Started blogging for Youshare

Our company has moved into the Blogosphere and I’ve been asked to blog for our company. Not sure what to blog on, so I’m going to blog on so I’m going to blog about anything I can think of.

I’ll be cross posting, here and on:

• http://english.youshare.jp

…which is going to go live in a month or two, once we’ve gathered some contents and ironed out a few minor bugs.

Why don’t you start a blog over there and let us know what you think?

Cheers.

In the News!

Our company got itself in the Fuji Sankei Shimbun, a prominent industry newspaper again. Only this time, I was in the photograph! If you look carefully, you can find my face in the picture at the bottom of the page!

The news article is about our 10 Language Shopping Portal which is currently in its opening phase.

Two Weeks at the New Place

I can report that I’ve just completed two weeks at my new company. Well, what can I say? The hours are long, I work about 11 hours a day. But what a difference it makes having a job that suits me.

Despite the hours, the stress is half that of my last place and of course, the salary is significantly more.

It’s incredible, the amount of freedom I have to do the things I want to do and how the vast majority of ideas I propose are not only listened to, but implemented on the spot. The freedom takes a bit of getting used to, it has to be said.

So, what is it that I do? That’s a good question.

There are presently eight people in the company, and two of them are owners. Which leaves us six. Although I can’t speak for myself, I have to say that they picked their people well. I’m working with one of the fastest coders I’ve ever born witness to and also with an extremely accomplished system admin who also happens to be the first person I’ve ever met who uses Linux for everything, and I mean everything from his home server and PC to his laptop, his router and his PDA. He doesn’t own a single bit of Microsoft software!

There are also two tireless Japanese in the office, without whom the company would disappear under a pile of unfinished paperwork. One other is on holiday at the moment, so I’m not really sure what he does, but he’s probably good at it.

So, what is it that I do? That’s a good question.

Shortest job ever?

I finally handed in my notice at work after being offered a new job. It was a very strange feeling. I had to go into the office in Shibuya and explain to my boss why I was leaving.

He’d been very supportive of me since before I entered and had taken me under his wing. He’d even interviewed me directly, which was apparently unheard of. Moreover, I was to work directly for him after one year in the field and help with liaising with the US and setting up a new office somewhere in Europe. As such, it came as a complete shock to him and his personnel.

He seemed very disappointed and upset, which is natural, I suppose.

Being the first foreigner to work at that company, I can’t help but think that somehow I’ve tarnished our reputations and that, not only would I be the first foreigner to work there, but I’d also be the last! Still, I have to be realistic, pragmatic, and practical and put myself and my family first.

The last three months have not been the very positive ones I’d anticipated, jobwise. What started off as a great career move was starting to look more and more like a slow crawl up a corporate ladder to some mediocre management position. I felt constantly that I was not able to achieve what I wanted, none of my ideas were considered and my skillset was largely being left unused.

I’d turned into a pencil pushing helpdesk clerk in a lower position than I was eight years ago at university when I was a helpdesk manager.

I also had the strong feeling that I was a square peg being forced into a round hole and that I’d never adjust to the atmosphere of the company. It wasn’t the Japanese language barrier, or the culture per se, but rather the claustrophobic corporate weight and idiosyncratic supervisor that broke the camel’s back.

The rules, regulations, paperwork combined with the Sarbanes Oxley paperwork gallows which Enron and the like have forced American corporations (to which I was being outsourced) to bow down to really puts the clamp on creative thinking.

The strange and arbitrary rules thought up by a well meaning but misguided supervisor also doused any remaining spark of interest this job may have held. After this experience, knowing that in a year’s time I’d be shipped back to HQ to start their drive into Europe and send punters out there to be outsourced as I was sounded hollow and hypocritical. Yes, I’d be working for a boss who had treated me with respect and kindness from day one, but seeing the haggard expressions on everyone’s faces at 8pm on a visit to HQ and related stories of catching the last train home every night was enough to steel my resolve.

And so it is that I enter my final one month as a large corporation employee.

As luck would have it.

I can’t believe my good luck. Tomoko told me it would be like this. Just when you think things are loking bleak, a ray of light comes along to light the way.

I’ve just been headhunted from the dreary company where I work. And it would seem, if the job pans out the way it looks, I should be in for a much more interesting time.

I’ll be working for a small software company as a kind of project coordinator for a an online school management system.

Job… dull… End of first Month…

So, my “spot” job of one week stacking computers is over and now I can get down to my “real” job.

My company has sent me to a financial establishment as a Helpdesk person. Career wise, I’m back in a lower position than I was in the UK before I left, seven years ago! Salary wise, this is lower than I was getting when I first came to Japan seven years ago. Work wise, this job is averaging 11 hrs of hard graft a day: over 50% more work than my last 9 to 5 job. Stress wise, it’s off the scale!

I took over the reins last week from an employer who left for unspecified reasons. As it turned out, he was fed up with the job, the pay, the conditions and the staff. Pretty much fed up with everything. He got a job not far away from the current office, working for another ex-employee of this company, who As it turned out, was fed up with the job, the pay, the conditions and the staff.

I suppose that having him as my tutor for a month did not improve the image of the company I am working for in my eyes and I have tried to take most of his bitter advice with a pinch of salt.

His gripes went thus:

• When you’re outsourced, the client is not paying directly to you, they are paying to your employer who passes a portion of the spoils on to you. 
• Unfortunately, the client demands effort in accordance with the money they are paying.

