Sales-to-frontend career changer whose three Canadian years included Starbucks, remote Japan work, a local role, layoff, and return to Japan
Zero engineering experience on arrival; built skills via college, café work, and Japan remote contracts before a short local employment spell ended in layoff.
フロントエンドエンジニア · Vancouver
Profile
Career changer from manufacturing sales to frontend engineering in Vancouver. Interview frames ~three years in Canada ending with a decision to return to Japan after layoff. Canadian full-time employer name is not stated.
Current role
At interview time he had decided to return to Japan after layoff from a Vancouver engineering role (initially discussed as full-time vs freelance ambiguity that became costly). He had previously worked months at a company associated with Frog community member Tomo. Employment Insurance (EI) was successfully claimed after follow-ups with Service Canada.
Japan experience
Priority background: sales role at a globally operating Japanese manufacturing company (machine components; branches worldwide). No engineering experience before Vancouver. University: science/engineering faculty with robotics research; programming was a relative weakness versus hardware interest. Long-standing goal to work abroad; initially explored digital marketing, then shifted to engineering on Frog advice. Pre-departure (after ~May 2020 consultation) he studied programming and English for about 1.5 years while still employed; mainly JavaScript, later wishing he had added React/TypeScript sooner. Exact Japan employer name and tenure years are not stated.
Path to Canada / North America
Departure delayed by COVID; arrived October 2021. Used college as reinforcement of self-study. ESL one month + Pre-Class one month. Starbucks from March 2022 (~six months after arrival) via multi-store applications (~one month to interviews; two store offers)—major English gains. Local tech job search from about October 2022 faced recession/layoff market silence. With peers he ran morning accountability and shifted to Japan remote work via Wantedly (~two weeks to land; ~30 hours/week) while keeping Starbucks, totaling 40+ hours plus study/job search. Later local hire then layoff.
Outcome
Returned-to-Japan decision after layoff despite having secured Canadian engineering work. Frames the three years as growth even without PR; EI bridging and English phone confidence cited as practical takeaways.
Based on Frog’s Japanese-language interview. English summary for scanning (partners / employers). Original interview (Japanese)
Intro/factHits truncated before full post-layoff plans; Canadian employer legal name not stated.