Pros
- It's a way to get a foothold into Japan. - You get paid even when you're on standby (I.e. not currently working with a client) - Company provides housing for you, which is normally quite difficult to do as a foreigner. Plus, they subsidize it so you only have to pay a set amount. - You get a month of training in business Japanese before getting sent to your branch office, and the teachers are good -- but only if you're at an intermediate to advanced level of Japanese - You have the last say on whether to take a client - The company stays pretty "by the book" in terms of adherence to the law - Little to no overtime
Cons
- Even for Japan, the pay is low for the level of work being done. You can get much better pay elsewhere. - Few to no options to work remotely - The quality of the client work isn't great. I was hired as a software developer but the first companies shown to me didn't even involve software development. The technical level of the client I was working with was quite low, so I felt stagnant in career growth. The level of responsibility was significantly above my experience and pay level - Interactions with management were painful. It didn't feel like they were on your side. The leader of my branch's office was antagonistic towards me and made the work environment uncomfortable - The quality of the company housing is not good - All-hands meetings on Saturdays about 5 times a year. These are mandatory, and two of them are 8 hours long. - Received phone calls on my personal phone from work after work hours