Q&A With Rakuten Marketing Employees

I don't think there is one. We have an enthusiastic CEO, but the enthusiasm doesn't trickle down. It's kind of a show up, then go home kind of place to work. No leadership training or development provided. Kind of sad. Could be much more. Very top heavy.

Hiroshi Mikitani, our founder, summed it up nicely in an all-company meeting a few weeks ago: It's boring. His words. My words: unfair, dated, slow. The company is not a people first culture. It is an old-school, good ol' boys network with dated tech, poor communication, and little hope for advancement - especially true if you are a female. .

Why did you leave your last position?

You usually get a home work assignment, then you come in and talk about it.

CTO is a bit abrasive, but is a visionary who is getting things accomplished. People have mixed feelings about him. As an engineer, you will need to work with the product team. Try and determine which product team you will be work - the "old regime", or the "new regime." Avoid the "old regime", if you can. Determine old vs new on LinkedIN.

It depends on what part of the team you end up on, but generally there's a lot of trust between leadership and the employees. If you like to take ownership of things, this is a good company.

They are really helpful. Developers are like golden nuggets and are treated accordingly. They can't afford to lose you.

Super welcoming. I'm new to my team, it's been the best transition of my career.

Women abound in lower-level positions. The higher you go, the fewer women you see. This place is led by a bunch of tall, white men. The company said they wanted to fix it. That was great until the highest ranking female was squeezed out after being replaced by two not-quite-as-senior women. Nothing is really changing.

The paycheck - which is a little less than competitive. That's it.

You fill out a review form. If you get a 4.0 or above, and you get approved by people five levels above you, and if a position is available and there is budget for it, you'll get promoted. That's how it's supposed to work. But then there is other nonsense where people randomly shoot to the top, seemingly outside of the official process. Rules are for most people, but not everyone.

It's not very diverse in the US offices. Lots of white people. Gets less diverse as you climb to VP and above. That's just a bunch of old white guys.

You earn vacation as you go. We get paid holidays - not bank holidays, and PTO. So for Christmas, we get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off.

Some people work nonstop. Emphasis on efficiency and doing more with less. I wouldn't expect to coast.

Just meh.. Usually promotions are offered to outsiders. Very discouraging.

The review process takes a long time. We have to fill out a ridiculous form and rate ourselves against the standards of the Japanese culture. Picture rating yourself against the concept of "Speed! Speed! Speed!" It's dreadful.

We don't really have any. We have quarterly parties and people sometimes go out in small groups. At least that's the case in my department.

Not that great because we've been reorganizing for a while now. We had a layoff several months ago, but the executive team continues to pick people off here and there. Doesn't exactly feel like a safe work environment under those circumstances.

Depends on the office. Every location is different. The Salt Lake City office takes great care of its people. Beautiful office, loads of goodies, and filled with good equipment and people who seem happy.

Not difficult at all.

Layoffs happen pretty quietly. You could be re-org'd out of your position. Unless you are flat out fired, you can expect a package of some sort.

Probably a sensitive question for public consumption. Numbers look good overall. The non-stop reorg makes day-to-day challenging. Hard to know who is doing what.

Depends on the job. If you are client-facing, also depends on the client. Some people seem to breeze in and out unphased. Others work long hours under stressful conditions.

Nothing unique.

Depends on the office. Most people are pretty nice. NY and Chicago offices have a reputation for low morale. SF office appears to have had about 90% churn in the past year. Seattle and Tampa have chill offices that seem to get along. Salt Lake seems happy.

The opportunity presented to me is nothing like what I ended up with. Lots of old systems and outdated processes. Very corporate. Opportunity exists, but not for the worker bees.

I feel pretty secure. Today. That can change really quickly and it does. We are still (quietly) re-orging and have been for over a year.

Mixed feelings about the CEO. Personally, I like him. I think he's smart and makes an effort to be transparent about his decisions. He's a good leader. Others don't like the changes he's making - too many and too fast. He seems pretty ruthless when it comes to squeezing people out of the organization. Kind of feels like a churn factory. Out with the old, in with the new. And repeat.

They work hard using outdated tools. Difference offices have different cultures. Some people can be a bear to work for, and some of the clients are demanding. All depends.