What to Know and How to Apply for DeNA, the Japanese company that impacts the Internet

Author: Arun Balaji | Publish date: 27th January 2020

:DeNA of the Internet

Founded in 1999, :DeNA started by creating the online auction and e-commerce platform “Bidders”. Through the successes in the e-commerce field with “Mobaoku”, :DeNA has been able to expand and develop businesses that exemplify the needs of the times.

For example, at one point most of the revenue was through “Mobage”, a feature phone gaming platform, but due to the advent of smartphones, has seen decreasing sales. The company, true to its spirit diversified its interests and now are a key player in AI, automotive, healthcare, and the lucrative sports entertainment industries.

The company’s ethos, “Delight and Impact the World” is supplemented and expanded by the DNA of :DeNA. Their focus on innovation based expansion along with the value of independent and proactive employees forms a base which is further built upon by the belief that sales and profits are to be treated as a reflection of how :DeNA is perceived by the public. These core values have helped create a company with a robust, focused, and adaptive philosophy which can continue to achieve the lofty targets it sets for itself.  

Being a conglomerate with varied customer bases and product use-cases, it is normal for such a company to have many subsidiaries. :DeNA has around 30 major subsidiaries with major platforms such as:

DeNA Games

DeNA Games is known all over the world for developing games from some of the most beloved franchises such as Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Mario.

Mobaoku

Mobaoku (モバオク) is an online auction website with which users can bid on luxury items, fashion and hobby goods from anywhere and at any time.

Mycode

A genetic testing service that allows you to assess the risks of developing diseases such as cancer or lifestyle diseases by measuring genetic tendencies. Mycode allows you to do such diagnostic testing from the comfort of your home.

In addition to their technology ventures, :DeNA has also invested in the sports entertainment industry.

Yokohama DeNA Baystars

A professional baseball team that aims to provide top-notch entertainment while developing local grassroots baseball.

Investor Relations of DeNA

:DeNA has shown itself to be a stable investment from the time it has been established, with the company still managing to turn over a profit during a period where one of their major business focuses of games and entertainment for feature phones has declined due to the advent of the smartphone. 

The long-mid term outlook of :DeNA is to strengthen their position in smartphone gaming through partnerships with companies such as Nintendo and through unique IP development. Coupled with their commitment to expand their portfolio in AI services for healthcare and automobiles through M&A and product development, we can be sure that :DeNA will remain a player in the IT services industry for the foreseeable future.

Message from the founder

The founder and executive chairman of :DeNA, Tomoko Namba, reiterates that the company is here to continue to try new things as it evolves its business. She believes that the company has what it takes to make an impact in the future through its diverse portfolio of businesses.

:DeNA is headquartered at Shibuya Hikarie, with a capital of 10.3 billion yen and employs over 2,300 people. The company has an international presence with offices in China and Korea.

Employment and Application Information

The recruitment period for 2020 is closed, but they have already started recruiting employees for April 2021. :DeNA does not disclose the number of fresh graduate recruits, but they are open to job applications throughout the year. From the official website and other websites such as One Career and Unistyle, you can find that there are various positions that you can apply to at :DeNA.

Positions and Courses at DeNA

Business Course

The course hires personnel for a variety of tasks such as business promotion,strategy planning, product management, organizational management, public relations, product planning, analysis, and business planning. Click here to apply.

Engineer Course

As an engineering graduate you can choose between 4 tracks; Software engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Security Engineer and Machine Learning Operations engineer. As an engineer, due to the variety of tasks, there is a range for the salary. Click here to apply.

AI Engineer course

In the AI course, you have the choice to be an R&D engineer or a Data Scientist (Kaggler). As with the engineering course, due to the difference in the jobs available under the course, there is a salary range. Click here to apply.

Game Development Engineer Course

As a game development engineer, you will be responsible for coding and development to create game environments. Click here to apply.

Designer Course

This course tasks you to create user interface (UX) designs, advertisements, branding of communication tools for the various services and various businesses under the :DeNA umbrella. Click here to apply.

Game Design Course

Game design course requires you to use your design and art skills to create and design characters and populate the game environments created by the game development engineers. Click here to apply.

Game Planning Course 

Game planning encompasses the conceptualization of new games and create plans and visions that can be executed by the engineers and designers. Click here to apply.

Internship Opportunities

Some of us still have a long time till we need to apply for jobs, so you can use the time to gain valuable experience and increase your skills. :DeNA provides students with internships in various fields such as game development, AI, business development and design. There is a chance that the internship can lead to employment. 

The deadline for the winter internship 2020 has just passed, but no need to worry. You can apply for their summer internship program as soon as the applications open here from May. 

As with their recruitment, :DeNA has many types of internship experiences that they offer. The main classifications are:

Engineer Course

Product Development

Experience the design and development of an app along with the CTO and several engineers from :DeNA in a 3 day programme with a payment of ¥100,000. The programme recommends you to have basic programming training.

AI R&D

Join :DeNA on a month long internship to develop skills in data science such as reinforcement learning, voice generation and computer vision with guidance from R&D engineers. It is recommended to have prior experience with machine learning tools. The internship has an hourly pay of ¥2,500.

Business Course

Along with business leaders and decision makers at :DeNA, you can experience business planning and get feedback about the proposals you make in a packed 4 day course with an internship payment of ¥100,000.

Game Development Course

Their workshop lasts for 3-4 days and there are different categories.

Engineering Internship

Work as a team of developers on a game to gain insights into the skills required to cope in such a demanding environment. Software knowledge is recommended for the engineering course. There is a payment of ¥100,000 for this course.

Planner Internship

Understand how game concepts are evaluated and create a project to get hands-on experience.

Graphic Designer Internship

Learn from experts, the basics of game design along with how to create visually appealing games. Experience with digital design is recommended.

Design Course

As a design intern, you will get to experience how design language is used to share a story and get input from industry professionals to further your skills in a 3 day course.

Other Internships

In addition to such technical opportunities, Yokohama :DeNA Baystars is offering an internship opportunity to be a part of the support staff for the team with roles ranging from operating the storefront to managing the fan club events. Check out the link here for more information.