Re: [tlug] Looking for Summer Internship in Japan

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 10:52 AM, Lyle H Saxon <llletters@example.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 8:12 AM, Ryutaro Morgan <rj@example.com> wrote:
>> My name is Ryutaro Morgan and I am a college student from Portland, Oregon,
>> USA. I am currently looking for an internship in Japan this summer and I was
>> wondering if any members in the group are looking for summer interns at the
>> moment?
> I really hope it isn't quite that bad, but seeing that you posted this
> three days ago and no one has responded - combined with just reading a
> post by a long-term TLUG person who recently left the country, I
> thought I'd relay what I heard.


I'm neither in Japan nor am I in a position to take on interns.  But
I'm not so sure the lack of a response indicates the poor state of
programming jobs in Japan.

Very few places I can think of would be willing to take on an intern
for 3 months.  The amount of time needed to bring that person "up to
speed" rarely justifies it.  Unless the project is open source, you
also end up getting someone who will look at your company's IP and
leave in 3 months.  While many young people are honest, you just need
one bad apple to ruin things.

Having said that, to Ryutaro, one thing you might want to consider is
to knock on the doors of university professors.  Not all doors, but
maybe someone who is doing something that interests you.  They may
have "summer research positions" that lasts just for the summer.  The
target audience might be just their own students who are not yet
graduating, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  Look beyond computer science
departments; other departments might be interested in someone who is
IT savvy.

The IP argument is still valid with universities, but maybe it's worth a shot?

Ray

PS:  Not just Japan, but everywhere is sending IT jobs to other
countries.  Everything from manufacturing to programming has that
potential.  Ironically, one "good" thing about Japan is still the
language barrier.  Until other countries' IT staff read and write
Japanese natively, as least some parts like documentation writing and
GUI design can remain more or less within Japan...  All IMHO, of
course...