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Japan Dev needs a content writer!

At Japan Dev, we help people find tech jobs in Japan.
And we're looking for a content writer to help us produce content for the Japan Dev blog!
Have you worked in tech? In Japan? Do you want to share your thoughts with the community? Then this position is for you.
We are looking for both full-time writers (regular) and guest writers (irregular)! 😊
If you are a software engineer, designer, product manager, or HR/recruiter in Japan and would like to share your experiences, you are most welcome! πŸ’™
If so, you are welcome to join our team as a guest writer and write on any topic you like whenever you want!
Full-time writers need to be able to write about topics related to Japan but don't need any engineering experience. 😌
β€» If you want to contribute an article to Japan Dev as a guest writer rather than a full-time position, you don't need to submit your application using the detailed form below.
Please feel free to email us at [email protected]. πŸ˜‰ (It would be helpful if you could attach your LinkedIn profile.)

What We Can Offer You

βœ… Flexibility.
To start off, you can contribute on a per-article or contract (ζ₯­ε‹™ε§”θ¨—) basis. If it's a great match, we'd love it if you could join our team full-time.
We work 100% remotely. And Japan Dev is a small team so we have pretty much zero bureaucracy.
Also you don't have to be in Japan. It would be nice if you could work during Japanese work hours (at least partially), but that's not a requirement.
Mostly, we just want excellent content that fits our blog and provides value for our readers.
βœ… Interested readers.
Top posts on Japan Dev get over 100,000 views per year. Our SEO is pretty strong so content ranks fast (the site gets >600,000 monthly page views overall).
βœ… A prominent, customizable byline.
Contribute under your own name. We'll include a photo and help you spread your personal brand.
βœ… Opportunities for growth.
We'll start on a per-article or contract basis, but we'd love if you could transition to full-time.
Our team is small, so you'll work directly with our founders. You'll have chances to see every aspect of the business and grow along with us.
This includes opportunities for leadership as we grow, and expanding into areas like marketing and SEO.

Our Ideal Candidate

You've worked in tech β€” in Japan.
We're looking for someone with 2+ years of first-hand experience in the industry. You don't have to actively live here though.
You understand Japanese.
You don't have to be fluent, but you need to be able to read Japanese at least. This is for researching β€” some topics don't have good sources in English.
JLPT N2 or so should be enough.
You write your own content.
Because you know that AI content is boring and unoriginal. That's why you don't use AI β€” instead, you write unique content for humans.
You write like you speak.
You use short sentences and paragraphs made up of simple words. You say one thing per sentence. And you use transitions so your words flow smoothly.
In general, you aim for a 3rd to 5th grade reading level. Your goal is clarity β€” not to prove you know lots of big words.
Bonus points if you have HemingwayApp bookmarked. More bonus points if you read our writing guide and it bores you to death because you already know this stuff.
You understand SEO.
We're not religious about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but we do keyword research. And we use tools like Ahrefs and Frase.io to choose topics to write about and create briefs.
So any SEO experience is a big plus!

What You'll Actually Do

We'll likely start off with a few one-off blog posts to ensure you're a good fit. But eventually, we'd love it if you could handle the whole content creation process.
That process starts with brainstorming topics to write about.
Some example topics from our blog:
Really, anything that's helpful for software developers who want to work in Japan. You'll use SEO tools like Ahrefs and Frase.io to help select topics that people are searching for. And you'll manage topics using Notion.
Next, you'll create an outline for each blog post. That means researching the topic to find the most important points to cover and deciding the article's structure.
Then you'll actually write the content. Right now, we use Google Docs for this part so other team members can make suggestions.
After that, you'll edit the post and add finishing touches like images and internal links. We don't have a dedicated editor, so we expect publish-ready content that fits our writing guide.
Next, we'll read your draft and make suggestions. After you make any required changes, then it's time to upload the blog post to our system. We use Contentful for this.
Then we'll publish your post on our blog, and you'll move on to the next one!

A Few More Notes

We'll need to see examples of your work.
You should have a portfolio with a significant amount of work (one or two articles isn't enough). Bonus points if it's Japan-related!
We can't sponsor visas for Japan.
Sorry, we're just too small.
This is a paid position.
We'll try to match your freelance / per-article rate. And if you transition to full-time, we'll offer a competitive annual compensation package.