About language
English is the official language in every country (translator's note: in the IT field) . The company I work for has branches in many countries, so even if I work in Japan, I mostly work with non-Japanese people and rarely use Japanese.
Something similar happens in those companies that outsource the project abroad.
English is the official language in the United States, but that doesn't mean everyone there speaks the pure literary English that you hear in movies. People from different countries speak with accents unique to their native language, and that's okay. Once you get used to it, you will be able to understand English as your first language.
Even in Germany, the people you work with mostly communicate remotely with colleagues from different countries, so you don't need German to work. Most speak English with a slight accent. It is much easier to understand than the accent, for example, of the Hindus, but it can be used to it. I also noticed that IT began to develop rapidly in Eastern Europe. Recently, I have often started working with people from Eastern European countries, their accent also takes a little getting used to.
Project work
The most memorable moment is the approach to working on projects. My memories have not yet disappeared from the time of organizing various events.
Quick start in German
What surprised me the most when I participated in one event of our company in Germany was that we all gathered in the morning on the day of the event and began to discuss: "So, comrades, what are we going to do?" The event began within a few hours, and it seemed that we would not be in time for anything.
Perhaps this is a feature of only our company, but we usually do not plan anything far in advance, no plans are made. Nevertheless, we all succeeded, which means that we were strong in speed and response to the situation.
America - make a plan for a plan
When I attended a similar event in the United States, the manager made a plan using Microsoft Project and very clearly assigned responsibilities so that all staff could understand who would do what. In addition, the plan had several days before the official deadline, so you could see exactly how it is being drawn up. But whether this plan was clearly implemented inside and out is a completely different conversation. It was even necessary to monitor whether all the points of the plan were being carried out correctly.
Japan - Recycle But Do Your Best
It seems self-evident to those working in Japan, but it is not acceptable abroad, especially in Germany. First, we don't work overtime here, and we don't take on projects that involve overtime. In other words, the manager must monitor the workload of the team and not allow it to go beyond reasonable limits.
In Japan, especially in Japan, it is often necessary to work overtime to achieve 100% results. It may not be that difficult to achieve 80% -90% of the overall plan, but the remaining 10% may take longer than reaching the first 90%. Reduction or cancellation of overtime is provided only for internal company projects, when 90% or more are ready. On the other hand, neither in Germany nor in the US, we have never met the plan 100% by the time of release.
Work and leisure
Overtime
Neither Germany nor the United States work overtime. Even if I have some work left after the end of the working day, I will return to it the next day, with the exception of force majeure.
The same is true not only with ordinary employees, but also with managers who forcibly send clerks home if they earn money. Even here I can occasionally work more than the assigned one, but this cannot be compared with Japan, where processing averages 20 hours per month against my 10 hours for a whole year.
When we have lunch break, and we get in touch with the Japanese office, they say that they have already nine in the evening and a late dinner, while they are still at work. At nine o'clock in the evening, only the night police patrols are at work.
Friday
Although now everyone's work is from home, Friday is still considered only a half-work day, at three o'clock everyone goes online. The theory is something like this: "I worked a few extra hours on Wednesday and Thursday, so I need to shorten them today in order to devote more time to my work, to maintain work-life balance." (translator's note: talking about working in Germany)
Vacation
For this item, the rating is as follows: Germany, America, Japan. Of course, in different companies everything is different, but often in Germany, paid vacation is 30 days, and they take it almost at a time, practically not dividing it into parts. Especially often they take a vacation for summer holidays or around Christmas. Even some of my colleagues go missing every year in August for 3 weeks.
In America, holidays are just as often taken around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but still not for such long periods at a time.
I am often asked: “how does your job not get up if a key employee disappears for 3 weeks?”, But nothing can be done, you have to wait. Usually at work they even say something like “he’s on vacation tomorrow, so put off your question for two weeks”, and not “he’s on vacation tomorrow, so try to resolve the issue today”. Even a few weeks before the official start of the vacation, an answering machine “I’m on vacation, I don’t accept new requests yet” is activated by email.
