An infrastructure engineer's stay in Canada - After the 3-month training period -

Hello.

My name is Takagi and I work in the heavy lifting department at Beyond Co., Ltd. (System Solutions Department, Osaka Office)!

Actually, I was on a business trip to our Canadian office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for three months from the end of November last year

In this article, I would like to write about living and working in Canada, as well as my impressions of it

1. What is the Canada Office?

The Canadian office was established in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada as a wholly owned subsidiary of Beyond in November 2020 in response to business expansion, but moved from Mississauga to North York in February 2022.

The main duties of the Canadian office are the same as those in Japan, including operational monitoring and support of customers' servers

There is a 14-hour time difference between Toronto and Japan, so the Canadian office will be handling the night shift work in Japan!

By the way, Beyond is currently recruiting members to work with us.

Of course, we are also recruiting in our Canadian office, so if you are interested, please take a look at our recruitment page

2. Living in Canada

temperature

To begin with, the three months I spent in Canada were during the extremely cold winter, so it's understandable, but when I think back on my memories, all I can think of are memories like, "It was cold..." It was so cold

It was without a doubt the worst winter I have ever experienced

I remembered a certain TV program and I have fond memories of waving a wet towel around on the balcony in the middle of the night. (By the way, I was surprised to see that it hardened.)

 

The hand towel that became a murder weapon

Also, due to its location, it is affected by the westerly winds, so the wind is very strong, and especially when walking downtown, the wind from the buildings makes your body temperature drop rapidly, so before arriving at your destination, you had to search for cafes several times to buy hot coffee to warm you up

If I go again, I would definitely like to go in the spring or summer!

meal

As for food, just as I had imagined before going to Canada, there were lots of hamburger, pizza, and kebab restaurants, and as one of Japan's biggest junk food lovers, I thought it was heaven. But let me just say one thing

"The portions are large..."

Even I, who undergoes special training and puts my stomach through rigorous training every day, found the amount to be too much

To be honest, I couldn't help but think, "Well, if you eat this much, your body will become stronger."

At the much talked about Fish & Chips @ Kensington

However, there are not only disadvantages (sorry, they're not all bad...), but also good points, too many to list here, one of which is that you can eat food from many different countries

Canada is a country with a large immigrant population, and the cultures of many different countries have blended together to create one society, so there are many situations in everyday life that make you aware of these things

Just like the types of restaurants, there are also many types of supermarkets depending on the culture, and there are many Chinese supermarkets, stores that sell halal, Korean, Dominican, Greek, and other ingredients

You may not be very aware of this in Japan, but I think it's a good thing to be able to feel these ``differences.''

price

I felt that everything was a little pricey

For example, if you order a set meal at McDonald's, it will cost you around $12-$15, depending on what you order, which is roughly ¥1100-¥1300 (as of March 2, 2022)

Whether you think this amount is "high" or "that's about right" is a matter of personal preference, but it seemed a bit too much for me financially, so I got by by cooking at home every now and then

Also, this is just my impression, but I got the impression that many people prepared their own lunch every day

During lunchtime, the area around the shared kitchen gets lively, so I would take my break a little later!

If you are thinking about traveling abroad, it might be a good idea to improve your cooking skills as much as your English skills

3. What I felt through this business trip

As I mentioned earlier, I have never had the opportunity to stay abroad for an extended period of time, so I didn't feel anything special about "living somewhere other than Japan" and thought of it as "simply changing where I live."

However, after this business trip, I think this mindset has changed considerably

Among the members currently working in the Canadian office, all who are not Japanese have lived in Japan for a long time and have a deep understanding of Japanese culture, so from my perspective working with them, it felt just like I was in Japan and we were just going about our work as usual, so I didn't really feel like I was overseas

However, there were times when I would suddenly hear English being spoken, interact with people outside the company, or go out alone on the weekends, and of course there were moments when I felt a chill.However, every day was truly stimulating, with many things appealing to my senses, such as the people in the town who were friendlier than you would find in Japan, and the sight of buildings that I would suddenly see that do not exist in my everyday world

To be honest, it was my first experience, and I was only there for three months, so I think I only noticed the good things

However, the attitude of "trying to enjoy and overcome difficulties as much as possible" was something I had never had before, and I think it was an emotion I would never have encountered if I hadn't gone to Toronto

Lake Ontario in the middle of winter

4. Conclusion

To sum it up in a business-like way, I would say it was a very insightful business trip

I experienced so many different emotions and saw so many different sights, and I think that these three months not only helped me grow as an engineer, but also changed me a little as a person and gained new values

I have no idea what my life and career will be like from now on, and to be honest, there are many uncertainties

However, it was my coming to Canada that gave me the determination to "use this experience to survive!", and I also owe it to all the people who supported me during my stay

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you so much!

Niagara Falls