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What Questions Should a Prospective Employee Ask?
Mortimer.CA writes "Even though things aren't great in the economy, it's prudent to plan ahead to when things (hopefully) pick up. In light of that, I'd like to update a previously asked question in case things have changed over the last four years: What do you ask every new (prospective) employer? When you're sitting in the interview room after they've finished grilling you, there's usually an opportunity to reciprocate. There will be some niche questions for specializations (sys admin, programming, PM, QA, etc.), but there are some generic ones that come to mind, such as: what is the (official) dress code?"
Similarly, what questions should you avoid? Read on for the rest of Mortimer.CA's thoughts.
He continues with these suggestions:
"What about my resume caught your eye? What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)? Are there team lunches or get-togethers? What are your goals for the next six months, one year, three years? What ticket/issue tracking system do you use? Do you have separate build/stage/QA/etc. environments? How do you keep track of documentation? What are your full names (so I can Google them)? What are the typical hours of the team members? Those are some of the ones I've thought of after some digging around. Are there the generic ones that you ask? What are some question for various niches? (e.g., for sysadmins: what config mgmt software do you use?)"
"What about my resume caught your eye? What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)? Are there team lunches or get-togethers? What are your goals for the next six months, one year, three years? What ticket/issue tracking system do you use? Do you have separate build/stage/QA/etc. environments? How do you keep track of documentation? What are your full names (so I can Google them)? What are the typical hours of the team members? Those are some of the ones I've thought of after some digging around. Are there the generic ones that you ask? What are some question for various niches? (e.g., for sysadmins: what config mgmt software do you use?)"
n/t
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Unless you like doing TPS reports for the next 40 years.
Do you have manditory drug testing?
Are you a slashdotter?
"I've worked in England and the policy on assault is pretty strict there. If you hit somone, immediate dismissal. What's your policy here? [cracks knuckles]"
Legendary question in by a candidate for a job in Sweden.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Where do we eat?
If you want to know how much overtime you're going to work, and how family-friendly a workplace is, find out what the demographics of the company are. If you are single, you may find that an overly family-oriented workplace is going to put extra pressure on you to stay late due to parents needing to take time off to be with their family (doctor visits, holidays, etc). On the other hand, if you have a family, a family-friendly workplace may afford you more time to spend with your family.
Another good question is to ask your interviewer how many times a week he talks to customers. It will give you a good idea of how insulated you will be from customers, and that can give you an idea of whether you want the job or not. A non-customer centric position will probably be slower in promotion, but much lower pressure. A customer centric position will be higher pressure, but the opportunity for professional growth (even if all you want to be is a developer) is enormous.
Like bandwidth caps 'n stuff?
There are only two occasions when asking about average employee working hours is appropriate:
1) When you will be contracting with the company and will be charging them an hourly rate with the possibility of overtime
2) You don't really care about getting the job
If you ask in the first situation, you are simply being professional. You want to be able to accurately estimate the amount you will be charging them. It just makes sense, especially since it will end up costing them more to keep you later.
If you ask in the second situation, you are simply lazy and unwilling to be a "team player".
I often ask what are the actual (real) work hours. In my experience, a contract with an IT company at a programming job, states a basic outline of the work hours that are demanded of you (09:00-18:00, for example). Most of the time these work hours are just formal and not actual, since these types of jobs are very demanding (the needs of meeting goals and dead-lines). The kinds of hours that you'll be working may differ from the ones stated in contract. This information is quite important if you have some kind of routine - if you study part time, for example.
It is the universe that makes fun of us all.
I got a new job about 10 months ago.. during the interview, I asked about their benefits, and was told they were "pretty standard". Now, I learn how dishonest they were... health insurance is $850/month for family plan, and we only get 4 vacation days off a year (and only 5 paid holidays). No certification reimbursement, and they want to be able to call me on my personal cell phone after-hours. Lesson learned: get DETAILS.
Just how [in]competent is the management here?
Asking follow-up questions tied to the things the interviewer just spoke on (job responsibilities, organizational policies, challenges, etc.) will win you huge points because it shows you were listening, and you are interested in their organization. Asking questions about benefits, promotions, dress code, and other ephemera will signal to the interviewer that you may only be interested in drawing a paycheck, not being part of a group solving problems and working together. If you want generic questions to ask all employers, consider questions like "Who are your competitors?" or "What specifically in my CV/resume interested you?" The goal of the interview is to get the offer, and the best way to get the offer is to demonstrate an interest in the organization you are interviewing with, an understanding of the industry they are in, and at some level the challenges they face in the current market. As for the dress code question, you dress for your first day just like you dressed for your interview, unless told otherwise, and on the first day your new boss/HR/co-worker will tell you how to dress for the second day. Asking about dress code during the interview will send up a red flag that you may be someone that will challenge the dress code at some point down the line, that would be a strike against you.
Ken
The best questions are almost certainly those that are specific to the employer and the job which they might hire you for. These are excellent because they show that you've taken an actual interest in what they are doing and may have something to contribute to the overall team in the first 6 months or so. Which isn't to say that the other questions (e.g., generic "what are employment conditions like on the ground" checks) aren't good, but if the boss-to-be thinks you care, it's a big way to stand out for the better.
Or at least that technique has consistently worked for me so far, and people who ask such things do stand out when you're on the interview panel. Too many people just do generic applications for jobs and don't seem to care what they actually end up doing...
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
So that i don't dirty my lips when i kiss them!
I now have to ask, "Does the company have sufficient funds to meet payroll for the next year?"
or did they come with the frame?
Ken
'Can I see an example of your code or documentation?'
If they don't keep documentation or their code tends to be messy and undocumented then you're going to spend half your time trying to figure stuff out rather than doing productive (and thus interesting) work. If a company's business is in a complex field (finance for instance) and the code/system has built up over many years there is a fair chance that both will be pretty incomprehensible to start with and if they haven't got reasonably documentation the your job is going to be harder and there is a chance that you'll never feel you full have a grasp on *everything* that is going on.
Apart from that, it will show that you give a damn about documentation and are organised.
One that I've always fallen back on when "do you have any questions for us?" time comes up is something along the lines of "Can you describe a typical day in the life of someone doing my job?". If they're honest, it generally gives me a feel for a typical day, how much time is spent in meetings, doing documentation, when people come in/leave, etc. I then lead them through things like "how much time do I spend doing change tickets/incident tickets? How much time is spent dealing with email/phone calls/walkups? How much time is spent on call?"
While these questions won't generally alter opinion of the job, it does tell me much more about the "how" as opposed to the general interview "what" and "why". Ultimately the quality of life part of the job is more important than the work, at least, as I grow older and move to more senior (ie: non-helpdesk/NOC) positions. Not hating being at work, being fufilled, challenged and treated with respect is more important at this point than simply advancing or resume building. To find out about the "quality of life" is generally the bent of my questions.
Good searching!
We emerge from our mother's womb an unformatted diskette; our culture formats us. - Douglas Coupland
Assuming I get through the first round or two, my questions are like these:
What is your culture like?
What do you like about working for (insert company name)?
(If it is a division of a large company) How heavy is the hand of Corporate on your day to day?
What keeps you up at night?
Usually by this point I am as much looking to be sold by the company. I am a product manager and usually seek similar roles. Things like culture, openness, empowerment, etc are usually covered in earlier interviews.
I should also add that I usually spend a fair amount of time researching a company before I even interview. Research their annual reports, investor page, read the SEC filings, look for analyst comments (on public companies), understand their market space, competition, etc. So usually much of this has come across already.
Oh yeah, one more: Do you use SAP? (god, how I have that frickin' program)
Geoff
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress
What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)?
This (certainly the email and source-control bits) is an excellent question to ask -- not so much because of what the answer as such, but because of your interviewers' reaction to giving the answer. If the interviewers frown or are apologetic about the answers, then that's a big clue that the IT department is run for its own convenience rather than the users' convenience.
