Terrible engineering culture and utter lack of leadership - Senior Software Engineer bei Rakuten: Mitarbeiterbewertung

1.0
6. Juni 2018
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CEO-Befürwortung
Geschäftsprognose

Pros

- You can get a visa for Japan - Lunch is included (breakfast and dinner only if you work overtime, and cafeteria is always overcrowded)

Kontras

- Utter lack of executive leadership; the founder has vague visions of grandeur (mostly parrotted from elsewhere, though) but there is no actual direction or strategy - Engineering culture that resist change at all costs; no accountability for system failures, no serious post-mortem analysis and improvements; security is best effort - Organic, spontaneuos collaboration between teams is not encouraged; duplication of effort ("reinventing the wheel") is rampant - No remote work or flexible time options are provided (except in health-related circumstances), even though most of the time there is absolutely no need to be physically present in the office - No career development to speak of; HR lately has been saying they want to improve but it basically boils down to provide some training courses. In general HR is completely detached from the reality of the problems that employee witness. As a result turnover is very high, almost every day you get mail from people that are leaving the company (normally the ones that are for making improvements to the status quo; after clashing with the engineering culture they move on, leaving behind the ones that are OK with the status quo) - Most middle management is Japanese, breaking through the ceiling normally requires knowing Japanese even though all communication is supposed to be carried out in English - Office is overcrowded, all meeting rooms are always fully booked even though often they remain unused - Business outlook is not positive. Stock lost 50% of its value in the last year. - Salary is not competitive with many IT companies (both Japanese and foreign) in the area (often in the range of 15-30% less, but can be higher)

Mehr Bewertungen zu Rakuten entdecken

5.0
25. März 2026
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CEO-Befürwortung
Geschäftsprognose

Pros

Rakuten Rewards has great life balance. Too bad the economy was getting rocked.

Kontras

Don't really have any cons. I understand that the market's been hard so had to downsize the force, so that was kinda challenging. Hopefully AI will increase everyone's output.

3.0
28. Jan. 2026
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CEO-Befürwortung
Geschäftsprognose

Pros

The company offers great benefits and perks, and the overall work culture can be fun and social. When I first joined, it felt like a positive place to work and a good environment to learn. It’s a solid company to start your career, especially if you’re early on and want exposure to the role.

Kontras

While the experience started off strong, there was very little room for growth long term. Opportunities were not distributed equally across the team, and favoritism was noticeable at times. The same individuals were consistently praised for simply doing their jobs, while others’ contributions were rarely acknowledged. The team culture could feel very cliquey, and if you weren’t part of the “favorites,” it was difficult to be recognized or considered for new opportunities. Although leadership often spoke about internal growth and mobility, in reality those opportunities felt extremely limited. Once you’re placed on a team, it’s very hard to move into something new or grow beyond that role. This is a good place to start your career and gain experience, but not a place I would recommend staying long term. If you’re looking for growth, development, and mobility within the company, you may find yourself feeling stuck.

3
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