Japan-raised Canadian citizen: UBC graduate hired into Amazon engineering
Born in Japan to Chinese parents, schooled mainly in Japan, then completed a four-year UBC degree and joined Amazon as a new-grad software engineer—later promoted while staying on the same team.
ソフトウェアエンジニア · Amazon
Profile
Yao (goes by 「よう」 with Japanese speakers) is in his 20s, a software engineer at Amazon. Attributes mark college/university route and 未経験 relative to the typical Japan-industry-then-relocate pattern (no multi-year Japan full-time SE career before Amazon). City not stated in attributes. Canadian citizen from childhood, which lowered UBC tuition.
Current role
Amazon software engineer; as of the October 2023 interview, about three years in role since 2020 hire, still on the same team after a June 2023 promotion. Work is highly subdivided in a large-org setting; assignment city was choosable at new-grad onboarding more than team domain.
Japan experience
Born in Japan; parents are Chinese and held Japan PR by his birth. Brief early childhood in Canada (~2 years) then Japan from roughly late grade 1 through high school. University-era Tokyo internship at Gunosy (~2 months one summer) after limited success securing Canadian internships that year. No multi-year Japan corporate tenure is stated beyond that internship/context of growing up and finishing high school in Japan.
Path to Canada / North America
Family encouraged overseas university; Canadian citizenship made study affordable. Applied widely using English scores and grades; chose UBC (also held University of Ottawa offer). Attended UBC ~2016–2020. Two internships plus tutoring and a professor project. New-grad Amazon hire in 2020 (COVID-era remote start).
Outcome
Three years at Amazon by late 2023 with a mid-2023 promotion he describes as average or slightly slow versus peers. Exploring broader ownership / more personally interesting domains longer term; notes many teammates stay long while company-wide early attrition also exists.
Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)
background=未経験 in attributes (no Japan full-time SE career before Amazon). City=null.