Rakuten Software Developer reviews

3.6

71% would recommend to a friend

(474 total reviews)
avatar

Hiroshi Mikitani

68% approve of CEO

42% positive business outlook

Software Developer Engineer employees have rated Rakuten with 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 474 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Developer Engineer professionals have a good working experience there. Rakuten is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Developer Engineer professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

474 reviews
3.0
Aug 5, 2015

Still a Japanese company

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pros and cons highly depend on the department and team you end up in, so I will write about my personal experience. But keep in mind that there are a lot of people who have exactly opposite situation. Rakuten is almost the only Japanese company that won't require Japanese language and you can apply without any knowledge of Japanese. In my team we always use English in all meetings, even though about 80% of members are Japanese. Work/life balance, overtime, etc. also depends on your team. I never did overtime in Rakuten, but I know people who stay until 10-11pm almost every day. My managers always treat me very well and with respect. I joined as a new grad, but my team treated me like a high-skilled mid-career employee. Me and other new comers were given tasks that require very high level of responsibility. However, for other departments it may be exactly opposite. Rakuten is a huge company with different cultures. Everything depends on on your department, your managers and teammates. But don't forget that it is still a Japanese company. If you apply from overseas and never lived in Japan, you will have a lot of challenges. But hey, it's Japan. Don't expect western-style management, culture and traditions. I see a lot of people complain about their work in Rakuten, but compared to other Japanese companies, in my opinion it is not so bad.

Cons

The worst case is your team doesnt use English at all, you are not given any tasks, managers treat you like a little kid or without any respect, you do a lot of overtime, etc. Very bad OJT training that required you to do meaningless meetings, presentations and tasks. For new grads - very bad HR training that requires you to do even more meaningless things (for example engineers have to sell Rakuten cards). For new grads - you don't know department that you end up in (it's almost random). Low salary. Too many meaningless meetings, Japanese business style. No innovations, too much copying from competitors.

2.0
Jul 12, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As an engineer I was disappointed that the more interesting people in this company tend to be in the business unit. This is not a great place to learn for us. One positive thing though, Not many Japanese companies can afford to get Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, or Oxbridge grads with good connections from abroad. So for a Japanese company, Rakuten has done well in this area (largely due to its relative fame).

Cons

Sadly all the top talent are treated in the same way OR worse than average employees. So even my Princeton douki for example is doing stupid tasks and never given the opportunity to show what she can bring from outside. This is the bad thing about Japanese culture.

4.0
Apr 15, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company is growing fast and there was lots of room to grow my career. CEO shares news on what is going on. Good teamwork and easy going culture.

Cons

Company events always seem to revolve around alcohol. It was hard to feel included if I didn't want to party. Releases more buggy than they should be.

Viewing 454 - 456 of 474 Reviews

Glassdoor has 4,205 Rakuten reviews submitted anonymously by Rakuten employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Rakuten is right for you.