Mercari Ios Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for this job via referral. The interview process had 5 rounds. The first round was a 30-minute domain-specific phone screening. Then there was a 1-hour round on data structures and algorithms, which involved standard questions. The third round was a 1-hour coding round where I was given a project with bugs to find, identify architectural defects, and suggest improvements. The fourth round was with the Engineering Manager, focusing on scenario-based questions like conflict management. I was rejected in the final round because my answer wasn't exactly what the hiring manager had in mind; I think it was subjective and depended on the interviewer.

The whole thing took about two weeks. First, there was an assignment to complete. Then, three interviews followed. The first was with HR, where they asked basic questions like 'where are you from?'. What I found off-putting was their intense focus on salary, asking about my current salary in my home country, which felt irrelevant given the cost of living difference in Tokyo, Japan. I was uncomfortable because my earning potential is high in my country, but the per capita income is much lower than Japan's. They also asked about what I look for in companies and how I research them before applying. The second interview was with the technical team and was a positive experience, heavily focused on technology. Regarding the technical round, it was a decent mix of questions. The main downside, and a common complaint, is the rejection message: "While we are unable to share with you the reasons behind our decision due to our internal policy, please note that it was made after careful considerations of various factors such as candidate's skills and experiences and how they fit with the current needs of the team and how they performed during the interviews." This is a really rude way to reject candidates without providing any specific reasons. Completing the assignment and taking time for interviews requires significant effort, and candidates' time should be respected. Rejection itself is fine, but the manner in which it's conveyed without solid justification is very impolite.

I applied online myself. A week later, I got a coding test, which involved building a small iOS app with specific features within a week. Honestly, this was the first company to give a reasonable coding test for experienced iOS devs. About two weeks after that, they finally scheduled an interview. It was with three engineers, and they mostly asked technical questions. While many were straightforward, a few were surprisingly tough and I couldn't answer them easily. It felt like they were only targeting new grads who already had all the answers. I heard back the next day – my application wasn't moving forward. At least they were quick to reject me.