Rakuten Devops Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Started with a recruiter call for initial screening. Then there were two tech rounds. The first tech round covered cloud, DevOps, Linux, and automation. The second tech round focused on my previous projects and was a general chat with an experienced person, with some basic questions about my education and career. The manager was present but quiet. The fourth round was with a director from Japan who asked about job changes, managing leaves, Japanese work culture, work pressures, and some networking concepts. HR then called, confirmed selection, and discussed HR aspects, also asking for counter offers. They said an offer would come in 2 hours. Later, HR called again asking me to interview with a different team that had more budget and could offer more than my counter. They assured me that if I didn't clear that round or like the tech stack, I'd still get the offer from the original project. The interview with the new project team was unprofessional, focusing heavily on Linux and core networking, and their current processes, rather than my expertise. It felt like a process to not select me. Afterward, HR avoided giving feedback or further steps, causing a two-week delay. HR was unreachable and kept postponing. Eventually, HR stated the old project manager had no budget and chose someone else, and the new project also closed its position. They wasted my time with lies and false expectations. HR blamed the hiring manager, but ultimately, my time was wasted. The interview process lacked professionalism, and I wouldn't trust Rakuten even with an offer.

First, there was a code test. Then, there were 2 rounds of interviews. After that, I got an offer letter. The first interview had tech problems, and they weren't too hard. The second interview was about culture fit, which I learned a lot from. The hr person was very good and positive.

The first round was a general tech screen, it was pretty chill and they gave me good feedback that same day. I didn't make it through the second round because I was a bit off from what they were looking for. The second round questions were super broad and not very specific. I had to figure out how to structure my answers first, which made it tough to be brief and to the point. Oh, and they also asked for proof of English skills, like a TOEIC score of 860 or higher.