
Ask HN: Forgo meeting a team in person for a new job? - hacknat
I&#x27;m considering a Software Engineering role at a startup that is across the country from where I am currently located. All my interviews and conversations have been by phone, and their team is semi-distributed. I would be relocating to their office if I took the job (I want to do this).<p>I&#x27;ve got a good vibe from everyone I&#x27;ve talked to so far, I believe in their business model, they&#x27;ve been open about their numbers, etc. However, I feel nervous about saying yes to this offer having never met anyone in person. I&#x27;m going to ask for them to fly me out to meet people in person before I say yes, but plane flights to this location, from mine, are super expensive (1.2k+), so I don&#x27;t think I would hold it against them if they refused to fly me out just to see their office and meet some folks for a day.<p>What are people&#x27;s thoughts on the matter? Has anyone said yes to something like this before? Did it work out? What are some things I should be aware of, maybe I can ask some questions to make up for the lack of in person check?
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eshvk
I think you should absolutely ask to go see them. Reason: you learn way more
about people in person than you do on a phone/video call. In fact, if I was in
the startup and I was planning on spending roughly 10X that amount every month
on an engineer, I would want to spend that money to vet the candidate
thoroughly.

Also, 1.2K+ ?! It costs me $800 to fly from NYC to Stockholm. Are you in
Hawaii or something?

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pm24601
How would you feel if after the trip the offer was withdrawn?

What are you going to learn that you didn't learn during the interview process
that is so bad as to not take the offer?

Startups don't have money to waste on $1.2K plane tickets, especially if that
plane ticket does not result in a new business opportunity.

It sounds like you shouldn't take the offer, if you can't commit.

