Youngjin College Graduate Changhyun Kim Receives 'Proud Vocational College Award'... Launches IT Startup in Japan

Yeungjin College (President Choi Jae-young) announced on the 10th that Kim Chang-hyun (40), a graduate of the Department of Computer Information, received the ‘2024 Proud Junior College Alumni Award’ presented by the Korea Council for College Education.

The ‘Junior College Alumni Award’ is a prestigious award given annually to graduates, faculty, and staff who have contributed to the development of higher vocational education and the enhancement of the status of junior colleges. This year, two recipients were selected from each field. The award ceremony was held at the ‘2024 Junior College General Assembly’ in the Geomungo Hall of The-K Hotel Seoul on the same day in the afternoon.

Kim Chang-hyun (right), a graduate of Yeungjin College who received the '2024 Proud Junior College Award,' is taking a commemorative photo with President Choi Jae-young while holding a congratulatory bouquet.

Kim Chang-hyun was honored with this award in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the Japanese IT industry and his establishment as a successful entrepreneur.

After graduating from Yeungjin College’s Department of Computer Information, Japanese IT program in 2010, Kim joined a Japanese IT company where he quickly adapted to the field by demonstrating his skills in database management and programming. Despite language and cultural barriers in the early stages of his career in Japan, he was recognized for his expertise and appointed as a project leader within a short period. He later led the company’s growth by successfully executing an e-commerce platform development project.

Based on this experience, he founded the IT startup I Factory Guys Co., Ltd. in Japan in 2018.

From the first year of its establishment, the company achieved sales of 100 million yen, successfully securing its position in the market, and continues to record steady growth.

Kim has taken the lead in helping his juniors from his alma mater find employment in Japan and adapt to local life based on his own success. In particular, through the annual Tokyo alumni meeting, he serves as a mentor by sharing know-how on adapting to local life and Japanese corporate culture with juniors seeking employment in Japan.

Moreover, he has hired two graduates from Yeungjin College at his startup to provide them with practical experience locally, and this year, he signed an industry-academia cooperation agreement with his alma mater to recruit graduates annually. These efforts greatly contribute to nurturing global IT talent and practice-oriented education.

Choi Jae-young, president of Yeungjin College, congratulated, saying, “Graduate Kim Chang-hyun has raised the prestige of his alma mater by growing into a global talent in the Japanese IT industry,” and added, “We expect his success and dedication to be a great inspiration to his juniors.”