Japan Inc. feeling the squeeze to attract, nurture skilled IT workers

Competition for talented information technology experts is intensifying in Japan's job-hopping market amid advances in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Demand for competent IT workers is growing rapidly from non-IT companies in the face of an expanding need for adaptation to the so-called internet of things (IoT), or the networking of automobiles, home appliances and other physical objects, and artificial intelligence. Automakers stand out in the market, and the new technologies not only promise drastic improvement in the efficiency of manufacturing operations but may also make self-driving technology fully practical. "Automakers are betting their fate on the development of self-driving vehicles now that Google Inc. and other nonautomotive companies are entering the sector," said Kaoru Fujii, chief editor of the Recnavi Next career-switch website. IT engineers who used to work mainly for the creation and management of in-house computer systems at non-IT companies are seen offering extra value to final products.