Pros: - Job stability. - Lots of company resources at your disposal. - Looks good on your CV and attracts recruiters. - Great place to put your head down, work hard, and have a long career devoid of too many ups or downs. Depending on your team: - Good work-life balance. - Interesting work and a chance to learn how large systems on production work. - Relative freedom with less or no micromanagement (depends on who your manager is). - Good coworkers. - Everything is in English.

Cons: - Low pay comparatively. - Raises are low even with good appraisals. - The environment can be chaotic, with teams working on projects that are suddenly scrapped. Teams not part of the core business can feel like start-ups, pivoting from one project to another. Different teams may work on the same thing without knowledge of each other, etc. - There's a huge turnover of employees. You will constantly have team members or managers leave with no replacement for months or years, impacting work and morale directly. - Currently, employees are being forced back to the office as the end of the WFH policy is near. I understand WFH is not a common benefit in old-school Japan, but in the pool of companies that hire engineers (foreign and local) in Japan, many allow extended or even permanent remote work. Rakuten will of course be compared to them and be found wanting.

Pros: Rakuten has an extremely diverse environment. No matter where you are from, you will find your countrymen at Rakuten. Rakuten provides free food three times a day, drinks and coffee at a 50% discounted rate, and an extremely fast growth rate. Rakuten ranks among the top 10 in the world in e-commerce business.

Cons: Though in the company, English is the preferred language for communication, one still needs to learn Japanese in order to fully understand project specifications and high-level communications.

Pros: 1. Nice tech stack 2. Good work culture 3. Food

Cons: I am happy with my job.