For instance, if the email system in use is Outlook, ask if they have IMAP or SIMAP turned on, to enable non-Exchange clients. If the answer is no, then you know that uniformity gets enforced over convenience. You also know that nobody in the company uses any external mailing lists (such as the GCC or Linux kernel lists), as there's no way of posting to those from Exchange without looking like a fool.
If your interviewers sound cross or apologetic when describing the source-control system -- in other words, if the source-control system was dictated by IT without engineering buy-in -- then decline the job. Even if it were theoretically possible to do work in such a company, the excess overhead due to dealing with bureaucracy would make it an inefficient use of your time.
The absolute best answer you could get here is the one a VP of engineering whom I once worked for gave to a compiler vendor whose products we didn't want. "Can't you enforce tooling?", they asked him. "No," he said, "we don't tell Babe Ruth how to hold his bat."
Peter
1. Health plan - even here in Canada, I consider this important. Even routine dental and prescriptions (not to mentioned uncovered specialists like chiropractors and podiatrists) can cost a fantastic amount of money. Everywhere I've worked for recently had copies of the policy documentation available for interviewees.
2. Overtime policy - This generally doesn't vary much due to have a legislated minimum here (1.5x pay past 8 hours a day (or 12 if that's your schedule) or 40 hours per week), but it's always good to know.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Ask your interviewers how long they've been with the company, and why do they stay? The second one is more important if you're in a current "hot" field where people jump ship quite a bit. It tends to give a little more insight into the corporate culture and those you'll be working with, in my experiences.
... then ask them to call it, heads or tails?
Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.
You want your question to demonstrate your ability to do the job as well as allow you to assess your future bosses and coworkers. So technical questions like "What version control system do you use?" or "What kind of backup system would I be expected to maintain?" are good for talking to technically-oriented managers. For non-technical managers, some good questions might be "How does my work get tested before getting sent out to the users?" and "How are project schedules determined, and what approaches are typically used to keep projects on schedule?".
I am officially gone from
I'd like to show you how I would handle/think about the kinds of problems your team has to solve. Would you tell an issue you faced recently that would have been *my* problem if I'd already been working here? I'll talk out the way I'd try and fix it.
If you're smart, you will have done some research into the company before going to the interview so that you already know what kinds of things they do and the problems they face.
Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
What level of the Capability Maturity Model would your organisation reach?
Some probable answers:
Personally I would prefer 2., but YMMV.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
My last few job interviews have focused on interview segments with colleagues. I enjoyed asking them "What's your favorite part of working here?"
I try to research the place so that all my questions are specific or at lest relevant rather than general. General questions from HR types are substitutes for real questions, and general questions from anyone can be taken as such.
If, after I've asked my specific questions, they still (and usually do) hit me with "Do you have any questions?" I hit back with "I've tried to research [you] the best I could so I could ask specific questions. In case there are things I've missed, and at the risk of answering a question with a question, what other things do you think I should know?" I moderate the language of this to match with the tone of the interview - formal/informal, inclusive/confrontational, etc.
Of course I also gauge whether it's worth asking this, or if I'd get formulaic answers, from how formulaic they were during the interview. If it goes like an HR script full of generalized questions that have nothing to do with me, I hold back and ask informally questions of the non-HR people involved outside the interview. If I'm not given the opportunity to meet with them around the interview, I'll ask if I will later. If they intend to make their decision without allowing me to meet with my potential colleagues, they want a body, not a member of an organization. Fuck them.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I have been consulting with a company for a year and they have offered me a job with the company now. They like my work and I know what my job responsibilities would be, but it would be a cut in pay and I could no longer deduct my mileage. I wouldn't have to buy my own health insurance anymore. I would also get trained in different technologies. I prefer the consulting, personally, but may be cut off if I don't take the offer.
10) Don't learn how to appear professional from someone who spells 'you' as 'u'.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I recently returned to school to complete my degree and was able to hear a very intresting presentation from one of the instructors last year. Being that I have applied for many jobs in the past year (and currently working full-time while going to school in the evening), a lot of these made sense. Here are some of the points I found most interesting to take into account during an interview.
- There are only two things that the employer wants to know during the interview: "Can you do the job?" and "Are you going to cause trouble?". The information on your resume will answer the first. Your answers and attitude during the interview will answer the second.
- During the interview, focus on proving you are able to do the job and that you will not cause trouble. Trouble would be absenteeism, incompatibility with co-workers, etc. Keep your personal life personal and your special interests and hobbies to yourself unless they directly pertain to the job. If you interests require you to take time off from work, that should come up during the negotiation period and not during the interview. Also, do not bring up money, pay, vacation, training, "team lunches or get-togethers", hours, or other trivial items. This should all be addressed after the job offer has been extended, while you negotiate, and before you start.
- Once the employer has gone through the process of interviewing all of the candidates and decided that you are the best candidate, you should have already prepared a list of priorities for what you want. If you need six weeks of paid vacation per year, if you need to make a certain salary, or if you need to work a certain schedule, that is all negotiable at this point before the job is accepted. For all of the effort they have put into posting a job opening, sorting through all of the applications, spending all that time interviewing, and somehow still decided that you are the best candidate, it is not in the employer's best interest to start the whole process over because you want six weeks of vacation time instead of the normal four. Everything is negotiable.
- If you are asked during the interview how much you are expecting to make at the new position, a correct answer is "I earn $XXXX at my current job and I am certain you will be fair, but I would like to lean more about the company". It does not ignore the question, but it does not put either party in a tight spot or make either party feel guilty. Again, pay is part of negotiation and not part of the interview.
- One item that should be addressed during the interview is asking about company culture: military (directives from management), team (groups work together to solve problems), competitive (individuals work "against" each other), artistic (try to create the best product), etc.
- Another item that should be asked is what the interviewer sees in the job. Each interview may give a different answer from HR, the department head, the department manager, and the team leader. Taking each of those into account will give a better impression of what is expected.
- I suspect that developers and other specialized positions would want to know what type of systems would be used and the development tools required. This, however, should already be answered to the employer by what is listed on the resume. If the tools required are not listed there and the candidate was still being considered, the tools must not matter very much to the employer and they may be willing to offer training on that system. I am not sure asking about what type of hardware, email, ticket tracking, system environment (Dev/QA/UAT/Prod), or documentation system would be used, since those are basically universal and two companies with the same system may use them in different ways and a new hire will need to become oriented with how the company wants to handle details. Also, if questions about dress code, hours worked, overtime availability, weekend catch-up time, or anything else not normally covered in an interview are important to you, s
"Mostly harmless."
Yeah euphemistic questions FTW.
I like: "What's the staff turnover rate like? How about in the dept I'd be joining?"
If the staff turnover is high, it's often not a good sign. Poor management or hiring practices, and often you'd be picking up the pieces. This doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't join them, but if the turnover is high, the package better be better - haggle if necessary - esp if they know that now you know their environment "isn't better than industry average" based on the employee turnover rate.
In fact, the Bank Regulator in my country considers high staff turnover a significant negative when doing audits of banks.
The interview is for them to interview you. There may be an opportunity to reciprocate, but don't - the interviewer just wants to finish the interview at that point. If you ask a bunch of questions you may turn them off or change their minds. If they ask, you can just say "not at this time, thank you."
Learn as much as you can about the company before going on the interview, and then be observant when you go to the interview - pay attention to people in the parking lot, smoking at the doors, how the receptionist is, what people are wearing, etc. but don't ask questions during the interview. If they decide they want to offer you a position, that is the time to go back and ask all of your follow up questions.
1. What's the dress code? (Usually you can just infer this by looking at the employees who interview you.)
2. How many hours do people usually work in a normal week? (This can be dangerous in that it can communicate to an employer that you're "worried" about having to work "too much", but I always feel like I have to ask it anyway.)
