Mikiya — Full-Stack Engineer at OTONOMOS (Vancouver)
Experienced Japan engineer (~2–2.5 years at teamLab) who used a working-holiday path to land Vancouver work—including after a layoff—and now works full-stack at OTONOMOS.
フルスタックエンジニア · Vancouver · OTONOMOS
Profile
Mikiya is a full-stack engineer at legal-tech company OTONOMOS in Vancouver. Age band: 20s (attributes).
Current role
Full-stack engineer at OTONOMOS (second Canadian employer). Team of about four engineers at similar intermediate tenure (~3–4 years each). No algorithm-style coding interview; process included project discussion (~1–1.5 hours) and a final conversation with the CEO.
Japan experience
Prior experience (経験者). New-grad role at teamLab for about 2 years (article also references ~2.5 years Japan experience in a later aside). SIer-style project work spanning requirements, development, ops, testing, and client communication. Strong English interest from school years. Explored Germany (Berlin/startup angle) before switching destination.
Path to Canada / North America
Working-holiday route. Job-hunted from Japan for ~5 months (~150 applications, ~10 screens, one process to ~third interview). Entered intending to job-hunt on a tourist stay first; arrived late August and joined first Vancouver employer in about 1.5–2 months (offer via an X/Twitter hiring lead). Learned React/TypeScript on the job after interview take-home work. Experienced one layoff; second search ~4 months (including freelance via Japan agents and odd jobs). Attributes list ~2 months to offer (aligned with first Canadian hire).
Outcome
Secured employment and switched to a work permit within the working-holiday window (work-permit switch stated as November of the prior year). Later joined OTONOMOS after Canadian experience; considering PR then further moves; open to Europe later.
Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)