CODE IN TOKYO

The IT Industry Was a Museum of Former Careers

When you spend a long time working as an engineer, you start to notice how varied people’s backgrounds were before they entered this industry.

In a typical company, many people join as new graduates and stay in the same industry.

But IT was different.

“Wait, you came from that kind of job?”

I met quite a few people who made me think that.

The most common were former musicians.

Just among the people I personally met, there were three.

They had spent their younger years trying to make a living through music, but as they got older, they began to think more seriously about stability and moved into the IT industry.

In the old Japanese IT industry, there was a period when motivation and labor shortages mattered more than academic background.

People could start in testing or operations, gradually learn programming, and eventually become engineers.

That kind of route really existed.

People from the Game Industry

The next background that left an impression on me was the game industry.

Some had written game scenarios. Others had been involved in game production.

Since games and IT are relatively close fields, I was not that surprised.

The Unexpected Former Doctor

One surprising case was a former doctor.

“Why would someone quit being a doctor?”

I once saw a former doctor turned comedian say on TV that the medical workplace was too harsh and that he could not continue. Apparently, some people really do burn out and move to a different path.

Of course, quitting medicine and becoming an engineer is still very rare.

The Former Truck Driver

The person who surprised me the most was a former truck driver.

A former truck driver by itself is not necessarily that unusual. The surprising part was his reason.

“A fortune teller told me that if I changed careers, I should go into IT.”

You never know what will trigger a major turn in someone’s life. Still, a fortune teller?

In the end, he continued working as an engineer like anyone else.

The Entrance Used to Be Wide

At least when I entered this world, the Japanese IT industry did not require an academic background just to get in.

Of course, beginners were only given simple work at first.

Testing. Operations. Monitoring.

From there, people learned technical skills little by little and became fully capable engineers.

That is probably why so many people from other industries were able to take a chance on IT.

But recently, partly because of AI, junior-level work has been decreasing.

If today’s environment had existed back then, former musicians and former truck drivers might not have found it as easy to become engineers.

It is a little sad to think about.

If the age of AI also narrows the entrance that once allowed almost anyone to try, that may be a major change in the industry in a different sense from technological progress itself.

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