Feb 24, 2023

February 25, 2023 The scholarship program aims to help displaced Ukrainians find work while addressing Japan’s chronic labor shortage. - Advertisement - Tokyo, Japan – When Leonid Riznik arrived in Japan from war-torn Ukraine in April 2022, he knew that finding a job in Tokyo would be difficult. Riznik, who fled Kharkiv with his girlfriend during the early days of the Russian invasion, did not speak Japanese and had little practical experience other than a temporary job as a 3D printing engineer. - Advertisement - “Finding a job was difficult,” Riznik, 19, told Al Jazeera. “But there were also good people who helped me a lot, so even I, [newly] a graduate Ukrainian student could find a good position in a good company.” Eight months after landing in Japan, as one of about 2,000 Ukrainian “evacuees” who received temporary residence and work rights, Riznik took a job at Tokyo Techies, an IT consulting and software development company, as a front-end engineer . - Advertisement - Rizny’s breakthrough came with the Japan-Ukraine Tech Bridge initiative, a scholarship program designed to both help displaced Ukrainians find jobs and address a shortage of workers in Japan’s tech sector, which is experiencing the effects of a rapidly aging Japanese population. Founded by the non-governmental organization Stand With Ukraine Japan, clothing company Virtusize and investment company Nextblue, the scholarship is provided to asylum seekers to enable them to participate in Le Wagon Tokyo, the local branch of an intensive coding boot camp founded in France in 2013. Three of the 10 available scholarships have already been awarded, one of which went to Riznik. “I had little experience in IT; just the basics of front-end development,” he said. “The boot camp helped me improve my skills as well as build a portfolio for myself and finally open the gate to the world of the Japanese IT industry.” Leonid Riznik got a job at a Japanese technology firm after completing a Le Wagon Tokyo coding course. [Courtesy of Leonid Riznyk] Over 10 weeks, consisting of nine weeks of programming from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and a “career week” to make it easier for graduates to get to work, boot camp participants learn the basic technical skills to become web developers and, possibly, the earth. a coveted job at a Japanese technology company. Sasha Kaverina, co-founder of Stand With Ukraine Japan and head of partnerships and development at Le Wagon Tokyo, was in Japan when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of her homeland on February 24, 2022. Then, in March, Kaverina, a longtime Tokyo resident, made the difficult journey home to convince her mother and father to temporarily move to western Ukraine from Kharkov, a rocket-hit city close to the Russian border. After two hectic days of traveling on planes and buses, Kaverina met her parents in the city of Chernivtsi, where she worked remotely for her company in Japan while doing volunteer work and ferrying aid across the Romanian border. Returning to Tokyo a few weeks later, Kaverina decided to do her best to help her people. “I started thinking about how to help Ukrainians start a new life from scratch in Japan,” Kaverina told Al Jazeera. “Actually, the answer came pretty quickly because I work at an institution that gives people the opportunity to switch to a new career.” Kaverina floated the idea of ​​scholarships for Ukrainian “evacuees” — the Japanese government has yet to grant them formal “refugee” status — to Nextblue, a young venture capital firm, and Virtusize, a fashion technology company based in Sweden and headquartered. in Tokyo. Yuichi Kori, general partner at Tokyo-based Nextblue, felt “great sadness” after seeing news reports of the Russian invasion, he told Al Jazeera. So when Kaverina pitched the idea of ​​a Ukrainian-Japanese scholarship to him, Corey immediately decided to support it by contacting executives from firms in his investment portfolio, some of whom wanted to sponsor scholarships. “Not only does this help Ukrainian refugees,” Kaverina said, “but after they graduate… it could also help solve the shortage of IT professionals in Japan.” Sasha Kaverina helps Ukrainian migrants start a new life from scratch in Japan [Courtesy of Sasha Kaverina] Problems related to low digital literacy have plagued Japan for the past decade. The country’s rigid pay system based on seniority has been criticized for undermining the IT sector, and low wages have been blamed for not attracting ambitious IT engineers and software developers. According to Persol Career, the job-to-applicant ratio for IT professionals reached 10 to 1 in 2022, the largest gap of any industry measured. The relatively unattractive conditions in this sector have led many young programmers and developers to look for work abroad or in companies owned by foreign owners. Andreas Ueno-Olausson, CEO of Virtusize, said his experience with Ukrainian tech partners has made him see young, tech-savvy Ukrainians trying to find work in Japan as “wasted talent.” “I have a dream that Japanese companies will hire Ukrainians coming to Japan and use this opportunity to gain access to possibly the world’s best technology market, ROI,” Ueno-Olausson told Al Jazeera. “Send them on an internship, send them to Japanese tech companies, and maybe they can be a bridge. The importance of the Japanese-Ukrainian technological bridge is emphasized by the high unemployment rate among the evacuated Ukrainians. More than 60 percent of the 2,000 or so Ukrainians evacuated to Japan were unemployed late last year, according to a survey by the Nippon Foundation. According to the survey, almost 80 percent of those who have a job worked only part-time. Japan granted temporary residence and work rights to about 2,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war [File: Kyodo/Reuters] Yulia Naumenko, a 30-year-old evacuee from the city of Sumy in eastern Ukraine, is among those currently surveying the labor market. After several unsuccessful attempts by the authorities to evacuate civilians, when the Russian army reduced Sumy to rubble, Naumenko and her mother were offered a lifeline by her brother, a software engineer who has been living in Tokyo for the past four years. After a circuitous trip from Ukraine, the couple arrived in Tokyo at the end of March last year. Although Naumenko was already interested in IT, she had concerns when she heard about the scholarship program in a group chat for Ukrainian asylum seekers. Not only did she work late as a data administrator in Sumy, spread over seven time zones, she also handled the paperwork for obtaining residence permits and looked after her elderly mother. Kaverina, co-founder of Stand With Ukraine Japan, convinced Naumenko of a career opportunity in the IT sector and applied for a scholarship. Naumenko heeded the advice and completed boot camp with Riznik last year. “It’s hard to get a job right now because people aren’t looking for junior engineers … and finding a job in IT is not a quick process,” Naumenko told Al Jazeera, referring to the many interviews and practical skills assessments required to get a position. role in web development. However, Naumenko has an interview with a local tech company ahead of her and a few more applications waiting to be answered. “I’m also busy volunteering with Stand With Ukraine Japan and working for my friends to make sure I don’t forget how to code,” she said. Yulia Naumenko came to Tokyo with her mother in March last year. [Courtesy of Yulia Naumenko] At Tokyo Techies, founded by Vietnamese entrepreneur Duc Doba, Riznik thrives in a “laid-back” environment that allows him to hone his skills. He plans to stay in Japan for at least another five years and hopes the local tech sector will capitalize on the opportunities presented by the influx of Ukrainians. “IT companies, if they can, should provide internships to Ukrainian refugees who want to become IT professionals,” Riznik said. “In the end, it will be more profitable for them, because most of the refugees are young, almost graduates, whose potential has not yet been discovered. Young people who are looking for an opportunity to work in Japan, live here and pay taxes will repay everyone who helped them. Credit: www.aljazeera.com /