

Ask HN: What to Ask in a Job Interview in Response to “Any Questions?” - MichaelCrawford

I just about always say that I don&#x27;t have any questions.  I speculate that makes me appear rather lame.
======
jghn
Despite what many people will tell you this isn't the time to ask some
carefully crafted question which will make you appear to be a better
candidate. Sure, there are interviewers who believe this, but anyone who
thinks that way is not someone I really want to work with anyways.

Instead, this is your opportunity to fill in any blanks you might have
regarding if you actually want to grace them with your presence. IMO "no" is a
perfectly valid response to that question as it _is_ possible that any
question marks you had were already discussed during the interview itself.

When dealing with more standard tech interviews (multiple panels of 1-2 people
largely consisting of tech questions) I usually try to use that time to get a
better sense of the day to day life working there from that interviewer's
perspective. What do _they_ do, how do they work, what don't they like, etc.

------
byoung2
Remember that you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.
So you can ask any "interview" type question. What do you feel are this
company's strengths compared to the competition? What are the biggest
challenges or opportunities the company will face over the next 5 years? For
startups, ask about profitability, revenue, growth, investment plans.

~~~
dalke
Ask them to do FizzBuzz?

------
mdturnerphys
Things I asked in my successful interviews for a data scientist position with
Microsoft:

* What is your favorite part of your job?

* What are the most frustrating aspects of your job?

* What will my first few weeks look like?

* Why are you interested in me as a candidate? How do you think I will contribute to the team? (I don't have a data science background.)

Good questions give the interviewer a chance to talk about themselves, let
them convince you that you should work for them, and assume that you've got
the job offer ("What will I be doing?" not "What would I be doing if I get the
job?"). Leave questions about benefit specifics until after you get the offer,
unless it's a follow-up to something they bring up.

Don't be afraid to ask follow-up questions while they're asking questions--a
conversation is much better than one-sided questions.

------
vellum
If they haven't gone over it in complete detail yet, ask them about their
development cycle. Do they use Scrum/Agile? What version control do they use?
How do they do estimates? If they use git, how do they do branching? Do they
do testing? If so, do they do unit testing, continuous integration, etc.? Do
they have a QA team?

Revealing questions:

1.) What happens when the estimate is off? Does it happen often? This should
give you a hint as to how much overtime you'll be working.

2.) Do you like working here? Look for what their reaction is. If they pause
or stammer, it can be a red flag.

3.) How many weeks of vacation did you take last year? Some companies have
"unlimited" vacation time policy, but you might feel awkward taking 5 weeks if
everyone else takes 3.

------
AnotherMarc
Well, a flat response of "Nope, don't have any questions," or something
similar would possibly make you appear more uninterested than lame. Depends on
how engaging the conversation was beforehand.

In general, you should have a few top things that you are trying to uncover
during your interview. The interview process is 2-way. If you've gotten
answers or impressions to your top few items and you truly have no additional
questions, you could respond by saying, "I was most interested to find out
about A, B, and C. This is what I heard... I don't have any pressing questions
beyond those right now. But could I follow up with you if something else comes
up?"

------
JSeymourATL
Tell me, from your perspective what does success here look like?

Let's assume you and I are talking 12-18 months from now. And we've
accomplished 3-4 important things working together... what would those
achievements be?

This question shows a focus on their perceived problems and priorities. It's
also interesting to take note whether or not multiple interviewers are
aligned.

------
whichdan
If they've already answered all of your questions, let them know what you were
intending to ask, and what your take on their answer was. It shows that you
did have questions, were intersted in the answers, and that they did a solid
job of explaining the company/position to you.

------
chrisbennet
I always ask my interviewer "How does the company treat you?"

"You've seen my resume'; what new things would I learn working here?"

"Do you validate parking?" (Just kidding)

------
read
"What surprised you the most?"

