I had an interview experience with Kraken for the “Software Engineer (Backend - Python/Django)” position in 2023, Tokyo. The first interview was with HR. They asked about my motivation for changing jobs and tested my basic Japanese conversation skills. While Japanese wasn’t a requirement for the role, it was considered a nice-to-have. The second interview was with two engineers. There was no coding test in this round, only a discussion about my technical stack and experience. It seemed like the main purpose was to evaluate cultural fit. After the second interview, I received the "Octopus Energy technical challenge" to implement a Python script under Django for parsing CSV data. I spent 2~3 hours completing it and was told I qualified for the third interview next few days. The third interview was with another two engineers. It mainly involved a detailed discussion about the implementation and reasoning behind my coding assignment. I wasn’t informed beforehand that the discussion would focus on this, so I was surprise for such questionings. The fourth interview was supposed to be with the manager, but I wasn’t given that opportunity. While waiting for the result of the third interview, I received an email with an “interviewee questionnaire.” I later found out I was rejected after following up with HR. The interviewers acted very professionally throughout the process. However, I suspect that the position might not be genuine. The job posting has remained “Actively recruiting” for years on LinkedIn without any updates to the job description. The coding assignment included outdated Python/Django versions and broken URLs, and the interviewers admitted they hadn’t updated it in “some time”. It seemed like there was no urgency to hire or even improve their interview materials. The whole process felt more like a formality than a genuine effort to bring on new team members. This raises doubts about the authenticity of the position. For those considering applying to this backend role, I recommend carefully evaluating whether the time & effort required are worth it.