Repatriation.
On December 12, 2021, at 10 o'clock in the evening, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, I finally stepped on the land of China. From the crisp and cold of Tokyo to the warm and humid depths of Shenzhen, it is only a five-hour journey, but it is like two worlds.
Let's go.
In 2017, after graduating from university, I decided to work as a programmer in Japan. My friends were shocked to hear the news and asked me, "Aren't you a Japanese major?" How can you be a programmer who can't beat the eight poles? "Yes, it was also unexpected to me. In the first 20 years of my life, as a pure liberal arts student who could only watch movies on the computer and had no computer foundation, the word programmer would never appear in my plans.
All of this started with a school information session on IT dispatch work in Japan.
The speaker was a teacher from a computer training institution, and he introduced to us that the IT dispatch job in Japan is to go to Japan as a technician after technical training in China. This kind of work is similar to outsourcing work in China, which is in the form of temporary workers assigned to various companies' projects, and the technical requirements are not high, but the salary package is good. In the first year, it can reach more than 10,000, and in the second year, it can rise to more than 20,000, and the salary will increase year by year. This gave me a clear idea of how much a programmer would earn, and when I was looking for a job related to Japanese, the salary of fresh graduates was generally around three or four thousand, and it was difficult to achieve such a high salary figure.
Many of my classmates, including me, were impressed by this salary, but after all, this is a technical job, and it may be difficult for people without any computer knowledge to cross its technical threshold. In the face of such doubts, the teacher said: "In fact, programming is not as difficult as you imagined, after half a year of professional study and course operation, mastering some simple J**A technology is enough to solve the project problems in Japan." "Programmers are indeed a popular profession with many opportunities and high salaries. If you master this popular technique and practice it in Japan for a few years, you will be able to develop well even if you return to your home country in the future. At the same time, for me in the Japanese department, I have a unique advantage in this dispatch job to Japan, the salary is not bad, and I can go abroad for free, so why not?
After careful consideration, I decided to give this job a try.
Half a year of study was fleeting, I passed the test of the training institution, and the visas to go abroad were processed one after another, and the dust finally settled on the matter of going to Japan.
I will never forget the day I said goodbye to my family on December 29, 2017 and boarded a flight to Tokyo. When the scenery under the window changes into the vast sea, I feel that everything is so unreal, a young man from a small town who has never even traveled to the surrounding provinces of his home, but he has flown out of the border and is about to arrive in another unknown world, what kind of scenery awaits me?
Sweet.
When I came to Japan, the first test I faced was the interview. After signing the contract with us, the dispatching company will send us to various "sites" for interviews, and if both parties are satisfied, we can smoothly "enter" and start the project work; If you don't succeed, you have to keep talking, not only will you not get a high salary, but you will also not be able to have a beautiful resume.
The first company I interviewed was a ** company, and the technical questions asked by the interviewer were suddenly beyond the scope of what I had learned, and I stumbled and tried to answer them, but I was still brushed off. The second interview was with a bank, and I had a good conversation with the female supervisor opposite, and I thought there must be a drama this time, but I was again denied. Fortunately, for the third time, I successfully entered a small company, and I can finally let go of my heart.
This is a company in the field of e-commerce platforms, similar to JD.com, **My job is to make some modifications and designs on existing pages. Originally, I was very worried about my skills, after all, after studying Japanese for four years, it took half a year to run in at the beginning, not to mention that I only learned programming for half a year, and the work turned out to be not as terrible as I imagined. The boss will write a detailed sample book according to the needs of the customer, which will design the specific requirements of each need, and clearly write down the logic, we only need to write according to the sample book, and do not need to think and innovate, so even if we are new, we can get started quickly.
Japan's IT technology is also relatively old in China, the threshold for entry is not high, even if it is a liberal arts student, Japanese IT companies are willing to pay a large amount of training fees, from scratch training, this is because Japan is very aging, young people from all walks of life have become a scarce resource, as long as they have the ability to learn, professional counterpart is not the most critical problem. It was in this inclusive environment that my programming skills grew in the project.
