I’m a Tokyo-based hobby coder (python - Django/NLTK and JS), considering taking the plunge into the software dev job market in Tokyo.
I’ve got a degree in Japanese and linguistics, JLPT N1, several years experience in Juku/university entrance curriculum development (English language), and did a couple of years at LINE doing PR and other non-dev stuff. I feel like a few of the pieces are in place.
I have kids, and am interested in how EdTech is evolving here. I’d like to chat with anyone involved in LMS development/delivery, multimedia materials, etc. and get to know the shape of the industry.
Of the developers I know in EdTech positions, their interest is more on the software side of things, rather than the business domain. So I’m not sure if you’ll be able to get an idea of the industry as a whole from them.
Another tact to take would be to identify companies you’re interested in, and get in contact with a developer working there through something like LinkedIn. As long as you’re not spamy about it, there’s a decent chance of getting a reply.
Thanks @pwim! Poorly worded on my part, I think - I want to know about the development work that’s done in EdTech! Great advice on the networking, though.
Another strategy that’s quite obvious but easy to overlook is just searching in Japanese. For instance, when googling “edtech スタートアップ”, I found an article which lists EdTech startups. You could use that as a basis for starting your research.
If you do go down that route, an interesting option for you could be to write an article about EdTech in Japan (in English). The top results when searching for “EdTech Japan” are a conference which hasn’t been held in years and a list of startups which looks like it might just be scraped from elsewhere. It’d be pretty easy for you to rank as the #1 result, and would also give you a good opportunity to get on the startups radars (you could frame the article as “I’m interested in working in EdTech in Japan, and so decided to research the market”).