
Questions to Ask a Potential Tech Employer - dr_jay
https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview-questions
======
athenot
I've done a decent amount of hiring over the years. When I ask the candidates
if they have any questions, I expect them to _interview me_ as a potential
manager. Everyone has their own set of criteria so there is not universal
"good question to ask". Instead, you should figure out if you'd like to work
with/for me? Do you feel you'd grow personally?

Perhaps you're in a phase of life where you just need the money to recover
from an unfortunate situation. Still, you must figure out what are the
criteria you won't compromise on, and make sure you're getting that. For some,
it's work schedule; for others, it's communication styles. Maybe you'll be
driven insane by my cheesy puns and so you'd probably want to figure that out
ahead of time. Ask me what I'll do to ensure you'll be respected as an
individual on the team.

When I'm a candidate, I like to ask how my failures will be dealt with. I will
goof up at some point, the question is how is that managed. The larger point
is there must be some discussion about potentially unpleasant situations.

~~~
coroutines
I am a junior dev.

It is hard for me to get in that dating mentality that I should be testing to
see if my interviewer and I are simpatico. I feel a lot of pressure to fill in
the blanks on what I want to know without asking, so I don't seem like I'm
still deciding if I want to work there.

I know that sounds ridiculous.

The only time I do well is when interviewing for roles in faraway Australia
because I feel like I have no chance of getting picked up.

Or maybe Australians are just great at no-bullshit interviews and put me at
ease like talking to a friend? Confusing.

~~~
willwagner
I think you are selling yourself short by not asking questions particularly as
a junior dev. Depending on the role, people are hiring you for not only your
current skills but your potential to grow. Write some questions down in
advance - no one is going to ding you for having a cheat sheet for asking
questions.

Here's some questions I'd ask:

\- what sort of training or growth opportunities do you have? \- do you offer
any aid for continued education or online courses? What about conferences? \-
do you have a buddy or mentor program to help me get moving quickly? \- Are
there any books or resources you recommend so I can hit the ground running? \-
If I got the role, what would make you feel you made a great hire in 6 months
or a year?

~~~
coroutines
I thank you for your kind and very welcome advice.

These are great questions - I think I probably have trouble locating more
junior dev opportunities.

I always do research on the history of a company but because of turnover it
doesn't score me any piñatas to know where they started if the interviewer
can't engage with the stuff I'm mentioning. :(

~~~
danieltillett
Just doing the research puts you in the top 20% of candidates.

I have lost track of over the years how many time I have got the answer
“nothing” to the question what do you know about the company.

I personally find it amazing that people don’t make the most basic
investigations into the place they are wanting to spend most of their waking
hours. It is like waking into a car dealership and saying to the first
salesman you meet “I have $30,000 - just sell me any car as I don’t care.”

------
drhayes9
One of my faves to ask my interviewers is, "Given a month of time to work on
it, what would you work on in your current product?"

The question is worded such that it's not offensive and doesn't sound like a
"trying to find out the bad stuff" kind of question, so it puts people at
ease. But it still gives people a chance to talk about the "bad stuff", to air
out the things that frustrate them about the job. Those aren't necessarily red
flags that prevent people from working at the company, but it's given me a
pretty good picture over the years of what the day-to-day is like working on
that product.

~~~
arsenerei
I really like this question and I'll be reserving it for future use.

------
gryphonshafer
Just for the giggles, I love hearing wars stories of epic fails to questions
like these. Paraphrased, here are some I've personally experienced:

q: If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about the company, what
would it be? a: Get rid of all our customers.

q: How many hours did you work last week? a: All of them.

q: How many meetings were you in in the last few days, and how long did they
last? a: Most of what I do is meetings.

q: What do you use for source control? a: We use $NAME but we forbid branching
because merging is too hard.

q: Describe your build / deploy process. a: I don't think we have time for
that right now.

q: What do you use for a bug / task tracker? a: Email.

q: How would you gague your technical debt? a: What's "technical debt"?

~~~
vonmoltke
> q: What do you use for source control? a: We use $NAME but we forbid
> branching because merging is too hard.

Where I used to work, and the first place I wrote software full-time, we were
not allowed to commit code to our system (Synergy) until after our code
review. I ended up creating a parallel SVN repository so I could do
incremental check-ins.

Don't get me started in merging...

~~~
cableshaft
I don't think we are supposed to either, but it's never been an issue for our
company because there's always shelvesets with TFS, so you can shelve your
work at different stages and retrieve it later.

If you're using a DVCS like git, though, that seems silly.

------
overcast
I was expecting a neat list of questions on the web, and instead was presented
with setting up a programming environment just to output them.

You will need Python 3 with the PyYAML, jsonschema, and jinja2 packages
installed. Seriously?