(Translator's note: “The article does not say this, so for the sake of completeness I will add: in Japan, paid vacation is 28 days, but no one uses it at a time. Even taking two weeks at once, I would say, is something out of the ordinary Sometimes they add a couple of days to long holidays, a la Golden Week, or take short-term vacations. ")
Employment, career ladder
Occupational Safety and Health
The recruitment process varies considerably depending on the laws of each country. Permanent employees in Japan are protected to some extent by the Labor Standards Act. When it comes to the United States, health and safety are worse, and depending on the company, there may not be a decent employment contract. The so-called At-will Employment is quite often practiced (translator's note: “that is, the employer can fire an employee for anything, if the reason does not belong to the category of discriminatory ones”)... Basically, a company can fire an employee at any time for no reason, and employees can quit at any time for no reason. And I saw this at one time. It happened, and even quite often, that a colleague who was literally sitting in the next place simply did not come one day. This turnover can stall the whole project.
In the case of Germany, the protection of the law is even stronger than in Japan; the contract may contain dozens of sheets with detailed information about the essence of the work process. Germany has a system of employee representation, and representatives chosen from among the employees can, to varying degrees, participate in the management of the company. A representative can sue the company in case of violation of the rights of an individual employee and force the company to change the terms of the contract in his favor.
So it turns out that there are countries where, for example, when reorganizing a business, it is easier to agree on staff and salary cuts, and countries where it is more difficult. Consequently, the level of influence on employees of one company from different countries is also different.
"Developer for Life"
I think in Japan it is an absolute norm to transfer to another department or even a branch.
But in America or Germany there is no such thing - people apply for a specific position with specific responsibilities, and they are hired to it, so no one will suddenly transfer to another department. I especially noticed this tendency in my environment: developers are engaged in development all their lives, without switching to, for example, the position of managers.
I moved twice to a new country, but at the same time I didn’t change my profession, nor the company, nor even its department. This is not an industry where you definitely need to go over your head, a talented developer may well get more than his manager, so I think that the issue of a career ladder is not particularly worth it. It is more important to understand what exactly you like to do more.
Welfare
Both Germany and Japan have a kind of universal health insurance system, so employees and companies pay a certain percentage of premiums, but in the United States it works very differently. Insurance is often mentioned in the American news, but there is no insurance as such in the United States, and the insurance employees receive depends on their company. At one time, I was lucky with an ophthalmological examination in the States, because my company provided it to me.
Company reimbursement for transportation from work to home and back also differs. In Japan, an ordinary employee uses public transport and receives compensation. There was no such allowance in the United States. Basically, we paid for everything ourselves.
Germany has a corporate car system which is adopted by many companies. We are not talking about company cars in our usual sense: employees choose their own car and pay a certain amount every month depending on its cost, several hundred euros per month, including petrol charges, insurance fees, service charges, and so on. The good thing about this system is that you or your family can use the machine privately. Therefore, in Europe it is quite common to travel in such a company car. In this case, you can travel without special transportation costs.
To a bird - wings, to a person - taxes
Office workers in Japan, at the end of each year, compare the amount of tax paid with what is actually obtained, and that is, in principle, everything (translator's note: “this is done so that you can get back a part of the taxes paid if, for example, your salary has changed during the year. There are other factors that affect the income tax, due to which you can also get back some of the taxes paid. ”) . Neither the States nor Germany can do this so easily, and everyone has to file a final tax return. You will get used to it, but you have to study the tax system of each country and know what is taxable and what is not.
For example, the previously mentioned travel expenses may be considered expenses in Japan, but they are not recognized as expenses in the United States and cannot be deducted from income.
In Germany, if you use a company car for personal use, it will be considered wages and taxed.
If you study the tax system of each country, you will not have any problems, but it is all quite troublesome and takes a lot of time at first.
Finally
I tried to explain to you the characteristic features of work and life in three countries. Of course, this is a purely individual experience, others could tell about it from completely different positions.
Working abroad is actually quite comfortable, even the Japanese will succeed if they have decent English and IT skills. This will be a rewarding and extraordinary experience anyway, so why not give it a try?