From a liberal-arts start at Hitachi to senior frontend at Fullscript in Ottawa
Experienced Japanese engineer who built ~7–8 years of product experience (Hitachi → web venture → MedPeer), then landed Canadian roles via working holiday—first quickly, then again by referral after the 2023 recession.
シニアフロントエンドエンジニア · Ottawa · Fullscript
Profile
Yamato is in his 30s and works in Ottawa as a senior frontend engineer at health-tech company Fullscript (Healthy Web Inc.). He holds an economics degree and entered engineering as a new graduate without university programming experience. Attributes classify him as an experienced engineer on a working-holiday path; time to first Canadian offer is recorded as 1 month.
Current role
At Fullscript his title is frontend engineer, but he also works on Rails backend and describes the role as effectively fullstack. He joined at intermediate level and was promoted to senior frontend after one year. The product sits at the intersection of healthcare and e-commerce (practitioners prescribe supplements that patients purchase on the platform).
Japan experience
Japan industry experience is stated as about 7–8 years. He started at Hitachi as an SE after being drawn to SE recruiting talks; large-company training lasted roughly from April hire into about September. He left because he wanted to keep writing code rather than move into management, and because corporate hierarchy did not fit. Next he joined Marketing Applications (web survey tools), then MedPeer for 3 years and 2 months—first as a Rails engineer, later as senior frontend, where he helped stand up a frontend team. After leaving MedPeer he intended to move to Canada but COVID blocked travel, so he took another domestic role until restrictions eased. Final Japan compensation is stated as about ¥8.88M.
Path to Canada / North America
A former colleague’s Canada hire made overseas work feel concrete. He had backpacking experience (Europe ~1 month at age 20; Southeast Asia ~2 months before graduation) and studied English online for about three years from around 2019 (including DMM Eikaiwa). In early 2022 he committed to relocating; he also won UK Youth Mobility but chose Canada. He entered on a tourist visa, job-hunted, then switched to working holiday. In about September 2022 he found his first Canadian role in roughly three weeks (tourist status lasted a little over a month). He had previously practiced English interviews with Shopify from Japan in 2021 (4–5 rounds; not hired).
Outcome
First Canadian employer was Foundation (senior frontend amid a small Rails/frontend team). Funding stress and layoffs in 2023 led him to leave; the subsequent search during recession was very difficult despite Canadian experience. He joined Fullscript via a referral from a Japan-era colleague. Entry compensation at Foundation and at Fullscript is stated as CAD 110,000; after about 2 years and 3 months his base rose by CAD 30,000, with stock bringing total closer to about CAD 170,000.
Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)
Employer-facing summary; Japan years given as 7–8 (range stated by interviewee).