~~~
quasse
I mean or just view them as html. [https://doctorj.gitlab.io/interview-
questions/](https://doctorj.gitlab.io/interview-questions/) I agree that the
system he is set up is almost absurdly complex for what should just be a
markdown file.

~~~
dsmithn
That misses the answer, followup, and reference. Unless I'm missing
something...

\- q: Would you say your colleagues are good at reading your emotional state,
or still learning? # TODO: Better wording so the answer is not so obvious a:
Research shows the most important factor in team effectiveness is
psychological safety, a "shared belief held by members of a team that the team
is safe for interpersonal risk-taking." One component of this is high "average
social sensitivity," or that everyone is good at reading the emotional state
of others. followup: Do you feel like your opinion is heard, respected, and
valued? ref: [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-
learn...](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-
its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html) pri: 1 tags: [culture]

------
CameronBanga
+1 for Gitlab!

But one question. What was thinking behind setting up the extensive YML
structure instead of just using simple markdown? I see some reasoning with
printing through a script, but will that be a significant use case?

This structure just seems complex for doing a quick PR with a question that
I'd like to see added, and would keep me from contributing.

~~~
dr_jay
Yeah, probably a bit over-engineered; just having a little fun. The idea is
that you can filter and sort based on metadata, merge multiple lists, make
mashups, and render/style it how you like. Feel free to just open an issue
with a question, or post it here!

In the YAML, you can get away with just: -q: Your question here.

~~~
sanderjd
My thought was that it would be useful to have it in machine consumable form
if you want to collect data and report on things. You could turn it into a
"debriefing" program that makes it quick to go through after an interview and
note which questions you asked and rate your satisfaction on their answers.

~~~
dr_jay
That is a great idea. Want to help out? :)

------
OddMerlin
This is everything thats wrong with (web)developers today.

Why is this available in more than one format? Why on earth is there a
filter.sh and render.py?!? This is just awful. If you can't read through a
simple text list and select the appropriate questions then you're already
doomed.

~~~
dr_jay
[https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview-
questions/raw/master/in...](https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview-
questions/raw/master/interview-questions.yml)

------
vinceguidry
YAML's a weird choice for this kind of application. I once explored different
markup languages for maintaining my resume, ultimately just went back to using
LibreOffice.

There's a temptation to use a structured, machine-readable formatting language
for anything that has structure, because you might one day want to use
machines to work on it.

But for an application like this, those times are the exceptions, most of the
time, it's humans that are going to read and modify the text. It makes way
more sense to use a human-oriented format and simply use a convention so that
it's easy to use a tool to convert it when you need to. I see no reason why
Markdown can't be used.

~~~
Grishnakh
I use LibreOffice for my resume too. However, I'm the only person who
maintains my resume, so it works for me. For something that's going to be
touched by a lot of different people, a text-based language is far better
because you can diff the changes easily. Such tools exist for office documents
within those programs, but they're clumsy and don't integrate with source
control systems.

But otherwise, Markdown does seem like it'd be a better choice. Everyone's
using it these days, it's simple, whereas YAML is obscure.

------
HaloZero
The formatted HTML version of the questions, not sure why you'd need this in
JSON...

[https://doctorj.gitlab.io/interview-
questions/](https://doctorj.gitlab.io/interview-questions/)

------
exabrial
"How do you avoid micromanagement and promote autonomy in your organization?"

"I'd like a copy of the employee handbook to take with me"

~~~
mooreds
So important. Employee handbooks will rule or ruin your job.

------
mpdehaan2
Hmm, this is always hard.

The interviewer is trying to recruit you and also filter you out, but usually
will not honestly respond to questions about what they don't like, or will
hold some of those against you.

Ergo, you really have to ask "what is it like to work here" (and also culture
questions, etc) and leave open ended questions, and then learn to read between
the lines. Asking multiple people the same question can also be good.

Attempting to gauge enthusiam is good.

I find places that really want to invest in new hires and make them feel part
of the team are the best (i.e. people that want to take you out to lunch and
help go over code with you), but those are in my experience also a bit too
rare.

You also need to figure out if the folks are smart, not burned out too much,
and whether there's a lot of politics -- but it's really hard to filter that
out from an interview, just in the same way it's hard for people to tell how a
candidate is really going to be too.

------
batguano
This is the question that I always want to ask, but am afraid to:

    
    
      > q: How many hours did you work last week?
      > a: Working more than 40-hour weeks regularly decreases productivity.
      > followup: Is that typical?
    

I have kids, and I don't want to miss their growing up. But as an older-than-
median dev, I fear coming off as less-than-committed.