3. Same question as above, but for "crunch time" situations (e.g. just before a release, etc.)?
4. How do you assess employee performance? (I don't always ask this since it's typically not a deal breaker, but it's still good to know. Some places have review processes that are pretty crappy.)
such as what the dress code is, what the hours are etc. in the actual interview, save it for if/when the offer comes.
Monstar L
Though this may be off topic, it is along the same lines. Asking questions is important, but what threw me off in my most recent interview was a question that I was asked. After I gave them the everything-I-am speech about dedication and drive... "Why should we hire you?" What makes you better than the entire stack of applicants exactly like you who are going to say a lot of the same stuff you just said? Basically... why should we give a crap about you? If you get asked this question... better have something poignant to say.
Disagree on #7, depending on the job you're interviewing for. Wear something appropriate for the position you're seeking. I don't expect people coming to interview for a software developer position to wear a suit and tie. I do expect them not to wear shorts or a t-shirt. Khakis and a polo is fine with me.
If your future boss replies "yahoo," run the other way.
Seriously*, though, here are some tips:
I think it's appropriate to ask what kind of project backlog the group/company has, and whether that is low, average, or high
This will tell you where they are in their cycle, and if they're trying to shore up from ship-jumpers, replacing normal attrition, or growing - and how likely your job is to be there in a years time.
Dress code - you shouldn't need to ask about this one unless either
(a) everybody in the office is in a suit and tie, in which case you may ask if that is typical (or more cagily, if Fridays are casual)
(b) everybody is in shorts and a T-shirt, in which case you should ask if this is "casual day," and what normal work attire is
otherwise you can expected to wear what everyone else wears
General HR policy questions (leave/overtime/benefits) can wait until the offer - they're not salient tot he interview. Keep all of your questions about the position, the culture, the relationship of management to the team. That said, make sure you get a chance to review the employee handbook before you commit either way, and be certain that you have them fill in any missing information (if OT policy is omitted, for example).
Okay, that one was serious - jut don't ask it directly. If anyone actually uses Yahoo, stay clear. I'm 0 for 2 on employees that use it. One thankfully left of her own accord, the other I had to dismiss. Neither were worth half their salary.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Right... i guess wearing bullet-shot jeans and a T-Shirt with Che's portrait is the "right" dress for you when u go for an interview at Exxon.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
I blogged about my top 10 questions to ask before taking an IT job, and some of 'em included:
8. What is the on-call rotation schedule?
7. In the last year, how many times has the on-call person been called?
4. Can I schedule vacations around the holidays?
What's your damage, Heather?
How often do you back up everything and where are the backup servers?
What percentage of the time will i be spending on fixing bugs in legacy code?
Will I be consulted before software/hardware architecture changes?
No backups = don't take the job
No legacy code = ask why they aren't considering integration with something that already exists as open-source (if, as often, it's the case)
Definitely be consulted before major decisions = bullshit / bulljob (they're either lying or you'll be doing a lot more than just software development)
An HR friend of mine told me that coming off as too suspicious about a job can make you look high maintenance and undesirable.
However, I think when I go looking again I will ask many detailed questions.
Too many employers advertise for programmers, but really want general IT janitors and stick you in a job where you are doing everything but coding for long stretches of time. It is my hope that by asking specifics ( when do I start building the code after I am hire? etc ) and watching their responses could help you avoid accepting one of these jobs .
I would be interested in reading other programmers thoughts about how to avoid these situations.
I've also see companies that lie about the technologies they use to sound more interesting as well as modern. I would say ask them some questions about those technologies as well to see if they ever actually used them, took them out of the box etc.
Why is this position open?
If the person who had the position previously left, why?
Has anybody in this position been promoted in the past year or two?
How many people in this position have left in the past year or two?
Exxon, eh? You'll be needing a pair of horns and a trident. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt if you had your resume printed on human skin.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
I once bet a friend (ironically a manager from a previous job) I could use the word "chemical toilet" in an interview. I got the job and won the bet.
FLR
What is your full name would sound creepy to an interviewer. Ask for a business card instead.
Also, a good question is "how long have you been with the company and how do you like it".
The cake is a pie
I've had some bad managers in the past, so the questions I've started asking in interviews let me see how good the manager is.
stuff like
"go through the major points raised in the mythical man month."
(point to a random person in the room, that works under that manager) "when was the last time that person took time off"
"how do you get status on your projects" (are they going to bother you a lot asking how close you are to finishing, is their VCS set up to let you mark when things are completed, and does the manager read it)
The only question I can think of is,
"Are you hiring?"
www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
Unless you are very careful in your wording, even companies that *do* have have flexible working might take it the wrong way (i.e. "What, you want to slack off?").
I guess the proper question might be--what is the best way to deduce if said company has flex work. My hunch is the answer varies by the size of the company. You probably could very bluntly ask "what is your policy on flexible working" to a big-co, but with a small-co you will have to be more subtle.
"Am I... am I supposed to type with my penis?"
Hunt and pecker?
Find out how many other candidates have interviewed for the job and where you stand based on the competition and who else has been interviewed. Of course, it sucks if you are the first interviewee. But then you can also tailor the question to ask where do they think that you fit in accordance to what they are looking for based on the interview. In other words, is this one that is going to call and offer you something or is this the one that is never going to call or return a call.
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
If it is a programming type position, I would likely ask then the check list of questions offered by the Joel Test and make sure they have really good reasons for any negative responses. Also, based upon my own experiences, I would add one more question to that list, "What is the background of the person that will be my supervisor?" For a position that involves you writing a lot of code, having someone that is not familiar with the process as your supervisor is definitely a negative.
I looked up this kind of stuff in Google, and the first link was to Career Builder. I copied down some of the catchall questions for an interview later that day. Granted the job turned out to be kind of tailored to my previous experience, but that experience is more jack of all trades than emphasized which they were okay with. I think it had to do in large part to the fact that I knocked that interview out of the park, and I think that is in part due to the questions I copied down.
I don't really think much of that kind of stuff, but if it works, it works.
When I talk to non-managers, I always ask them things like how do you like working here, and what don't you like about it? Most companies that I've interviewed with do tend to allow the people in the group you're interviewing with to talk to candidates and make sure they're a good fit personality-wise, so when I get a chance to talk to non-management types, I always like to get their perspective on the company, the environment, and the work, since it tends to be different from that of the managers. And when I'm on the other side of it (talking to candidates for my company), I try to give them both the good and bad aspects of the job.
About 10 years ago, I learned the hard way that the questions you ask can determine whether or not you get a job. I had received an offer at a large company, and when I learned that some amount of on-call time was going to be required, I asked whether this was a 24-7 thing, or whether there was some kind of rotating system of shifts. They rescinded the offer just because I asked the question; I was really glad they did, because I didn't want to work for a manager who would do such a thing. (I ended up taking a different job in the same company, for more money and with no on-call requirement.)
Which brings me to another point: if your questions are reasonable and a company declines to offer you the job just because of that, you probably don't want to work for them anyway.
Pull a stunt like that and you'd strike out if I was interviewing you. To each their own, but fer christ sakes it is an email client not your main development tool!
Once you start asking religious questions like the ones in your post, you start to look like a person who will be very difficult to work with. After all, if you have major demands for extremely minor things like your email client, what kinds of demands are you going to asking for when it comes to actually doing your job?
Every person I know who does job interviews says that the main thing they are looking for is whether you will fit in to the workplace. That's being a little simplistic maybe, but consider that the interviewer(s) are people too (and they're probably quite nervous as well). It's actually quite common to have an interview panel comprised of a higher level boss, the immediate manager of the position and a colleague (though maybe a senior or supervisor), and in these cases you need unanimous approval.
