I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Mar 2024
Interview
It's a contract position so there's only one round of interviews for about 30-45 mins. The call had three interviewers - a Senior Product Manager, an Engineering Manager, and a Tech Lead.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked about my product management experience at my current company. Asked if I used any cloud solution.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Oct 2019
Interview
Job description is incomplete, HR is good but has incomplete knowledge of the role, 1st interview cleared, 2nd round was pure technical and about stuff which I heard about for the 1st time during the interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
HTML, C++, CEO's 2 books, how do you handle stress, why Rakuten, hobbies, nothing related to work or what you've done till now. Interviewer will not be on time and will be viewing your CV for the 1st time during the interview.
The hiring process was very smooth, one of the most streamlined processes I've come across. If you pass the initial phone screen with the recruiter and hiring manager, you are invited to the office. There is one-day a week set aside for interviews, so there were several of us onsite for our interviews. We had a tour of the office (interesting space, with a great location in South Station), followed by an overview of the company. Then we split up with developers taking a programming test. I interviewed with a cross section of Project managers, and other people on the technical teams. It was great that I didn't have to come back for multiple rounds of interviews which often happens at other companies when a key person doesn't show up.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Mainly straight forward questions probing for technical abilities and the ability to work closely with developers.