~~~
kod
Don't be afraid to ask it. You can phrase it in a more wishy-washy way, e.g.
"what's the work-life balance like", but this is a common question. If someone
DQs you for it, you didn't want to work there anyway.

------
adaml_623
If you ask the question: "Where do you fall on the spectrum of "Do it right"
to "Get-R-Done"?" then do be aware that might be flipped back to you.

Certainly I wouldn't describe both ends of the spectrum with those words.
Maybe "Hack it together" vs "Precisely assemble" is less judgemental

~~~
brianwawok
The thing is, a lot of people think they "do it right", even if they are
coding without source control and releasing 1 time a year. So worried this
won't tease out enough unless you drill down into what they are view as right.

------
alexandrerond
You know, sometimes you have to join a company and get the s*it done yourself.
The failure to answer some of this questions also shows the areas where you
can be most valuable. Overall, I find fitting well in a team is of way more
value than anything else. Good teams succeed even in bad companies.

------
andrewfromx
I would politely submit this whole interview system is wrong. Why not slowly
get to know tech workers and interview them over the corse of many days to
understand what they are capable of? This idea comes from
[http://officecrashe.rs](http://officecrashe.rs)

~~~
gnopgnip
Job seekers who currently have a job are not available for multiple days. Many
of the best job seekers are currently employed.

~~~
andrewfromx
yeah it won't work for everyone right away. We start with SCTWs who can do
this.

~~~
esmi
I wouldn't work on someone else's project for "many days" for free. I strongly
suspect most other candidates wouldn't either. If you start paying them for
their work, then it seems the decision to employ has been made and the
interview is in actuality over.

~~~
danielweber
If you keep someone at work for this long, you should pay them at contract
rates.

I would really like this as an option. If I wake up tomorrow and have no job,
it would be neat if there were companies out there willing to pay me
contracting rates for a few days, because it would let me pay my bills.

------
chris_wot
At this point in my life, if I work in a tech firm that pays me a reasonable
amount (when I say reasonable I don't mean top dollar, average or slightly
below is fine for me as I have relatively low levels of debt and my wife works
also) and treats me fairly I'm not that worried about other issues like aging
tech stack or legacy code base.

Reasonable management allows you to work towards fixing this, although might
not always make what you consider optimal technical decisions.

If you can get along with your colleagues, get paid on time and not have the
boss breathing down your neck I think that's a pretty good job!

------
garfieldnate
This is a great resource. As a junior developer I didn't have much experience
or confidence in this area when interviewing for my current job. The big red
flag for me should have been the way they answered my questions. "what is your
development process?" "Oh, hmm, I dunno, I guess agile." asking about
technical debt would have been a good one, too. Hint: there's lots.

------
pklausler
I conduct a lot of technical interviews, and I always make "Do you have any
questions for me?" the first and last question that I ask every candidate.

Mostly this is to provide an opportunity to just answer a question, of course.
But it's also true that a candidate's questions, or lack thereof, can affect
my evaluation of them.

So, my advice: have a couple of good questions on tap. If you don't, you run
the risk of seeming unprepared or lacking confidence.

~~~
tgb
How many questions is too many? I'd want to ask something like half the
questions listed here but that seems burdensome to the interviewer.

~~~
beachstartup
i do hiring. limit it to 15 minutes.

~~~
jsmthrowaway
Because that 16th minute shows too much eagerness, right?

~~~
beachstartup
let me ask you a serious question, notroll -- have you ever been asked more
than 15 minutes of questions by a candidate, in an interview? i have not, and
i've interviewed probably 300-400 people in my life.

i interview almost exclusively over the phone, and we don't fly people out to
waste days of their life, or have more than 3 rounds of phone discussions, so
maybe that's where this disconnect.