Some of the points I take from this are -
- whether they think you will get on with colleagues (so ask open-ended questions about potential co-workers that might leave you an opening to divulge some shared interests);
- whether they think they will be able to work with you (honesty, integrity, respect, professionalism, personable),
- what your personality can offer,
- long-term promise (ask about Continued Professional Development or whatever),
- the approach you take to your work - are you naturally someone who tries to provide value to the client? Do you "hug"? Or do you focus on being efficient? Consider say a bank - some banks the customer wants to get in and out as quickly, easily and cheaply as possible while other banks have customers that want to come in and be offered a cup of coffee before they have a lengthy discussion with their account manager that might include both their new loan, the way forward for their business and golf. The interviewer is not looking for someone who would be great at the other bank.
The trick is doing this in a way that is appropriate to the company and the profession. Be sure to read the website, their literature and figure out their market and their position in it. That not only provides you with ammo for discussion but indicates your interest in the company, that you think you're right for the company (and the company right for you!) and that you were smart enough to have thought of it.
I walked into my first interview for a "proper job" and within 30 seconds was asked what I thought about their new website, I confessed I hadn't had chance to read it and it was blatantly game over from there. The next interview I was asked something which was a clear opener for me to remark about the website, which she then asked me what I thought of and I responded that it was a little short on content, could perhaps do more to sell the company, but generally seemed appropriate and anyway in this field there is a danger of content going out of date. The interviewer actually then ticked something on her pad and scribbled a little comment, looked up and realised I'd caught her testing me and we shared a little smile which I'm pretty sure secured me the job.
Okay, I'm actually damn good at interviews. This is blowing my own trumpet, but it's true. I've beaten people vastly more qualified, more experienced and less demanding in salary because I can hold my own in an interview. In fact, I change jobs rather than mess about with the internal politics of pay-rises, even in credit crunches. It makes life more interesting.
I have *never* asked a question at the end of an interview. I've always said "No, I think you've covered everything I need to know" because, by then, they HAVE, or I've done my research already. Asking a smarty-pants question is likely to lose you respect too.
"What is the (official) dress code?"
You're looking at it. You're probably wearing it. You're talking to people who are wearing it. It's pretty irrelevant anyway, because if you're required to wear anything different (e.g. uniform, stricter dress because you're dealing with public etc.) then they will TELL you that or you will already know. And what are you going to do? Say "Oh, no... I couldn't wear that" and forgo the job? And 99.9% of places are the same anyway - smart or smart/casual unless you're public-facing.
"What about my resume caught your eye?"
A good question. For your first month of working. In the interview, it's just too long-winded to explain and they might well be reluctant to discuss details of their hiring process.
"What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)?"
You'll have been told by the job description. You should also have been shown round the place by then, even if it's just "and this is our coding floor". Personally, I usually insist on pre-interview tours if it's at all possible but most places have done this for me automatically - why would you ever want to take a job at somewhere you've never even SEEN the inside of? I gain the most information by seeing where I'm supposed to work and walking through the building to get to it - H&S violations (Cramped working conditions, no fire extinguishers, etc.)? Spotted them. Employees slacking off/arguing? Spotted them. People wasting time in boring meetings? Spotted them. The person I'm replacing? Probably sitting at the same desk or be the one showing me around.
Plus, the people in interview might not want to get into those sort of details because it will take too long. They just want to get on through their candidates and start deciding. Also, by asking, it's like you're questioning their choice. You're being paid to do the job, you have to damn well learn whatever software they want anyway. All this question does is provoke a feeling that you won't be happy/productive if it's not your "favourite".
"Are there team lunches or get-togethers?"
AKA "I want to socialise, waste time, claim that I'm team-building". If you want a team lunch, you'll have one. If you don't then you won't. This is nothing to do with the job unless it's pushed "from above" but you can't tell people how to eat their lunch and you wouldn't want to work anywhere that did. It's probably the "best" of your questions, though.
"What are your goals for the next six months, one year, three years?"
Brilliant question. For THEM to ask YOU. You're basically questioning their dedication / long-term plans in a roundabout way. They will raise eyebrows at this question.
"What ticket/issue tracking system do you use?"
See above about software/hardware.
"Do you have separate build/stage/QA/etc. environments?"
You will know this by the end of the interview/tour or you haven't done your research properly. It probably tells you in the job description. If they say no, you're implying that you know or work better. If they say yes, you're making yourself look an idiot by not knowing that.
"How do you keep track of documentation?"
See hardware/software question and the above. If they say "we don't", you should already know that and will come across as superior. If they say, we use
The reason most companies ask isn't to stiff you, but to make sure you aren't expecting way more then what they are budgeted for. They don't want to get to negotiations and find out that you were expecting $150k a year when they only had a budget for $90k. If the company is worth its salt, they probably also want to know that you aren't asking for $45k and the market rate is $90k--after all, what is wrong with you at those low prices?
The trick to not pigeon holing yourself is to give them a ballpark. That is all they need--you to put them at ease that they aren't gonna get sticker shock when they hire you.
Give yourself a range of like $20k or so. Make sure that you span the range so that what you really want is somewhere in the lower end of the quote. For example, if you want $90k, make it $85->$100k. Just make sure that the low end is really and truly the absolute minimum you'd accept and the upper bound isn't a huge stretch for your skills and the market rate.
They ask "what is your salary requirements?" You reply "I was hoping for market rate, so ballpark about $80k -> 100k. Obviously that number might be more or less depending on things like my position, hours, benefits. Sound about right?". Now you still have a lot of negotiating power and they don't have to worry that when they want to hire you and need to negotiate salary you aren't gonna ask for $150k.
I once interviewed for a non-profit who asked what my salary requirements were and I said "about $70->$90k" and he immediately shot back "unfortunately we are budgeted for around $55k". With that, we both knew this wasn't gonna work so we didn't bother wasting more time.
That is my strategy. Your mileage may vary.
Before you answer their questions, you should roll a D20 and add your Bluff score and ask them what their passive insight score is. If they don't understand your question, you don't want to work there...
EOT
I know most of the readership here are coders and the like, and so a lot of the questions are from that perspective, but since so many of us interview with pre-IPO or venture capital funded companies its important to find out if the company is doing well or has a future, especially if you are looking at stock options as part of your compensation (or as a lottery ticket...) I found this blog entry useful.- http://www.mint.com/blog/how-to/guy-kawasaki-startup-tips/ You may not want to go into this level of detail but it gives you a sense of the kinds of questions that are fair game. These may not be first interview questions (as commented elsewhere first interviews are just to make the short list), however its reasonable for you to inquire about a private company's finances if you are throwing your lot in with them.
"Would you, could you, with a goat?" Dr Seuss
"What open source packages do employees here contribute to or publish?" If a workplace uses Linux, or the Free Software Foundation toolchain of gcc, make, tar, and gzip, and their employee agreement is as restrictive as what I've had to renew or sign during my career, they need serious editing to allow me to publish my patches to open source or free software. I always write that in and get it counter-signed as part of my hiring process. That allows me to get fixes published upstream so I don't have to re-patch them.
"When do you update software?" If they say "we don't fix what isn't broken", I worry. You can waste hundreds of man-hours backporting features to old operating systems or old toolkits, and that work doesn't actually improve the next round of products: it wastes your efforts in ways that do not get you bonuses or advance your career. (Admittedly, my career now includes an incredible amount of this sort of thing, but that's because I'm old and considered expert in the older technologies.)
"What build system do you use?" Every single workplace that I've seen that built their own from scratch, usually by some brilliant developer frustrated with build systems they never fully understood, spent hundreds or thousands of man-hours on learning it and using it, only to see it fall apart as the developer ran into the same problems "make" and "autoconf" solved more than a decade ago.
This is good to ask during a 1-on-1 interview, or when the interviewers are nearly peers. (i.e. bad to ask when the CEO and some flunky are in the room)
"What do you like least about working here?"
It's a good judge of character of the person interviewing you. I usually deflect answers that involve "commuting" or something external and re-ask the question. The answers tend to fall into three categories. 1. Bullshit/uninformed ("nothing! I love it here!") 2. What the boss/policy wants them to say ("we care about our customers *too much*!") or 3. Honesty.