And they deserve to, or so I thought. However, today I found out that my company took more than double what I earned last month! I’m working hard enough to more than satisfy the client, but not earning enough to satisfy me!
For the first time today, I thought about leaving. Not sure if it’s good plan or not, and I really don’t fancy the idea of going back on to the job market. I don’t think six weeks will look good on my CV, either!
Still, Tomoko assures me that now I’m in the field, any experience and contacts I make will not be wasted and opportunities in the field of my choice are much more likely to present themselves.

Let’s hope an opportunity like that comes along soon. The thought of staying here for another ten and a half months doesn’t frankly fill me with joy!

Fulltime Japanese Employee

Today was my first day as a full time Japanese employee: The first day of my new career. Since as of today, I’ll be working for a large IT outsourcing company in Shibuya, at the centre of Tokyo.

The first surprise was the commute. At under 40 minutes door to door, it takes less than half the time it took to get to Chiba.

Also lucky was the fact that the Yamanote line anticlockwise from Tabata is a lot emptier than the clockwise line! Which means that I even got a seat this morning.

I felt that I had arrived at Shibuya almost as soon as I’d sat down, it was so close! But Shibuya is not a small station and it takes almost 10 minutes just to walk from the train to the correct exit, and that’s taking into consideration the two moving walkways available to speed passengers along.

Anyway, I arrived in fine feckle and it was a strangely exhillerating experience as I walked through the city, surrounded by concrete and glass, although I’m sure I’ll grow accustomed to it all too soon.

I arrived at work about 10 minutes early and checked everything in my bag, I was pretty nervous for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is my first job outside of the public sector and after Tomoko telling me how busy “real” companies are compared to the public sector, I’m sure I’ll be in for a shock.

Secondly, out of the 1,600 regular employees in the IT Support section, I’m the first foreigner! That’s a low foreigner ratio, even for a section that typically doesn’t handle foreign clients
This is the start of two weeks of training, who knows what I’ll have learned by the time I start really working.

Goodbye Inage High!

Today was my last day at the school where I work. It’s been a rollercoaster thirty two months. Being that this was the third school at which I’d spent considerable time, I thought that I’d be able to get through the day without any tears. I was mistaken

The first years suddenly asked me to make a goodbye speech for them, but I was so busy that I didn’t think I’d be able to and I still hadn’t prepared anything by the time I finally got to their classroom.

Still, I managed to make a heartfelt go of it, during which I, and a number of pupils started crying!

I also received a number of cards, letters and purikura (Print Club stickers) and for the first and most probably the last time, flowers!

So, that’s it then, the end of an era for me. The end of an era that started with me coming to Japan on 25th of July, 1999 on the JET Program to a small school called Kinosaki Junior High in a tiny coastal town and ended on the 10th of March, 2006 at a flagship senior high school in the centre of The Tokyo-Chiba metropolitan region with one of the best English language proficiency levels on record.

Six and three quarter years of teaching, it would seem, do not a career make.

Many valued colleagues and several close friends have said things like “You’re a great teacher.” or “”Why do yo want to leave teaching.” and I’m forced to look back at the time and consider what I’ve achieved.

Perhaps I have gained a lot of experience over the years and yes, I have put effort into my work and it may be that I do have the skills that make me a good teacher. Unfortunately, the system makes no allowances for experience, skill or effort. Overtime and tardiness are rarely distinguished between and effort adds little but extra work. Moreover, years of experience makes no difference when it comes to determining pay.

Finally, all the sweat and blood earns nothing more or less than respect from coworkers, which, whilst being one of the prime motivating factors of a modern career is no basis for a stable family or future.

Were these six year worth it? Or have I permanently placed my career in jeopardy? What skills from my last job can a carry over to the next. These are things I will have to answer over the next few months and years.

One thing is for certain, at 32, I’ll have to work hard over the next three years to catch up.

And so it is with mixed feelings that I bring my first career to a close and return to the path I walked before coming to Japan: IT Support.

Happy new (fiscal) year

Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the new financial and business year in Japan.

And I’ve got my self a mansized desk at work!!! I’ve been working here for 18 months, and I’d come to notice (some 17 months ago or so) that my desk was noticably smaller than everyone elses.

When I say noticably, I don’t mean “Hmm… has the little rubber foot fallen off the bottom of the leg?” No… I mean noticeable from across the room, as in “washing machine temperature set for white cotton” or, “Warning: This desk is for Pygmy use only”, I’m talking small…

My desk was a full 10cm narrower, 5cm shallower and 4cm lower than everyone elses! And I think I’m the tallest person in the room, which made it quite amusing!

But that’s all changed as of TODAY!

Oh yes and I’m also officially an IT teacher as well as an English teacher from this year, too.

Right. I’m off to clean my desk.

Japanese presentation

Today we had our “Intercultural Training Seminar” for students planning to join our overseas exchange program. I had to go in to work on a Saturday, but it was well worth it. There were presenters from overseas and some graduate “returnees” as well as a volunteer worker who’d just come back from the Fiji islands.

I had to give a presentation, too. I used to give two-a-penny when I lived in Kinosaki, but to suddenly have to give a presentation in Japanese after a one year break was more nerve wrecking than I thought.

Still, I watched the postmortem after the event was over and I found no real bloopers Just a few lines more cloying than a cheesy Star Treck episode.