Programming is like a process of upgrading and fighting monsters, at the beginning, because of unfamiliarity, I often get stuck on a small need, and the ** I write will also be picked out by the boss, and I have to rely on self-study on the Internet or ask colleagues for help to solve the problem. Sometimes what other programmers can solve in a few minutes, I need a day to think about. But then after just one year of training, I was able to master all kinds of programming skills. As the job becomes more comfortable, the salary also rises.
The high salary gave me the confidence to live a safe life, and my consumption also increased, so even though the prices in Japan are not low, I can still buy the things I want without any pressure, and I can live a surplus and satisfying life. Although the overtime culture in Japan is quite serious, as dispatchers, we are not very stressful, and as long as we work 180 hours a month, we can stop working or even be forced to take a break.
Work and life in Japan are clearly separated, and you can turn off your mobile phone after work and holidays, and go out with your friends to enjoy the scenery of Japan. My favorite cherry blossom in Japan is that every March, hundreds of Somei Yoshino cherry trees stretch along the riverbank like pink clouds, creating a long tunnel of cherry blossoms. When the cherry blossoms blow snow, the river surface is covered with pink falling cherry blossoms, and the hustle and bustle of Tokyo becomes gentle and beautiful at this moment.
There seems to be nothing to complain about in such a life.
Tangled.
In my second year on the job, I finished my first project and moved to a construction company. Although the fields are different, the work process is fixed, and it didn't take long for me to get acquainted with the new business again. In the skilled work day in and day out, I grew to be suspicious. Dispatch work will never come into contact with the core technology and business, it is like assembly line production, turning us into the best workers. The technology that is easy to master has a limited ceiling, and as you get older, your ability to work is limited to repetitive experience, which is a very dangerous thing in the cruel modern society. Every time I communicate with my classmates in China and learn about the rapid development of China's technology, I have to worry about how I can squeeze into this fierce competition if I want to return to China one day. Anxiety about the future planted a seed in my heart.
The problem came to the fore again when the third year of visa expired. To renew or not to renew my contract was like a soul torture reminding me if it was time to make some changes. Comfort is devastating, but it takes more courage to step out of your comfort zone.
Returning to China means that I can no longer easily get such a high salary, not only to roll in, but also to work overtime, and I can't guarantee whether I can escape the unemployment crisis at the age of 35 and find my own way. Staying means that you can continue to live a comfortable life with a high salary, but you also lose the room to grow, limit yourself to the easy mode, and continue to weaken social competitiveness. She told us as a passer: "If you don't plan to settle permanently in Japan, you have to go back as soon as possible, otherwise in a few years, you really can't go back if you want to." ”
It is said that "standing at thirty", seeing that the thirty-year-old mark is approaching every year, no matter where they are drifting, people need a warm harbor after all. When I was in Japan, I often had enthusiastic colleagues who liked to match my marriage, but I rejected them one by one. Maybe it's because of my more traditional personality, even though I like life in Japan very much, but when it comes to marriage, I still prefer to settle down in China.
What really stimulated me to return home was the fireworks in the summer of 2021. Originally a traditional event in Japan, the fireworks festival has become even more lively after the lockdown of the pandemic. Dressed in traditional kimonos, we would sit on the vast lawn to eat and drink, and wait for the sunset with our family and friends to come to night, and the huge fireworks that bloomed that night were as beautiful as flowers and trees, which shocked and moved me, and I couldn't help but think about such a beautiful view, how happy it would be to watch it with my family, and how romantic it would be to share it with my lovers. When I saw the lovely children around me around my parents, and the affectionate couple raised their bright smiling faces, a faint sadness couldn't help but come to my heart, which made my nose sour. My friends who came with me have already left, so maybe it's time for me to leave Japan.
The smiley face fireworks were specially designed by Japan** to encourage citizens during the epidemic.
In August, I submitted my resignation and chose an auspicious number to return to my country.
The future is promising.
At the end of January 2022, I ended my 21-day quarantine and finally went home to reunite before the Spring Festival. On the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, when I was making dumplings in the kitchen with my family, I felt extremely satisfied when I looked at the flaming red lanterns by the window and listened to Shen Teng's sketches at the Spring Festival Gala. For Chinese, home is always an irreplaceable destination.
After the year, I plan to start submitting resumes and focus on foreign companies that have projects in Japan. The road ahead is long, although it is full of challenges, but there are opportunities in parallel, and I believe that the future is promising.