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Japan designer/coder who secured Vancouver frontend work under visa deadline pressure

With ~4 years Japan web design/coding, Masayuki used ESL + college in Vancouver and landed a frontend role at a hockey-app company just before his visa/return deadline.

フロントエンドデベロッパー · Vancouver

Profile

Masayuki is a frontend developer in Vancouver (30s). Prior Japan design/coding experience; college route after missing working-holiday timing.

Current role

Frontend developer at a Vancouver company building an ice-hockey application (employer name not stated). Hired partly as a bridge between co-founder and developers with UX/design fluency.

Japan experience

Prior experience. About four years in Japan: ~2 years web designer and ~2 years coder, mainly site production; skills from OJT/self-study rather than a web school (some high-school IT coursework).

Path to Canada / North America

Committed to Canada after a Frog session in Japan. Missed working-holiday eligibility when the application window slipped past his birthday; used student + co-op visas instead. Brief English study in Japan ~3 months pre-departure; ~3 months ESL in Vancouver, then ITD Graphic and Web Development (chose against busier BCIT to allow remote side work). Found school curriculum weak for modern frontend; self-studied JavaScript/Vue heavily and built a Vue portfolio. Job search started ~1 month after school ended; applied broadly to intermediate/3+ year postings.

Outcome

Offer in the second week of June after extended search under visa pressure (planned return to Japan end of July if not hired by end of June). Perseverance framed as refusing to return to Japan.

Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)

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