Banking and fintech finance lead who career-changed into Canadian full-stack engineering
10+ years Japan finance, then UPSIDER finance manager; Langara career change into health-tech full-stack (~18 months).
フルスタックエンジニア · Vancouver
Profile
Ishi (30s) is a career-changer full-stack engineer at a Canadian health-tech company. He relocated to Vancouver with family after a long finance career and mid-30s pivot into software.
Current role
Full-stack engineer at a Canadian health-tech firm (name not stated). Offer late February; started early March; about two months in at interview. Attributes list ~18 months to offer.
Japan experience
Career changer for software engineering. ~10 years in banking: first ~5 years corporate lending sales, then ~5 years overseas PMI for a bank acquisition (Thailand/Indonesia mentioned in discussion of overseas postings). Then ~2 years as finance manager at UPSIDER (fintech; debt fundraising focus, no CFO). Watching engineers ship product drove the desire to build. Relocated with young children for flexible work culture.
Path to Canada / North America
Chose Canada/Vancouver for immigration openness and diversity (prior short Victoria stay ~15 years earlier). Arrived September 2023 alone for setup; family joined November. Langara for ~1 year 4 months. Little pre-departure coding time due to startup workload. Reverse-engineered curriculum milestones to gain ~6 months practical experience before graduation; completed Langara projects with an all-career-changer team; secured two pre-graduation roles (Langara part-time plus a volunteer product build) in the final four months.
Outcome
Full-time health-tech hire after a small search (~3–4 companies). Prior Canadian part-time/volunteer experience changed interview framing toward “has professional experience.”
Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)
Canadian employer name not stated; UPSIDER named for Japan fintech role.