Do not apply to Mercari. It is a huge waste of time.
Maybe they're nice to work for, I don't know. But unless they invite you directly to an interview, I would strongly recommend against applying.
After applying through their website, I was asked to complete a 2 hour Hackerrank test. After that, without any feedback on the skill test, they sent me a github repository with the task to write a semi-functioning app. They estimated it should take 8-10 hours, or even longer, for good results.
I spent 12 hours on the app, totalling 14 hours in skill tests.
Then I was rejected. Without any explanation.
Mercari does not respect an applicant's time at all. After spending that amount of time, it would be common decency to at least give a reason for a rejection. In fact, I had expected to discuss my code (about 1000 lines) with an interviewer. But no, not even a single line of feedback was given.
Do not apply to Mercari.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given *this* specific backend API and *these* two screenshots, write a frontend App in whatever technology you want, that fulfills the following requirements
1. The default view for the application is the Item List page.
2. When an Item on the Item List page is clicked, the application should navigate to the Item Detail page.
3. It should be possible to navigate directly to an Item Detail page by URL.
4. Implement the Item List page according to the specification.
5. Implement the Item Details page according to the specification.
6. Please use the provided [API](./API.md).
7. Please do not use any boilerplate such as `create-react-app`.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Mercari (Tokyo) in Jun 2018
Interview
The process took 3+ weeks. The first round was a skill test in github, pretty easy. Once I cleared that I had 3 in-person interviews. First one was with front end lead, the next one with producer and the last one with front end manager. The in-person interviews were all about how passionate you are for their product. Not for the sake of this post, I was and I am still actually really passionate about their product. I used their app, bought and sold items to know about its working. I also gave them various suggestions and ideas to improve the app and it's reach. I would not take pains to think of suggestions to improve the app if I was not passionate enough. Honestly I don't know what else I had to show to prove them that I was passionate. Like seriously should I take a picture of me kissing the app and show them I'm passionate about the app ? It really got me frustrated because the reason they told was that I was not passionate about the app. Well if you want to reject a candidate, at least have the courtesy of telling the real reason and don't just cook up a reason to reject.
Even now I still love the app and the cause it promotes. I was really eager to work on it, but I seriously have lost the respect for the interview team or whoever was responsible for making such poor decisions. I don't think it is my loss; they really lost someone who was really passionate about the app.
