Inside View of Training at a Japanese IT Company

Overview
Hackathon
Voice of New Engineers

Overview

Training at Reazon Holdings is designed to create well-rounded engineers, familiar with a wide range of engineering disciplines. Over the course of two months, engineers from around the world immerse themselves in essential software engineering skills—ranging from Git, full-stack development, testing, and cloud infrastructure to game development—culminating in an intensive one-month hackathon.

Below are some of the key topics covered during the training program's first phase.

The four-day company training on frontend development provided a well-rounded introduction to essential web technologies. Starting with the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, we gradually advanced to more complex topics like HTTP requests, CORS, and REST APIs.

Each day built upon the previous one, ensuring a steady and manageable learning curve. Hands-on practice was a core part of the training, with projects like creating a Google Form look-alike, a Pokémon website, and a basic eCommerce site, making the sessions engaging and practical.

The backend training consisted of a 7 day program split between lectures and a group project. The lectures started off by learning how to write SQL statements to access data in a database, and learning broad topics on the functionality of databases and its various types. The later half of lectures finally began to enter the world of APIs, where we combined our previous knowledge of typescript to create simple CRUD APIs using Express.js.

Backend training was capped off with a group project, which was to create an API to support the e-commerce site that we had each built during the frontend training. As it was the first proper group project, the assignment allowed each team to practice using git and github involving multiple developers. Also, the flexibility of the project allowed many teams to expand into more complex backend domains including middleware, cookies and caching.

The training on testing covered the importance of testing in software development. We explored various types of testing, including white box, black box, unit, integration, and end-to-end (E2E) testing. We learned to write tests using the AAA (Arrange, Act, Assert) pattern and techniques like boundary value analysis.

The training also introduced tools such as Vitest and React Testing Library for hands-on practice. Throughout the training, we learned that creating effective tests helps not only in identifying bugs during development but also in preventing critical issues and regressions in the future.

For cloud infrastructure training, we learned about cloud computing and future trends through group work and presentations. The remainder of the training involved hands-on practice, where we created a Docker image and deployed it to Cloud Run using Google Cloud services. We gained not just a basic understanding of essential cloud technologies but also a valuable insight into the building blocks supporting web apps.

The game development training provided a comprehensive and beginner-friendly introduction to Unity. We started with the basics, covering essential concepts such as Rigidbody, animations, C#, and manager classes. This structured approach ensured a gradual learning curve, making it easy for everyone to grasp the fundamentals. By the end of the training, we created small, multi-leveled games, allowing us to apply our new skills in a practical and engaging manner.

One of the highlights of the training was the hands-on project. We developed games that incorporated the concepts we had learned, from physics and animations to scripting and game management. To cap off the training, we played games created by other groups, adding an element of fun and friendly competition to the learning experience. Overall, the training was beginner-friendly and enjoyable for everyone involved.

Hackathon

Training was completed with a one-month hackathon, where engineers were divided into teams of 3-4, joined by a fellow designer. Each team was assigned to a single individual customer in which they are tasked to solve a problem for that particular individual - a practice known as N1 problem solving. Here are some insights from participating groups.

Our project focused on creating a travel planning website for our N1 candidate. The user can create a trip, add his/her friends to it, and then look up places using the Google Maps API. These places can be dragged and dropped into creating daily plans for our user's trip.

"I personally found the Hackathon to be the most enjoyable part of training, as we were able to use much of what we had learned throughout the training program into a one month long project. Having a designer on the team made the experience even more enjoyable as designing is not my expertise and allowed our engineering team of 3 to really focus on how to build out the MVP. "
– Kota Ueshima

Participating in the hackathon was an exciting challenge, especially for my team, as we developed an iOS app designed to enhance the shopping experience for our N1 users. By integrating cutting-edge AI technologies, including Google Gemini and Vision API, we created a solution that automatically categorizes user screenshots into distinct categories like Shoes, Bags, Accessories, and more.

Team Working

"The hackathon provided an opportunity to collaborate as a team and work towards a shared goal. The hands-on experience of managing tasks, developing with new tech stacks, and finally impressing others with our innovative solutions was incredibly rewarding. Overall, it was a perfect blend of learning, creativity, and teamwork that left us more confident in our technical abilities and collaboration skills."
– Richard Li

The hackathon was a very fruitful experience, both as a learning opportunity and a team-building exercise. I had the opportunity to choose between web/app development and game development, which was fantastic. Since I already had experience in web/app development, I chose game development to learn C# and Unity. This two-week experience with Unity gave me significant insight into game development. As a fan of games, I always wondered about the complexity and process of creating them. We created a action-adventure game which can be played on mobile devices using a virtual joystick for our N1 user who wanted to play something during transit.

"The group work and team-building were the cherry on top. I was fortunate to be part of a team with two aspiring game developers, and a very insightful and creative designer. We supported each other throughout the hackathon, engaging in many group discussions and sharing laughs while working together."
– Soumyajeet Sarkar

During the one-month hackathon, we created a mobile app to make communication between our target user and her partner more convenient and fun. The project was both challenging and exciting because none of the engineers on our team had experience in mobile app development. The goal of the product was not just to solve a specific user pain point but also to add some positivity to an activity—messaging.

"Fortunately, our group had an excellent designer who transformed abstract ideas into adorable designs, and a capable project manager who knew how to encourage teammates and manage the task schedules. Although our final product was raw and simple, we were all happy to have experienced every step of making a product and working on a real-world-like project."
– Don Thai Do

Voice of New Engineers

I am currently on the Menu User Frontend team, almost finishing my second month since joining the team. I think overall the training was a very nice transitioning experience, where I was given the opportunity to learn and become closer with my fellow new grads, as we have all joined separate teams since then. Also for me personally, as I grew up mostly abroad in the US, having the training experience gave me the time to grow more accustomed to Japanese culture, and especially the culture here at Reazon. I currently work with Typescript and React-Native for our mobile app so much of what I learnt during training is applicable to my everyday work.

The training program was a transformative experience, offering us exposure to a range of fields beyond our usual expertise.

For someone like me, with a web development background, delving into areas like gaming provided invaluable insights that will undoubtedly benefit my career. The hackathon, a core part of the training, played a significant role in helping us understand how to collaborate effectively as a team, turning an idea into a functional product from the ground up while keeping the user's needs front and center.

It also offered the freedom to experiment with various technologies, pushing us to think creatively and problem-solve in real time. One of the highlights was working in a bilingual team, which added a unique dynamic and fostered an environment of inclusive collaboration. Overall, the training was incredibly well-rounded, combining hands-on technical learning with valuable team-building skills, making it an essential stepping stone for our growth as developers.

This was a very good training experience overall. I got the opportunity not only to learn new tech, but also got to brush up my abilities as a developer. This training helped me get a better insight into teamwork, project management and level up my skills. Also, as a non-English and non-Japanese speaker from India, I am grateful for all the support I received, both linguistically and technically. I thank the lecturers and seniors for their continuous support throughout this training.

For me, this training was truly invaluable. I had picked up some programming and tech skills while doing part-time jobs before joining the company but had not spent time properly learning and applying them to build a complete product. This training, especially the hackathon, helped me fill many gaps in my essential knowledge of software development and apply that knowledge to build a complete project from scratch. Finally, as an international member, I improved my language skills by collaborating with both Japanese and other international colleagues. This enhanced my confidence and, most importantly, gave me the chance to make friends with many interesting people.

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