What is GAFA? What is Big Tech?
How is it different from other tech companies?
Tech is changing the world drastically, and presumably, most people have used Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple at least once in their lives. These companies are called Big Tech or FAANG in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, such as Japan and France, they’re called GAFA. Big Tech is unique in that they are all online-based platform business that has direct reach to its users. For example, Amazon provides an online shop where anyone can set up their store. Apple allows developers to launch their apps on the App Store.
What makes GAFA so appealing to users and why is the business so successful? We have explained this in length in our previous article. If you want to learn more about it, please have a check at these articles.
FAANG in Japan: Impact of tech giants and GAFA has to Japan.
GAFA or FAANG. Origin of the name for Big Tech in Japan
The situation surrounding Big Tech in Japan
What is the situation surrounding Big Tech in Japan like? In Japan, Big Tech is considered as something like the Perry expedition in 1853. Since the Big Tech’s speed of business, expansion is so fast, and unpredictable, not only tech companies but pretty much companies from every industry are watching the Big Tech’s next move.
In fact, it seems that Big Tech is expanding its business drastically in Japan, and announced that they are increasing the hiring count for tech and non-tech employees. Also, on July 13th, it has been officially announced that Google will acquire payment and remittance service Pring. This news shocked a lot of people in Japan because it suggested that Google was planning on entering the financing market in Japan.
If you are interested in learning more about the situation surrounding Big Tech in Japan, please have a look at this article.
8 things you should know before getting a job in Tech & IT in Japan.
How to get into Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft Japan
How to get into business roles
Now let’s see how to get hired by one of the Big Tech companies. In Japan, Big Tech is extremely difficult to get into as well as many other branches in the world. However, depending on some specific roles, it may be easier o join than applying to other roles. For example, Amazon has myriads of roles, in its consumer department and is constantly hiring people from every industry because they are continually expanding their business into new markets.
In interviews, it is rare that you will be given a Fermi estimation. However, it is common that they will ask you to solve a case study. Therefore, it is necessary to have deep knowledge about their business model. Another common question is the behavioral question. Try answering it in a STAR framework. A STAR framework starts from the situation and then task, action, and results and you should answer behavioral questions in this order.
In Japan, every Big Tech has a referral program so being referred by someone will increase your chances of getting hired by one of the Big Tech. Also, LinkedIn is another great way to get hired by Big Tech in Japan. Not a lot of people use LinkedIn in Japan, but recruiters from Big Tech are constantly approaching potential candidates on LinkedIn. Not a lot of Japanese people are active on LinkedIn so there is a high chance for you to get contacted by one of the recruiters from Big Tech.
How to get into tech roles
Leetcoding your way through Big Tech is probably the most common way to prepare for tech roles in the U.S. This is also a good way to prepare for tech roles in Japan as well, but since there are a lot of engineers who only worked at Japanese companies and only recently moved to foreign companies such as Big Tech, they might have their own unique way of assessing your skill. But overall, the interviews shouldn’t be so different from how the interviews are conducted in other places of the world.
Working at Big Tech in Japan
working at GAFA, GAFAM, and Big Tech in Japan
If you are interested in getting into Big Tech try creating a LinkedIn account, and if possible try and get referrals from someone working at one of the Big Tech. Big Tech is constantly hiring people for a lot of unique job roles, so if you want to get into Big Tech, you should constantly check their job boards and see if there are any new job openings that fit your experience!