People like talking about themselves, their opinions, and their likes and dislikes and will do it for hours. It's far easier to get them to open up about what's right (or wrong) with the company when you start with their gripes. Make the question about them and make them feel informed and important. At least it gives you some leverage in follow-up questions.
---
And for the record, at my current job I answer this as "That it feels slow to get software to market. Testing and management approval can seemingly take forever, but I realize it's a deliberate effort to maintain quality." It's honest and a personal gripe of mine.
Get off my lawn.
Sometimes you can see if an organisation is a giant WTF in progress or a relatively well run place just by looking around. I've found this especially important for technical jobs that require equipment, and you can get an idea of how employees are valued by seeing their work conditions. It also shows the interviewers that you are taking the application seriously if you ask to see where you would be working and what gear you will be using.
I like: "What's the staff turnover rate like? How about in the dept I'd be joining?"
Yes, though personally I tend to be more direct than euphemistic: "How many people have left the company/department in the past year? Why did they leave?"
The thing about "dangerous" questions like these, and asking about realistic working hours, and asking about IP clauses in the contract, is that good employers will usually be more than happy to have chance to explain why they're not like the bad employers. Most will enthusiastically tell you that they have low staff turnover. In terms of copyrights, particularly at the young companies looking for good people, I've had a senior interviewer tell me immediately that he himself had got the contract adjusted to clarify that, and it certainly wouldn't be a problem. For working hours, I've had a much wider range of answers, but usually pretty honest.
I have never, to my knowledge, missed out on an offer that I would have accepted because I asked such questions. I may have lost at least two offers, but in both cases I already knew I wouldn't accept anyway after evasive or outright damning answers to the working hours question, so the question served its purpose.
Clearly YMMV, particularly if you're desperate for a job or if you're happy working for corporate behemoths that tend to have less flexibility in their contracts (and whose HR people may black flag anyone who asks too many questions).
The other thing I always like to ask, though it's probably best to leave it until after the first interview, is to see a sample of their code and documentation. Just as they can tell a lot about me from my solution to a coding problem, so I can tell a lot about them by seeing what kind of code they actually write. I have never been refused this request, though most places ask you to wait until the next visit, so it might be worth mentioning it in advance if you're going back for a second interview and know it's likely to be the last one.
My experience is that once you're past any HR goons and you're dealing with techie folks you might actually be working with, good people will be quite enthusiastic to show you something they consider good code and happy to accommodate your request. It puts them on familiar territory, and makes for a more interesting (and memorable) interview for them than the other ten they've done this week. As a convenient side effect, as well as giving you chance to see their code, it also gives them a chance to show off and creates an atmosphere of fellowship and professional respect--a good discussion about their code can make them start to think of you as one of them before you've even left the interview.
Again, I'm not aware that I've ever missed out on an offer I would have accepted because of asking this question, though again there have been a couple of places whose offers I would probably have turned down if I'd received them after seeing the sort of code I'd be working with.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
After listening carefully to their presentation during the interview, ask one but no more than one "difficult" question, something where they'll have a hard time accommodating you if they're not set up that way. Some questions include:
1. Will you put me in an office instead of a cube?
Remember, you'll be spending a significant part of your life here. You should have a comfortable working environment which matches your individual needs and wants. Offices generally cost the company about $2000-$3000 more per year. If you push them for an extra $3000 salary, 90% of companies will agree but if you push them to alter the office environment 90% won't. The point of this question is to see how accommodating they are. Will these people pay attention to your unique goals and desires as an individual? Or are you a cog in the machine that fills out a form to replace your broken office chair with the another of the standard crappy office chair?
The "office" question is particularly good in this respect because it cuts to the heart of the "do you respect your employees as individuals?" question. Too many companies use them as a status symbol instead of a productivity booster.
Milder questions in the same vein include:
2. I have my own [chair/computer keyboard/mini fridge]. Is it alright if I bring it in and use it?
3. I have particular brands pens and pencils I use as a matter of personal preference. Will you reimburse me if I buy them from Office Depot or am I expected to use only the office supplies the company provides?
4. After I've been here a few months and fully integrated with the rest of the team, are you willing to consider having me telecommute for part of the week?
5. How flexible are your work hours? Can I come in at 10:30/leave at 3:30 in order to avoid rush hour traffic?
Take care to ask only one of these questions. You don't want to present yourself as difficult and needy. You just want to get a measure of their willingness to interact with you as an individual. Also, try to avoid the ones that they've already hinted are no-no's within their company. If they're already said that the hours are 9 to 5, M-F, don't ask about flex hours and telecommuting.
One last thing: on-site consulting for the Government where you work for a private company but in an government-provided office environment at a site manned by government employees is just about the worst job in the world. Your co-workers are often some of the nicest people you'll meet, but you are a cog in the machine and there is absolutely nothing you or they can do about it. If you must work on site for the government, do it as a direct government employee. They're still insanely rule-bound, but at least then the rules work in your favor.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
MSN Careers has an article titled You Said What?! - 43 Things Actually Said in Job Interviews.
Yeah, everyone can be stupid in an interview. Learn and laugh from their mistakes so you don't make one.
"Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
If you're salaried ask if and how they do comp time. If it's "between you and your manager" assume this means "No, we don't do comp time." If on the other hand they have a semi-official policy it is good to know up front and figure this into the whole salary/vacation/benefits equation when deciding how to negotiate a salary.
Likewise, find out what the typical layoff behavior is, but NOT in the interview. Find someone on the inside (or and expat) through your network and find out the details of of the equations (weeks per year of service, minimum package, any help with COBRA, etc). You can really get hosed if you move your family to an area with few comparable employers and this one tanks.
Ask what their approval process is for buying tools/software/hardware, and what their current status on those is. Will you have any signing authority for buying technical books for example, or will those have to be pre-approved. I spent over a year lobbying varying levels of management to get the right software to do my job (on top of 2 previous years of lobbying by my coworkers), and then spend 9 more gut wrenching months suffering through the approval process, including writing many justification emails, as well as having to explain the justification emails to every manager up through the VP. Meanwhile I had to beg and plead with the rep to keep the original quote price so the process would not have to be reset.
Depending on your type of job, find out what the theifdoms are like inside. In my case PCB layout turned out to be a surprisingly ugly theifdom, and has been for at least 20-30 years. You can discretely ask about these by asking about the product life cycle and at every step asking who does that, what is the documentation like, what the review process is like, and how long that step typically takes. I missed asking about the time cycle on PCB layout, and boy howdy is it bad (3-4 week queue time, 3-6 week layout time for stuff I could do myself in 1-2 weeks if they would allow me to).
I was surprised at how much your response here differed from many others, but then I got to the end of your post and saw you used the term "sticky tape." It made me wonder if you were British. Your home page link goes to a .uk site, so I'm guessing you probably are. Don't you think there's a good chance that there are significant differences in business culture between the UK and the US/North America?
If we are a .NET shop, you are using a Windows Box with Visual Studio--if you wanted Emacs on Cygwin, you aren't gonna be happy here. If we are a unix shop, you can use whatever the hell you want for an editor (vi, UltraEdit via Samba, notepad) but you will run whatever unix flavor we use for your sandbox (FreeBSD, Redhat, Gentoo, whatever)--if you wanted Ubuntu, sorry Charley. If we develop applications for an iPhone? You have a Mac and its associated toolchain. If you were a graphic designer, you'd be using Photoshop + InDesign--if you want GIMP, you aren't gonna be happy here.
If you are picky about your email client or your spreadsheet app--you are a prima donna that will piss off my employees and make unreasonable demands on us. Open Office has nothing to do with development unless you write plugins for it. The only time you should care what email client you use is if you were a secretary. The only time you should care what word processor you use is when you are doing documentation. The only time a spreadsheet app matters is if you are a sales dude or a financial dude.
Choose your battles. But really, if you expect to run PINE and we are doing .NET work, you probably don't wouldn't like working here just as much as we probably wouldn't like you working here. But to pass up an otherwise good job because of an email client is, well, pretty immature.
