The United States has Google and Facebook, and China has Baidu. But Japan surprisingly lacks a major global software platform despite the county’s fondness for technology. That’s because Japan has traditionally focused more on manufacturing while treating software engineering as an after-thought. That's a risky approach in the digital era, so one small software engineering boot camp is standing up to change the mindset toward software engineering. 

Code Chrysalis is a Silicon Valley-styled coding boot camp. Students train here to become full-stack engineers. The camp opened less than a year ago but has already gained the attention of Japanese blue chips. 

Kani Munidasa, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Code Chrysalis, said that they want to change the current situation in Japan to boost development in house.

“The biggest change we want to influence is to ask companies to think about bringing software development in house, giving engineers power and autonomy to bring innovation into products and to bring innovation to functionality versus just giving them tasks to do,” Kani Munidasa said. 

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Actually, Japanese firms have traditionally viewed software engineers as a way to cut costs rather than add value to the company. Entry-level software engineers in Japan earn less than half of their counterparts in the US despite a severe labor shortage. Code Chrysalis wants to make changes from the bottom-up to this corporate culture.

Unlike other coding courses, students learn “soft skills” such as presentations and team-building in the boot camp. They also get exclusive headhunting opportunities and even voice training from an opera singer.

In turn, the payoff for completing the 9,000-dollar course is big. Organizers say graduates get an 80-percent raise in base salaries. Some leave their jobs to join this 12-week camp, while others are blessed with company sponsorships. 

“Sometimes I think I know how to do this, but when you get your hands dirty and really dive into those tasks. It might not be as easy as you might be expecting, so that was quite challenging,” said Xiao Zhou Jia, an engineer from NTT DATA, who is also one of the bootcamp participants. 

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A reputable board of advisors, including former Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei, is standing behind Code Chrysalis’ mission. Nobuyuki Idei said that software is critical for companies to keep up or even lead the transformation in the industry and younger generations should use activities like Code Chrysalis to challenge themselves. The CEO explained that’s the reason he supports the company firmly.

In addition to getting more opportunities through the right training, Japanese software engineers hope to bring the industry to the forefront amid a global hiring frenzy.