Someone you know has left or is planning to leave. 1,000 Ways To Japa will speak to real people and explore the infinite number of reasons and paths they use to get to Japa.
Israel (26), the subject of this week’s 1000 Ways to Japa, knew he would leave Nigeria since junior secondary school. When he finally had the chance to move in 2021, Nigeria happened. He shares how he got multiple offers from foreign companies like Amazon and Yelp, and how he declined those offers to relocate to Canada.
Where do you live now and when did you leave Nigeria?
So I currently live in Vancouver, Canada. I left Nigeria in June 2023.
Why did you decide to japa?
Two reasons– I wanted to live a better life, and as a software engineer, I wanted to go where all the major tech actions were happening. Also, I’ve always known that I’d leave the country since junior secondary school because I I wanted to work at Microsoft and they didn’t have an office in Nigeria at the time so that’s where the relocation dream came from.
So did you get the job at Microsoft?
So that didn’t really happen. In my third year of university, I was determined to leave Nigeria, so I came up with multiple plans. The first one was to get a job at a foreign tech company (not only Microsoft) that could sponsor my relocation. My backup plan was to leave through the study route, while my third plan was to continue doing great work in Nigeria and apply for a skilled worker visa. Thankfully, my first plan worked, and I got a job with a tech company here in Vancouver. That’s how I ended up in Canada.
Congratulations. How did that happen?
I actually got three job offers from three tech companies. I got one offer from Yelp in the UK. I got another offer from Amazon, also in the UK, and then, got one with Asana in Canada, which is currently where I am now.
You ditched Amazon for Asana? No shade but why?
It was mostly because I preferred Canada to the UK and both jobs were offering similar pay. Although Yelp was for a more senior level
Fairs. You seem to know a lot about getting a foreign job. How would you advise other Nigerians to get started?
The first thing I’d say is that the process takes a lot of intentionality. Since I decided to work in big tech, I’ve been working towards that goal–I joined international communities with the intention of connecting with people outside the country. I started doing that in secondary school, and I continued until I got into uni. By the time I got to my second year of university, I was already applying for international roles with tech companies which is funny because I was still building my tech skills. But I knew the worst that would happen was that I’d get rejected and move on.
So I’d say my first advice is to start applying for international roles as soon as you can. Don’t wait to become the best version of yourself. Start building a track record online so that your work can be traced back to you.
You should also prepare to get some rejections before your big break. I got rejected everywhere I applied to that year, but in my 300 level, I got an internship interview with Google. When I tell you that was the highlight of my life, I’m not even joking. I was like “Who am I?” They served me a rejection when I got to the final round of the interview though but even getting rejected by Google as a student gave me hope that I could actually make it in life. It’s been a few years now, and I’ve recently gone back to check out the resume I used to get to the final stage of the interview. I wouldn’t have given myself the internship if I was Google.
LMAO. Love the self-awareness
It’s good to tell yourself the truth. So I had been applying for jobs forever, but things changed in 2021 because the job market just seemed to be at its peak– I had recruiters reaching out to me almost every day. The Amazon job I mentioned earlier was one of the jobs I got through a recruiter who reached out to me.
I ended up interviewing for so many roles. I interviewed at Google again and at other tech companies. I was doing all these while doing my final-year projects, and I luckily got a job with those companies.
Asana was the first company to offer me a job, sometime around December 2021. I was so excited because I thought my big break had finally come, and I was going to move out of the country.
Asana has companies that help employees process their relocation so everything was going well until ASUU went on another strike. I was already done with my final exams, but my results were not out yet. At this point, I had signed the offer letter, and they would start my immigration process, but they needed my certificate to give me a work permit. Because my final results were not out, I couldn’t submit that, So it felt like my job offer was in jeopardy, which was a very terrible thing.
The strike lasted for almost a whole year so I couldn’t send my documents. But they kept waiting for me and sending messages to tell me that my job offer was still available. I was practically begging them not to take my job offer at some point because the strike was lasting longer than it should. It felt like I had gotten my big break but Nigeria was still happening to me. They waited for a whole year before they told me that they would have to take back the offer if I didn’t send a transcript or certificate.
I returned to my backup plan and started interviewing for foreign jobs again. That was actually when the Amazon offer came through, but luckily, the strike was called off, and I got my transcript just before the deadline that Asana gave me. The relocation process started again, and I moved in 2023. Even though I didn’t lose the offer, I lost a lot of money– they took back my sign-on bonus of about 34,000 Canadian dollars because I waited too long.
Sorry about that. How did you hear about these job openings from Nigeria?
I mostly just searched, but I was also part of communities like the Microsoft student community where people sometimes send job openings to each other.
Another way I advise people to try is to keep up with some products they use. For example, I’m a software engineer, so I’m familiar with the Asana software. I found out about them from an agency I used to work with. I liked the product, so I went to Google and searched for the company’s career site, checked to see if they had any job that I was qualified for, and applied from there.
You can also subscribe to job alerts on LinkedIn. I was getting job alerts almost every day, and they opened my eyes to new opportunities.
Thank you. Is the timeline for landing a foreign job usually long like yours, or is it something that someone can manage to process within a shorter period of time?
To be honest, you can get a job in less than a year. Most interview rounds take one month. Once you make it past that stage, you immediately get an offer. I had some obstacles like ASUU in the way, but it’s not going to be like that for everybody.
The length of the entire process also depends on the country you’re moving to because you still have to process your relocation papers and permits after getting the job offer, and the processes differ for different countries.
That’s good to know. What would you say you like the most about living in Canada?
I think it’s the fact that their systems work, compared to Nigeria, where everybody just does their thing and doesn’t follow laws. Plus, Canada just offers you a better life–things work the way they are supposed to, and it’s a healthy place to live.
On a scale of one to 10, how happy are you in Canada?
I’m grateful for moving to Canada, and for the kind of job that I have and how much I make.
I’ll say my happiness is about 10 out of 10. I’m living my dream life, but I’ll also say maybe 9.5 because things can still get much better.
Would you like to share your japa story? Please reach out to me here.
