I had posted this at a different subreddit but thought this might be a better place to ask this.
I will complete college next summer, and will be joining Rakuten Mobile in their Tokyo office. Being my first job that too in a foreign country, I feel this will be a good learning experience.
Is anybody working at Rakuten Mobile as a software engineer? How’s your experience?
How is their support for foreigners to move to Japan? And how good is the work there, in terms of career development?
5 comments
I work at Rakuten in Tokyo office currently and I live in a sharehouse not far from the office so there’s other people working there and living here too.
Although I didn’t come to Japan with Rakuten, I joined them after 5 months of being in a different company. Like you I came to Japan right after graduation from America but since it was a different company that brought me here, I don’t know exactly how that works.
I have been working in a different department since I joined in April and so far the environment is great, my coworkers are really nice people, and the best part: the three meals are free.
One friend living here working as a manager position for Rakuten Mobile says it’s pretty crazy at least on her side. Mobile is growing really fast and the CEO is usually there because he really wants mobile to succeed. So that department in specific is a special case now compared to the rest of the company.
But like any other big company, each department and each team is its own world filled with different people and rules so i can’t say exactly how your experience is gonna be.
Anyways, for you and me that we just started this journey after college overseas, it’s not a bad place and it’s gonna look good on your resume too.
So take the best experience that you can get here and then you decide if you want to stay or not.
I don’t work there, but have spoken to a few people who do / did and have only heard overwhelmingly negative things about the company – it was a company I was looking to apply to in the near future but now it feels less likely. On a side this company might be much better if you are just starting your career, my perspective is from a few years working practice as is that of the people who I have spoken with.
Their mobile network is hugely delayed, so I expect you’ll be extremely busy. [https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Rakuten-to-delay-Japan-s-newest-mobile-network-by-6-months](https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Rakuten-to-delay-Japan-s-newest-mobile-network-by-6-months)
As for Rakuten as a whole, half my team is from there and hated it. On the other hand, I know someone working there and he likes it. He gets off work regularly at 5.30pm. One thing that does seem consistent is that it is a large company, with all the bureaucracy and red tape that it entails. Downsides: The asakai (monday morning meeting) is kind of a shitshow, and if you don’t show up or show up late, it affects your evaluation. The CEO is kind of a narcissist.
Thanks for your replies. I think I would join them, see if its working out, and then decide.
I have a senior who started working at Rakuten (Not this department) this year, and he seems to be liking it.
Right now I am still in college. So in my final semester, I am planning to do a lot of open source contributions to sort of build a profile online as well as learn software development better. This might prove useful if I want to jump ship to a different company later.
Is this a good approach, or should I try finding interviews for other companies also in addition to this?
Rakuten =/= Rakuten Mobile…
They are not yet live, the company just pretty much started…..