Process
The first round was a Skype interview, with no explanation of the topic. The interview was with two people, one Japanese and one foreigner, both speaking English. One of them asked general interview questions, and the other asked technical questions.
The technical portion was ridiculous, with unstructured questions which I couldn't understand what answer they wanted. I understood all the words, but was not able to get them to clarify what they wanted me to talk about.
For example, they asked, "How do you filter a list?" but wouldn't say what the criteria were, what type of data structure the list was, what data it contained... anything. Just, "How would you filter it?"
Other questions were equally hard to get to the bottom of.
Questions
How do you filter a list?
How are thread pools implemented in .NET?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 20 interview experiences for the Rakuten Software Engineer role in Tokyo, Tokyo.
Success Rate
Rakuten's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in Tokyo, Tokyo is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Rakuten's Software Engineer interview process in Tokyo, Tokyo.
Rakuten Work Experiences
- 2.0Depends on which teamSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeTokyo, Tokyo, JapanJune 14, 2019Pros: Free food. Nice people. No Japanese language proficiency required during recruitment (but... see Cons).Cons: Depending on the team, but mostly very hierarchical and has very confusing roles and responsibilities. There's a language barrier. Japanese is not required for some positions, but it will limit potential improvements and growth (both team and individual). It will also introduce stress and anxiety for some. There are a lot of bosses and only few leaders.
- 4.0Good company for associate-level engineersSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeTokyo, Tokyo, JapanMarch 3, 2024Pros: English is the common language. The company is big, so you can transfer to many other teams without changing companies.Cons: Their infrastructure workflow is slow.
- 4.0NASoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeTokyo, Tokyo, JapanNovember 24, 2025Pros: Work-life balance is good.Cons: Not many cons are there.
Rakuten Interview Questions