Ask for a tour of the office if it's appropriate. Obviously if it's a place where security clearance is required they'll tell you to sod off. However if it's possible ask for a tour of the office or where you'll be working - ask where you'd be sitting.
That does indeed change things but you are still in dangerous water without clarifying yourself. If you asked those questions and didn't follow up with keywords like "productivity", "morale", and "TCO" then you are still a prima donna or worse, a religious zealot.
Letting people choose their own email client and develpoment platform might be okay, but it really depends on the organization. If you are hired to grow a development team, you better be well versed in the tradeoffs between "every gets outlook" and "lasse faire--anybody runs anything". At your level, you are hired to make the business more competitive. You better make it perfectly clear you aren't some zealot who will be hellbent on turning us into the next FSF regardless of the business justification. Once you've turned off my "zealot alert" radar, then you can ask these kinds of questions.
If it's a software vendor, there's one question: "What's your Microsoft plan?" Though for some spaces, it might better be phrased "What's your Apple plan?"
They capture 30% of whatever market they enter -- by bundling with other agreements, by marketing more effectively, occasionally even by making a product that people want. Add in pressure to expand into new markets so you can show growth to Wall Street, and it's obvious that sooner or later there's going to be an 800 lb gorilla in the cage with you.
Potential responses:
1) "They're not interested in this space." Either the employer's got their head in the sand, or they're right... and there's not enough money there for long term viability.
2) "We've already faced that threat and won, and we're doing some innovative things to stay ahead." This is good.
3) "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you." They could be right, and you're going to be working in a very strange environment... or they could just be paranoid loonies, and you're going to be working in a very strange environment.
"Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
Here is a good resource for this kind of stuff:
http://lifehacker.com/tag/career/
but definitely ask how long the position is intended to exist. Sometimes instead of going with a contractor like Tek Systems for a 1 year project, they just hire someone. But since everyone finds out that it's a temporary spot, they stop telling people so they can finally get one hired. Then to make sure you get the job, if they say it's only for the duration of a large project, say that's fine and they'll be shocked and lean towards hiring you. Then do such a good job that at the end of the project, they don't want to lose you and either increase their staff budget or fire someone else.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
The questions you need to ask are along the lines of: "How did your incredible company come up with such an awesome product that will change the universe and make lots of money at the same time?". Even if they say otherwise, managers and HR people love the smell of bullshit. No one ever got fired for being too much of a flatterer.
The next thing you need to do is pledge not let your life or conscience stop you from giving 120% to the company. Then explain how your in-depth experience allows you to make whatever your manager expects become a reality. You are a team player that always keeps the interest of the company foremost in your mind. You would go to sleep at night thinking about how to make (substitute name of company) a worldwide success.
Don't forget to add that you can do all this for half the cost of someone in Bangladesh.
If you follow my advice you too can live a life of well-paid stress and frustration. If you find that your soul can't handle corporate life then numb it with alcohol and/or drugs to avoid having to deal with the bigger issues in life, like why you're here and what is your purpose.
"Meaningless!, Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless!"
A lot of these are questions I would never ask in an interview.
"What desktop hardware/software will I be using?" could be interpreted as "I'm a hardware bigot and will whine if I don't have a huge display and four white-hot cores." or "I don't touch Winders. I plan to reimage my PC with Mepis and I refuse to use any email client except Mulberry". Unless you want to show proficiency in a particular tool -- "Lotus notes? Yes, I've got several years' experience" -- I'd leave the topic alone. Your desktop is whatever it is. You'll get used to it.
"Are there team get-togethers?" == "I expect us to spend time screwing off under the guise of 'team building'. How close is the nearest bar?"
"What are the typical hours?" == "I am concerned about working too hard."
"What is your goal for the next etc" is a question directed at the interviewee, not the interviewer.
I would say "I expect to be on-call" as an opening for the interviewer to describe the on-call process.
I would know ahead of time what the company's stock has been doing, (if publicly traded) and be prepared to ask reasonable questions about the company business. My job doesn't end at my cube doorway -- it's important to understand the big picture.
I ask about education benefits, because I want to keep on top of my game, and I want prospective employers to know that.
Questions about the environment -- promotion process, product and documentation lifecycle, -- are fine, but don't get too militant about it if the boss doesn't think these things are important. There will be time for that battle after you're hired.
Find out if there are any tools or systems with which you are not familiar, and then express eagerness to learn them.
If there's a part of the process that's in disarray, (documentation, for instance) and you get signals that the boss would like to see improvement in this area, express eagerness to help straighten it out, and come up with a few suggestions.
I ask if it's ok if I eat at my desk. This isn't as arse-kissing as it sounds. I worked for one place that forbade eating at one's desk due to ant infestation.
In general, I try to avoid questions that might raise a red flag about how well I might fit in, or which might be considered concern on my part about how much effort I will be making. I am adaptable -- I've had ASCII terminals, X-terms, Windows, Sun and SGI workstations in front of me, and a variety of tools, some really obscure. It matters less what my work environment actually is than that it match the rest of the team.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
This is the most important question to ask any corprat. They only think in terms of filthy lucre and by that you can measure the depth of them. Money is not the root of all evil lust for money is.
Your second question is "Do I get free M&Ms?"
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
I always like to ask what version control they use... as long as they use something instead of shrugging, life should be okay.
In the end, I guess it just depends. If you asked "what software would I be using" and you were going into a C# job, you'd look like a complete fool. I think you can get pretty detailed with "what software will I use" if you are going for any place that does unix development--if you are doing PHP, Perl or Python it really doesn't matter if everybody uses the same editor (personally, I use a Windows box, ultraedit and samba because I like mice :-). If they say "we all use emacs", I either better bone up on emacs or move on. If they say "we all SSH into the production server and mess with the live site", I run :-) In fact, I think with unix stuff you *better* ask what kind of toolage you will be provided with and if they would be willing to fork over to pay for "real" editors that help you work better.
My key point is that you shouldn't look like a prima-donna or zealot. Asking what kind of software is in use is fine within the context of the job you are applying for. Asking to use visual studio in a Ruby shop is stupid. Asking to use vim in a C# shop is equally stupid. Asking if you can use Thunderbird instead of Outlook makes you look like an amateur.
For IT, keep an eye out for some telltale warning signs. Lots of Dilberts hanging on a cube wall are a telltale clue that people there aren't entirely happy with their jobs, and the cartoons can be an important clue into what exactly is not functioning well within the company. Also ask just before you leave or prior to the start of the interview to use the bathroom. The state of the bathroom is another good sign of how the company treats its employees, and you're going to have to use that thing during the after-lunch rush hour and such. If it's like someone slaughtered a goat in there, you might want to consider giving them a miss.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So, you are saying 79,900 employees are clones of Satan.
Wow!
They should be honored to hear that.
Tell me, where do you work? McDonalds?
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
How do I ask if my day-to-day work will be directed by someone who not only doesn't understand what I am to do, but also feels that this lack makes him a better person?
I don't need someone who can do my job, just understand my needs and explanations. I have seen cases where "professional managers" were in charge of stuff they didn't comprehend. It doesn't have to be this way. My last boss was a salesman by trade but when he didn't understand, he would ask. Then he would remember the answers.
I just want to avoid ending up like Dilbert...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
It should be obvious from the walk-around/interview if and how the company is using Lean or Agile or similar team-based short-term development cycles. Drill down.
"How is it working out for you?" Seems like most Agile implementations have problems, more so as they're getting started and learning the system.
If they aren't, "Have you considered/are you planning to try Agile". There's a lot of pain that goes along with that transition.
Compare their answers to how you personally feel about these methods.
Salary is only one part of your whole package which includes things like: health/dental, 401k matching, paid time off, pre-tax transit plans, expensing education/tools/books, and anything else you can think of that they might be willing to do for you.
It's best to have an idea of what your minimum vs desired vs "omg I want in this company right now!" levels are for ALL these things (not just salary).