~~~
vonmoltke
That seems like a really odd way to interview. If you really are relying on
phone interviews to make a decision, then you bet my ass I'm asking you more
than 15 minutes worth of questions over the phone (if I have them).

~~~
beachstartup
why is this odd? we hire remote workers. after 90 minutes of conversations (30
mins. x 3 rounds typically), it pretty much covers everything just fine. more
than 15 minutes is half the scheduled time for each call.

occasionally a very good candidate will talk for an hour or more, but that's
an actual conversation, not a Q&A session.

[http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html)

also, i didn't ask "theoretically would you ask more than 15 mins. of
questions", i said, have you been asked more than 15 minutes by a candidate,
that you were interviewing.

in the real world, most people don't ask _any_ questions. it's exceptional
that we'll get thoughtful questions, and those are usually the people we
hire/offer. and of those people, nobody has more than 15 minutes worth. and
people who can't even answer basic questions like "how do you list the network
connections on a linux machine" aren't given the opportunity to ask questions,
because the call is over.

again, a long-winded technical discussion is a different thing, i'm talking
about "tell me about your enterprise ticketing system and how many pointless
meetings per week you have" type of questions.

------
graham1776
A great post with non-technical related questions and discussion on questions
to ask an employer:

[http://www.theladders.com/career-newsletters/it-s-not-
about-...](http://www.theladders.com/career-newsletters/it-s-not-about-me--it-
s-about-you----the-20-questions-you-need-to-ask-in-a-job-interview-June-2013)

------
leeny
I gave a talk at MIT last year, and part of it was going over good questions
to ask your interviewers. Here is the resulting list:
[http://blog.alinelerner.com/how-to-interview-your-
interviewe...](http://blog.alinelerner.com/how-to-interview-your-
interviewers/)

~~~
dr_jay
Those are good. May I steal some?

------
CuriouslyC
for managers:

\- What do you believe is the role of a good manager?

\- What do you do to support the people you work with?

\- How do you handle technical disputes between employees?

\- How do you decide who to allocate a task to?

for engineers:

\- Describe some interesting problems you've encountered, and tell me how you
solved them

\- Tell me some of the interesting things you've learned as a result of your
work

\- How do you make important technical decisions

------
infodroid
A discussion from last week that touches on a related issue:

 _Ask HN: How to detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing?_
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11449133](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11449133)

------
kevindeasis
How about the contrary?

What questions should future tech employees know beforehand before going into
an interview?

Does anyone have a playbook?

------
alanwatts
"What is your favorite thing about working at company x?"

This is a simple but great one to end with. If they smile genuinely in their
answer then that's good information for you and its good to leave them on a
high note to tilt things in your favor.

------
seige
Thank you so much for putting the work in listing out exact questions. I have
been maintaining my own list and I am glad to find some really good additions
from this list.

~~~
dr_jay
You're welcome!

------
a_imho
If you have anything you are curious about, ask away. If no, asking questions
for the sake of it does not improve your situation one bit, it won't come
across as clever or thoughtful.

------
graham1776
I realize this is geared towards the end of an actual job interview, but many
of the questions that really hit home for an employer are: Questions that
demonstrate 1)technical ability and 2)culture fit. If you can ask questions
that show an employer that you can do your job well and that you will fit in
with the team, you are that much further ahead of the competition.

Questions serve as an opportunity to "fill in" the employer on areas they may
have forgotten to ask you. If they are not 100% that you can do your job (or
are teachable) and that you will fit in with the company, it is your job to
ask the questions that eventually give them certainty.

Shameless plug: Just released a book on informational interviews with a huge
list of questions and walkthroughs on how to do them. Best way to get a job!

[http://www.amazon.com/Informational-Interviews-Coffee-
Superc...](http://www.amazon.com/Informational-Interviews-Coffee-Supercharge-
Career-ebook/dp/B01DG19MIK)

~~~
p4wnc6
The primary use of questions during an interview is to actually determine if
the employer is a good fit for you.

Your advice seems to take a different approach -- that you shouldn't use
questions as a means to ensure you will be happy in the job, but rather as yet
another opportunity for status signalling.

Even the first sentence depicts a totally alien attitude to me: "questions
that really hit home with the employer are..." ... What? I have no obligation
to ask questions that "hit home" with the employer. If the employer doesn't
like the questions I _do_ ask, well that right there is a good indication that
I would be miserable working for them and should just work elsewhere.

By approaching even the part of the interview where _you_ get to steer the
topics of discussion (your questions) with an attitude of infinite pliability
and fealty, it makes the process even more about subjugation and hoop-jumping
than it already is.

~~~
graham1776
I agree you are also trying to determine if the employer is a good fit for
you. I think this is implicit in the interview process. You absolutely should
ask questions that tick your own boxes!

What I have found in my own career, though, is that you can't turn down a job
or company if you are not offered. If you get an offer, and the company isn't
a fit, it is your own prerogative to turn it down. Until that point, though,
you are selling yourself and trying to get the job.

