Japan Dev Podcast #7 - Jeff Bergier

Presenting Japan Dev Podcast #7 ⛩️

In this episode, we sit down with Jeff Bergier, a UX designer turned software engineer who moved from San Francisco to Tokyo!

Jeff shares his journey from working in Silicon Valley to building a career in Japan. He compares the work culture, cost of living, and tech opportunities between the two cities. Jeff also talks about why he finds life in Tokyo fulfilling and how Japan’s structured yet balanced work environment shaped his career.

Takeaways:

✅ Work-Life Balance – Less stress, more structure than SF.

✅ Lower Cost of Living – Higher savings despite lower salaries.

✅ Career Stability – Secure jobs without SF’s volatility.

✅ Clean & Efficient City – Safe, convenient, and well-organized.

✅ Job Satisfaction – Engineers take pride in their work.

👉 More from Jeff

LinkedIn: / jeffreybergier

Github: https://github.com/jeffreybergier

Timestamps:

00:00 - In this video

01:08 - Meet Jeff ( His background and story )

06:56 - Retail job sparked his design passion.

09:12 - Designers’ impact in big tech.

16:05 - Tech job market struggles.

19:53 - Learning to code, career switch.

25:24 - Japan vs. US culture.

27:21 - Work culture differences.

30:57 - New York or Japan?

36:27 - Japan’s startup scene.

42:04 - Relocating with support.

47:31 - Workload management issues.

49:21 - Balancing tech debt.

53:14 - Company vs. job role.

58:44 - Tokyo vs. SF life.

1:06:05 - Japan’s service quality.

💬 Have questions about tech jobs in Japan? Drop them in the comments — we’ll read them. And we’ll do our best to answer them!

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