I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in June 2018
Interview
1st 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 was general interview questions and the other was technical.
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 about 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.
Applied online. Initial screening with the hiring manager. Questions from resume. Technologies used. Java basic questions. Salary expectations. About the role and team. Leetcode question - no coding - just mention the approach. System design question.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Leetcode question - no coding - just mention the approach. System design question.
Disorganized, no HR reached out to discuss about the administrative details and salary and benefits, the hiring manager reached out directly, scheduled a meeting and asked about HR questions(visa, RTO etc.)
The hiring manager was late for over 5 mins minutes, no apologies, no greetings. Negative experience
The interview covered Python libraries, networking, and my software engineering experience. While questions were basic, they can be tricky for seniors. Review your definitions alongside your past projects to succeed.