Gene WorkSpace

Through a series of events, I arrived in Japan at the end of 2019. After joining the company in January 2020, I am about to receive my third paycheck in Japan. Since graduating from university, I went straight into military service and then joined as a new graduate, so it's been a long time since I've written anything. Taking advantage of the extra free time from working from home during the pandemic, I'm recording my thoughts on my first job and my first time working abroad. This post mainly covers my experiences living in Japan for three months, including work and leisure life after hours. **Why I chose LINE Japan** During my senior year, I learned through a stroke of luck that LINE had an opening for an Infrastructure Engineer. A community peer asked if I wanted to interview. At the time, I hadn't finished the process for a full-time conversion at Google, so I figured interviewing would be good experience. You can refer to this post for the detailed interview process: LINE Tokyo Interview Experience. To my surprise, I passed the interview, and I hesitated for a long time between this and an offer from Google in Changhua. Ultimately, although I would save less money at LINE and had to leave my social circle, I chose LINE for the job content and future career development. **Work Culture** LINE's work culture is quite different from the traditional Japanese companies I imagined—no daily suits, no extreme deference to superiors, and no mandatory drinking with bosses after work. Instead, it feels more like a foreign multinational. Engineers don't need to wear suits or ties; colleagues dress casually, and there's no social pressure to drink with managers after hours. We have flexible working hours. Although we need to clock in, it's essentially a results-oriented system. Most colleagues arrive around 11 AM. If something comes up at home, we can work from home, which is very liberating. However, my team seems to have many workaholics; I sometimes see people submitting pull requests or replying to messages late at night. Personally, I usually don't handle company matters after hours unless it's an emergency. **Colleague Interaction and Communication** Communication between colleagues is primarily in English. After all, 7 out of the 13 people on our team are not Japanese, so there's no need to worry about not knowing Japanese. The biggest downside of not knowing Japanese is that it's harder to make small talk with Japanese colleagues, but I can still chat in Chinese with Taiwanese and Chinese teammates. Additionally, the company provides free Japanese, English, and Korean classes, which anyone interested can apply for. Interactions are very harmonious. Colleagues are very willing to answer questions and help find solutions. Sometimes, hearing their perspectives leads to unexpected solutions. **Work Environment** The work environment at LINE is very comfortable. You can check out the introduction to the LINE Fukuoka office; the photos there are similar to the Tokyo office. Everyone gets a large electric standing desk and a Herman Miller Aeron chair. Most people choose to apply for two [...]