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Ask HN: What do you ask a potential employer

16 pointsa_developer15 comments

What questions do you ask a potential employer during a developer interview? In particular, I'm interested in what you ask to see if you're walking into a poorly-run organization or a bad codebase. I'm also interested in what you ask in terms of perks and benefits.

Some questions I ask:

What are the best, worst, and most surprising things about working here?

What IDEs are used here? (Preferred answer: Something from JetBrains, Reasonable people can disagree answer: vim/emacs/eclipse, Warning sign answer: Notepad)

Would I be allowed to work on outside projects?

How is off-hours support handled?

This seems like the sort of thing that would have been discussed many times here, but I couldn't find it using hnsearch or google. If you have the search-fu, teach me your ways.

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This is really tough because, as someone who has sat on both sides of the table, the good organizations will be honest and the bad ones will either omit or massage their answers to remain attractive-looking.

That's not to say that your questions will not help you attain more information, but in some cases it is impossible. In the same way that companies with good intentions can make bad hires, candidates can accept offers from employers that are a bad fit for them, even though they asked the right questions.

My recommendation, in addition to the good ones here, is that if you have a good read on personalities, try to identify the person (assuming you have multiple interviewers) that feels the most open, honest, and genuine to you and direct your most probing questions to them. If someone feels too slick, marketing-like, or just seems to drink a little too much of their own Kool-aid, their answers are less valuable. Put more weight on the answers of those who don't paint a 100% rosy picture.

I wrote a blogpost on this exact topic last year: http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/5/16/assessing-a-company-q...

If you want me to elaborate on anything, just say the word.

I really like your question about the impact if they can't fill the position. It seems like a tough one to get away with, though. It could come off as too cocky, or as too much of a salary negotiation setup. Does this one go over ok? What kinds of responses have you gotten?

Also, on feedback: have you ever gotten useful feedback from an interview that didn't result in an offer? I've tried, but rarely gotten anything, and even then it was so vague as to not really be useful.

Personally, I think the 'impact' question is completely valid and not even remotely cocky. It's important to avoid structuring the question in a way that sounds like "what's the impact of not hiring me" and make it clear you're interested in hearing about what's important for the business. It shows commercial awareness which is usually quite lacking in technical interviews.

As for feedback, unfortunately most companies fail to offer useful feedback if you aren't successful in getting the job as you're no longer considered to be of any importance to the business. Some companies have policies that prevent them from giving you too much detail and some simply refuse in order to avoid opening up a legal can of worms. One seemingly harmless question that you could ask after you get rejected is "What one thing should I work on to improve my chances of working for your company in future?". Take the advice and address it in your next interview with the next company.

In addition to the usual "What's you work flow?" type questions I like to ask the following:

I tell them that I always like to be learning new things. "Given my resume, what new things I could expect to learn at your company?" This has the unexpected side effect of having them "sell you" on working for their company - flipping the usual job seeker dynamic (you trying to "sell" yourself to them).

I like ask them what problems they are working on to see how I can bring my talents to bear - I don't want to work someplace where I can't deliver real value.

+1 for the "worst/most challenging thing about working here". I saw it suggested on HN a few months ago and tried it once in an interview and once in casual conversation. At first I was concerned about offending the interviewer, but both times the person was honest and forthcoming, and seemed to appreciate the question.

In the post I saw the author suggested that good people/companies will open up and tell you what's not working, and bad ones will lie and say everything's great.

I always like to ask about how a "normal" workday goes. When to arrive, can I have a coffee in the morning, how large are the offices, how much do I need to use my phone or anything.

The other question I like to always ask - how do you treat professionalism? Of course every employer says that you need to be professional and your work has to be professional. But there are many places where quality is not really matters (lets say it this way). So why do they need professionalism then? (I hope I was clear.)

Also asking about possible challanges is a good thing in my opinion. Some employers might mean high workload and high stress under the term challange. (Dynamic, young team is also a term which makes me afraid sometimes.)

Working on side projects policy, it's my main question. Career path is also important.

What percent of time should I expect to be doing support work vs. new development?

-Gives you a sense of how messy the code base is and/or the role they expect you to play in the company

What big projects do you have on the 6 month, 1 year, and 3 year horizon?

-Gives you a sense of direction and ambition of the organization

What sort of work are you expecting to see me produce over the first year?

-Provides a bar for you to measure yourself against. Important for better appreciating the seniority and importance of the role and helps with negotiating a raise if you're exceeding expectations.

If you're considering a long-term gig, ask about the career path.

I've interviewed maybe 5 times in the last 2 years, and even at seemingly well-run companies I've yet to get an answer to this question. "We're a flat organization," "We don't have anything formal," "Well, we're growing, so something will open up," etc. This is one of the major reasons I'm still freelancing. No only am I earning more, but there is way more potential.

Thanks for all the responses. I thought of one other thing I'd like feedback on: When it comes to salary negotiations, do people ask for signing bonuses these days?

Where do you see this company in 1 / 3 / 5 years ?

I ask how their typical day looks like (especially if I speak with developers).

"Can I bring my dog to work?"

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