When it comes time to negotiate, do your best to discuss each item paired as a set. If they want you to move on one, agree if they also move on a different one in your set.
eg. You want 90k but they say they can only offer you 85k (which happens to be your minimum). If you can pair that against something else you want you can respond by saying you can accept 85k if they're willing to give you an extra week of vacation time or pay for you to attend 2 conferences per year, or whatever.
Preparation is key here. You have to know what you want for every benefit you care about and what range you're willing to accept. Then it becomes something of a puzzle game. You and the company are each trying to find a set of benefits such that you are both willing to sign a contract of work.
Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
"In what way does this company most resemble Dilbert?"
It's been my favorite question for over a decade for several reasons:
I once had an interviewer (the guy who'd be my boss) tell me that he didn't read Dilbert. I failed to recognize that red flag and took the job. Needless to say, it didn't turn out so well.
This message composed using 100% recycled electrons.
What do they anticipate a typical day will be like? Get a feel for the pace of work and how often things go haywire. Figure out what their expectations are for you - run around with hair on fire or work at a calm pace on known goals and projects....
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
How will you measure my performance and inform me of your evaluation?
As a software developer:
Why is the position available/open?
Who would be my supervisor?
* I did once have a position where the supervisor was out sick, but it required a followup interview. In general though, if you haven't been introduced to them during an interview, your prospects at getting the position are probably 0.
How many software projects do you have going?
How is project management done?
*This is really the kicker. If they have no system or fail to provide salient details like scheduled times, do not depend on the position being long term (more than 6 months), regardless of what they claim. At best the company is unstable, with an inability to manage expectations.
How is bug tracking done?
* You don't want to hear "you'll be doing the bug tracking"; see: "How is project management done?" as this is part of PM. This can potentially teach you something helpful regardless of if you get the position. I have heard many different methodologies and have seen the resulting products.
Why do you use language/framework/API X for project/product Y?
* It's not always necessary to ask this, but I sometimes do if the reasoning might educate me. This can potentially teach you something helpful regardless of if you get the position.
Has the company ever paid to train employees via a formal or recognized training organization?
* This catches people off guard and often causes them to ask you to rephrase or repeat the question. It may also sour the interview. However, this will tell you if you can expect to get free training. This type of perk is just rare nowadays. A followup of "can I request time off to do pay for and attend my own training" will almost always result in "yes" but will never actually be approved to occur.
Where do employees usually go to eat?
* This can affect your paycheck. A cheap cafeteria is a godsend. A botique cafe can be a burden.
What dress code will I need to follow?
* I never phrase it this way, but this is the question you should always ask.
Dress code is something I have a strong opinion about due to my personality and experiences. I hate ties but not slacks and button down shirts for example. Personally, I have long since stopped appearing for interviews in a suit and tie unless specifically asked at which point I generally wear jeans and a button down long sleeve striped semi-casual shirt or polo shirt and belt, as that is universally the attire of my expertise. If I am at a "traditional company" (a turn of phrase I have heard) interview, the question about my attire does not always come up without me asking. In the few cases that I have been asked about my attire, I respond that I have been asked to do everything from pull cable through overheads and between floors to physically unpack and setup servers to wireframe UIs and develop database schemas. I am not always sure of the nature of the position I am applying for or what the condition of the facility might be. I have been asked if I can do all these things during interviews for similar positions. This is my attire that is conservative and flexible enough to do them all, which seems appropriate to me. Wearing a suit has been beneficial for 2 interviews and soured 2 that I know of. If a company is that hung up on attire, it's a bad sign anyway. How an applicant dresses is a comparatively trivial thing to change.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
But of all the things to disagree on, that was his For Fcuk's Sake point! Come on, give him the For Fcuk's Sake point!
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
Spit or swallow?
* Carthago Delenda Est *
I once interviewed for a non-profit who asked what my salary requirements were and I said "about $70->$90k" and he immediately shot back "unfortunately we are budgeted for around $55k". With that, we both knew this wasn't gonna work so we didn't bother wasting more time.
That is an excellent example of a successful first interview, and one that a job hunter should be prepared for. A good follow-up would be
"Okay, then, I see we don't have a match on this position, but we do have a few minutes remaining for this interview. Are you aware of any positions that are available either with your institution or through your associations with colleagues in other institutions that match my resume and salary requirements?" That is, be prepared for the interview to terminate early because of an obvious bad fit, and be ready to try to turn it into a networking opportunity. The best outcome would be the interviewer saying that "You might try the Foo Foundation. John Smith-- a fellow in their HR Dept-- and I collaborated on designing this job announcement and a similar one that Foo is about publish. You can use my name in your cover letter and ask John to give me a call. If you give me permission to do so, I can tell him that we interviewed you and might have hired you if we had a larger budget to work with."
The chances of this kind of thing happening are pretty small. But they are zero-- nothing, nada, zip-- if you aren't prepared to shift a dead-ended interview into a networking opportunity.
Will
Why can't we enter into a carefully constructed conversation and get those answers that we want while leaving the interviewer unsuspecting? I would advise against going into anything "unprepared". Also, since when did being "demanding" about my job go from a feather in my cap to a black eye? Employers wanting flexible, adaptable people who are easy to get along with is how we got into the situation of employing managers that are nothing more that adult babysitters.
One thing prospective employees need to really get a handle on is the financial status of the firm. Even a profitable firm may intend to plow back money into expansion or research making raises and advancement really hard to come by for any employees. Being a super star in a company that is going down the drain can be a really lousy experience.
I'd side with the GP on this one. We ask every candidate their desired salary at the interview, and we do use the response to rule out many candidates. Sometimes, it is our loss, but in general we do it because we can afford to pay $X assuming the person will help us to generate $3X in additional revenue. In the end, the whole package forms the costs, but knowing where someone's mindset is helps a great deal. We hired someone at 30% over their asking salary to make sure he knew just how important he was to us as a strategic hire. Inexperienced people (especially right now) we often low-ball to keep our flexibility.
It really comes down to if you are dealing with a dick that only cares about "winning" a negotiation, or someone with a legitimate business issue to resolve.
Ahhh,, the European vs US standards.. unfortunately there is no law on vacation days here in the US.. Legal holidays yes,.. We are a strange people, we work more hours, and get less benefits that we now have to pay extra for.. When a union tries to fight to keep their better medical coverage, that their workers are lucky enough not to have to contribute to (Like the way it used to be) The average person looks at it backwards and thinks "bad union worker, why should they not have to pay".. instead of "my employer is bad, why should I have to pay."... And many of these same people.. These people who get the crappy benefits that cost them.. well they just want to keep things the way they are.. Healthcare system reform.. what are you crazy ? .. it's just fine.. Many don't remember.. but back in the eighties it was the norm NOT to have to contribute to your health plan and I wish I could get that kind of coverage now, but even the most expensive plan that most places offer, don't touch what I had, and have high deductibles to boot.. our system is broken... and people will fight to keep getting screwed over.. go figure.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Or the expense process, if they don't have an app. I have to print out the expense form, fill it in, sign it, scan it, send it to my manager in another country, get him to physically sign it, then get the signed form and the original receipts/invoices to the controller in a third office. I've got several thousand dollars worth of outstanding expenses.. somewhere.
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
in interviewing or being interviewed.
Your expression "the interview" reveals this.
Most non-entry level positions are filled by a process involving multiple interviews of multiple candidates over a period of days or weeks, often involving a pool or team of interviewers and a set of candidates that have made it past the initial filters. One of those filters being "the interview" that you have experienced.
Those candidates that pass the initial filters get further probing, meet more of the current staff, and eventually this results in offers for some and opportunities for them to counter.
There's no way a company making an offer is putting you "on the spot". When they do make an offer, the opportunity to ask the questions you so value becomes available. They say we offer $$$. They also offer XXX PTO, such and such working hours, etc. All of this is part of their offer package and subject to discussion and negotiation from the moment the offer is made until an agreement is reached, not before.
