I G N L A N D
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T H R I V E A S A N E N G I N E E R
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
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N E C E S S A RY,
B U T N O T S U F F I C I E N T
T O T H R I V E
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1 . L A N G U A G E
2 . G E T T I N G A J O B
3 . L E A R N T H E C U LT U R E
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C U LT U R E ?
• What does that crazy slang mean?
• What jokes are funny?
• Where does that image/reference come
from?
• What do engineers like to talk about?
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H O W I D I D I T
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E N C O U N T E R
E M B R A C E L E A R N
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E N C O U N T E R
E M B R A C E L E A R N
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I N T E R N E T C U LT U R E
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E N C O U N T E R
E M B R A C E L E A R N
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E M B R A C E !
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M I N D S E T
✗ Don’t: Dismiss it as stupid
because it is different
✔ Do: Try to enjoy it!
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E N C O U N T E R
E M B R A C E L E A R N
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T H E I N T E R N E T I S Y O U R
F R I E N D
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E N J O Y T H E I R C U LT U R E
A N D M A K E I T Y O U R O W N