
Ask HN: Asking potential employer / client for code sample - throwaway983498
I imagine this isn&#x27;t necessarily relevant for some of the biggest names in tech, but I&#x27;ve had the misfortune in the past (and perhaps present) where I went into a new situation (whether as employee or as consultant) hoping for the best in terms of a company with competent engineers running the show, only to be disappointed to learn that the &quot;boss&quot; and his&#x2F;her team were anything but.  I&#x27;ve seen a number of nightmarish codebases in my time.<p>So bad in fact that I think my next move should be to start requiring code samples from potential employers &#x2F; clients.<p>Never mind them asking me for code samples.  I&#x27;m fine with that.  But I seriously feel I need to start asking companies for a code sample, because it&#x27;s obvious to me at this point that there are some companies who just don&#x27;t have any clue just how bad, and usually insecure, their code bases are.<p>I&#x27;m at a point in my career where I feel I should not have to deal with this anymore.<p>I&#x27;m curious to know if others have had similar experiences, and whether or not you think it should be a part of the &quot;hiring&quot; process.  How open do you think employers would be to this idea?
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z3t4
When you are at the interview, you will probably go past some computer
screens. Just ask if you can stop for a moment and see what they are working
on.

