Hey guys, I would like to know if it would be possible to work in Japan as a civil engineer coming from the US. Since high school, I've always wanted to one day work and live in Japan. Now, 23 yrs old and 3 semesters away from graduating with a civil engineering degree, working in Japan has been on my mind constantly. Even before the recent tragedy, I still planned on heading to Japan in hopes of employment. Now, with all that has happened, I am more motivated to work there as a civil engineer and help out in both an engineering and humanitarian standpoint. I would like to ask if any of you know some reliable resources in terms of employment of foreign engineers? Where should I look? Who should I talk to (in person)? I really appreciate any advice as I would like to plan ahead of time. Thanks.

sorry i can't help with your question, but, i always wondered... what IS civil engineering exactly?

Civil engineering is the design of structures such as building, bridges, dams, etc. All those skyscraper in Dubai have a Civil engineer behind them. All the standards for building construction have a Civil engineer behind them.

Mechanical Engineer - design of moving components such as engines, doors, pneumatics, or maybe a shelf or toys.

Industrial engineer - makes everything better. I mean designs processes to build products safer, stronger, cheaper, etc.

Electrical - Anything to do with physical electric circuits

Computer - can be hardware but probably programs.

Aerospace - Planes and stuff that moves through air.

Materials - Design of materials at microscopic and macroscopic levels to get desired charasterics

Packaging - packaging

Automotive - specialized mechanical

Enviromental - designs systems to work with and for the enviroment

Idk theres more..

As with almost any profession, gain experience in your home country, reach a point in your career where you're in high demand, then try.

Fresh grads are a dime a dozen!

dizmox Wrote:... gain experience in your home country

Check

dizmox Wrote:... reach a point in your career where you're in high demand

Check

?

Profit

Hey, I was wondering, have you ever thought about grad school? I know that engineering jobs exist here in Japan, but generally all require native level japanese. The reason I ask abou grad school is that it may be a good way to get higher credentials and have access to better means to study the appropriate jargon.

Im a grad student in materials engineering at the university of Tokyo, and I know that plenty of grad shools around the country have programs to help foreigners who may not yet have a good grasp on jargon (eg. English classes, thesis in English, no entrance exam, etc.).

The other alternative I could offer is to email the recruitment centers at some companies in Japan and ask them for advice. You could ask for necessary qualifications and what not while at the same time proving you are interested in working in their company.

It's good you are starting now. Keep us informed about any new developments

I figure practically, getting a grad degree is good in Japan or otherwise - my dad has two masters degrees (one in engineering) and he's pretty well off for it.

I would say it's pretty difficult to come over independently and get said job. There isn't a shortage of engineers in Japan and a Japanese company needs a reason to hire a foreigner instead of a native (both to make it worth any perceived language/culture difficulties and to meet visa requirements). If a company wants to hire a foreign engineer, chances are that it'll be a Chinese person anyways since they can pay less.

Your best chances are to find a job that involves language and engineering (ex: I do overseas internal marketing in the auto-industry, a large part of which is translation and writing), or to get transferred from a western firm.

Just a little bit more on what Civil Engineering is. I am a Civil Engineer, so I think this is a good answer!

Civil Engineering is all of the things nosleeptilfluent said, plus Civil Engineers also design roads, water ways (we call it Civil Hydraulics) like canals, wastewater systems, ponding, etc. Also roads, highways, etc. (All those crazy "spaghetti bowls" in big cities (i.e. highway interchanges, ramps, etc.) plus actually any transportation system (railroads, marinas, etc.

Let's see what else! Oh yes, foundations, dams, towers of any sort (like for electric power lines, etc.), retaining walls, and there is more! :-)

Some projects (like large aircraft) are super cross-disciplinary, needing mechanical designs (flaps movement, wheels, engines) aerospace (shape of aircraft, mainly, but lots of mechanical cross-over) electrical (lots of electrical engineering on large aircraft) and even Civil (aircraft are large structures, so structural engineering is very important for aircraft!) Okay, enough already, I guess I just like engineering...

Oh, and after this huge disaster in Japan I was hoping to go over and work on reconstruction as well!

Good Kanji Review to all!

that's pretty awesome!!! So you guys basically build the world!? Cool!

yeah, i guess it's a great time to go to Japan now if you have the Japanese ability. With the size of the disaster, they're probably going to need a lot of contract civil engineers. I don't know where you'd look for a job, but it might be worth getting in touch with the prefectural councils and see what they say...

here also seems like a good link to have: http://www.jsce.or.jp/index.html
yeah, here's a page of links specific for information about the earthquake stuff: http://committees.jsce.or.jp/s_iad/node/9