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Good by Japan's standards, but that's it

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Rakuten for 2 years
January 16, 2017
Tokyo, Tokyo
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

In Japan

Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner served in the Tokyo office; lunch in branch offices.

Not as overtime-happy as other Japanese companies.

Easy to relocate or change positions.

Social status with a business card, only in Japan.

Japanese insurance laws, e.g., up to 1 year paid leave for childbirth regardless of gender.

Extremely high job security. You can only be fired if you do something really, really bad, like steal millions of dollars from the company or murder somebody.

Cons

Archaic corporate culture.

Legal minimum vacation days, no sick days.

Zero engineering career development: go managerial or go nowhere.

Strict corporate ladder that values time served far more than individual capabilities.

Salary so low prospective hires actually think you're joking when you tell them.

Very weak hiring process: some of the most incompetent engineers I have ever seen in my life.

Absurdly strict working times feels like elementary school.

Worth as a person and employee determined entirely by arbitrary set of core values written by the CEO 20 years ago.

Extremely cult-like culture worshipping CEO.

Extremely high turnover rate (for foreigners only).

Advice to Management

Compensate your employees properly if you actually want to compete with international competitors. Actually filter your hires instead of calculating growth by the number of people.

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