If such questions are so important to you that you must have the answers upfront, just send an email to the HR department before you send in your resume. Doing so will save both of us a lot of time and trouble.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
From binarybadass.com:
What is the corporate culture like?
What metrics will I be evaluated on? How objective are those metrics? To what granularity will they be tracked?
How does the promotion process work? Is it a transparent process?
Who ultimately makes the decision to promote or not to promote?
How does a performance review work?
What will my day-to-day be like? Will it consist of project-based work or will it just be break/fix and putting out fires?
Will I be the only person performing this job function or will I be working with a team of people in the same physical location as me?
If I am not happy with what I am doing, can I easily change my job position/scope?
How much travel is involved?
What do you like about working here? (This is addressed to your interviewer.)
What do you dislike about working here? (This is addressed to your interviewer.)
What recompense or time off is afforded for professional development? Will you pay a portion of my tuition if I choose to attend classes while in your employ? Must the classes I take be related to my job? Will you pay professional organization dues and/or journal subscriptions (even an office subscription)?
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
I've been to a few interviews (as a contractor, not an employee) where some issue came up that I felt would be better answered by other than the 'hiring' organization. Granted, this might be a problem if that company maintains strict control over vendor communications. But as a potential employee, it shouldn't be as difficult to speak to members of other organizations with whom you will eventually interface.
My example: I was contacted to help a local utility develop a better configuration control process for their engineering product. During my preliminary contact, some remarks were made that led me to believe that their present process suffered from personality problems, not process problems. So I asked to speak with members of their construction department. It turned out that the atmosphere between them and engineering had been so badly polluted by a few blowhard assholes that they just ignored drawings and built what they thought was correct. This left engineering with the task of making major as-built revisions to their work. Not an easy thing to do when the crews didn't put up with engineers visiting substation job sites.
As a result, I walked away from this contract offer. No amount of process improvement was going to fix a major culture problem. Had I not gotten a feel for the root cause of their problems before signing up, I could have ended up with one of those projects that goes on forever, over budget, with every customer changing their requirements as a proxy for screwing their opposition over.
Have gnu, will travel.
If I find something broken can I fix it? Seems simple, but this may lead to surprising answers.
And that is why I suggested that you make sure what you really want is in the lower end of the quote. If they wanted to hire you and had a flexible budget, they know that if they offered you the bottom end of your ballpark they'd look cheap. They, like anybody, would most likely assume you wanted the middle of your quote and so they'd either offer you that or start inbetween the low end and the middle, in which case they are starting with what you really wanted. Either way, most likely you will find yourself negotiating upwards from what you wanted, not downwards toward what they wanted. The cute trick is since they probably assumed you wanted the middle, they will think they are negotiating downwards, but really they are going upwards.
If they started at the very bottom of your ballpark either they are really cheap or more likely they really want you bad, but you are a stretch for their budget (like if they were a non-profit). In that case, you can probably wiggle tons of "freebies" out of them like faster accumulation of vacation time, free bus passes, etc... stuff that doesn't really cost them anything but at least makes it feel like they aren't being cheap. If they really are being cheap, then maybe you are better off not taking up the offer. Only you can make that decision though.
But yes, salary isn't everything. For me, I always insist on getting a free bus pass. You can probably get them to budge on other things too like bumping when your vacation starts accumulating or when you are eligible for healthcare--unless there is a ton of bureaucracy these are cheap giveaways for them that are pretty sweet for you.
One more thing. The grandparent of this post is completely wrong when he said (emphasis mine):
This is a very, very bad thing to say. You are the only one who is in a position to know what you are worth! You should be keenly aware of what your regions going rate is for your skillset and it is entirely your responsibility to research it. If you do the homework on your own, odds are you will either overprice yourself or far more likely undervalue yourself.
Keep in mind if the company is big enough, you can go to sites like glassdoor and find out what the average salary is for the company you are applying for. That way you can quote them a ballpark that is just slightly in a higher bracket then their average wage. If you can't find the average salary for the specific company, you can at least find the average for your region.
Even if you are selling yourself as an employee, you are still running your own business--act like a businessman, not a doormat! Always know your market rate!
If you were going into your example, which I assume is a java shop then there are dozens of environments that you could be working in. In that case, ask away! If you are going into a .NET job, you are going to be using Visual Studio (unless I guess you are using Mono, in which case you would probably be curious and should ask).
Like if the IT group refuses to give admin access to the developers own workstation.
I see your point, but I still think you could have made it less of a flamefest for idiots like me by using something other than "what email client". The engineering folk really should use what the entire company uses for email. But freedom to support your own tools, etc... you are 100% correct. Developers, in a weird way, have some pretty "interesting" demands on the infrastructure that most other teams don't have*.
* Except for the folks in facilities who have to run all the keycards and better, HVAC units. Those guys put equally perverse demands on the IT staff because a lot of their equipment runs weird software requiring creative network topologies or various holes through the firewall so they can turn on the chiller from home on a weekend rather then driving in and doing it onsite (double time + fee). Most facilities groups seem run their own rouge network because of the politics involved in dealing with IT.
The condition of the restroom says alot about a company.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
What's your Slashdot UID?
Have gnu, will travel.
Frankly, I always dreaded the end of the interview, when I get asked that "So, do you have any questions for ME?" part.
People turn the whole process into such a "game", with the employer trying to glean some hidden meaning from every sentence the prospective hire speaks, and the interviewee trying to think of things to ask that will "impress" the employer, instead of just asking anything they'd *really* like to know.
I've definitely had interviews where I really had NO questions worth asking, by the end of a lengthy interview (and tour of the facility). Maybe the interviewer wrote me off because I didn't ask some "magic questions" he was hoping to hear from me ... but I honestly felt like everything I cared to know was already answered satisfactorily. If I thought of anything else, I'd rather email or call them later to find out about it.
Other times, I could tell I was interviewing with a highly technical person in the company, so I probably *did* want to know some details of how their environment was configured. That's not because of some "religious zealotry" ... but simply because as the grandparent poster said, it's informative to know if you're working for a company that embraces "open standards" and supports multiple platforms, or one that uses "closed" technologies, so by extension, is more "hostile" to alternate options. (EG. The small business I work for today is primarily a "Windows" shop, but my personal laptop is a Mac. Initially, the owners had some concern about introducing it to the network environment, and I wound up having to get their outside consultant to back me up, insisting it was "harmless", before they become comfortable with it. If I was working for a larger firm, or one that had web-based apps requiring Direct-X extensions or coded specifically for IE 6 or 7 or something, though, this sort of thing would have been useful to know in advance.)
The person who used to have the job.
Did he quit, get fired. Why?
Is his dead carcass secretly hidden within a coffin inside the server room equipment closet?
But you dont need to even ask this question during an interview. A far better, more subtle way to get a lot of these "what kinds of junk will I be using" is to ask for a "tour of the place, to see where I'd be working". As you walk around, you can note things like "do they have more than one monitor", "looks like they are all using ${email client}", or "the whiteboards are all empty".
I've never done this, but you can probably deduce the answers to questions like these by asking something like "what is the turn around time for a project the size of ${size}". Basically, try to figure how how fast they think they crank things out. If they say "we usually try to get our devs to push out a ${big thing} in ${insane deadline}" you can probably assume it is a sweatshop.
My main question is what is the structure of my team. How many people are doing the same job I do in my team. Is there a lead? Is there a manager? Who is the manager managing, just our group or others as well? I have enough experience that I don't want to be in a team which has a lead in it. When I have a manager who is not involved in day to day IT work that is ideal as he wants me to succeed. Leads always want to make sure you are not doing better than them as that is a threat to their position and job. On the other hand, doing a good job is something a manager wants you to do. If they say there is no lead I ask if anyone aside from my manager inside the team will be responsible for assigning me work and that sort of thing - digging out if there is some covert lead. I make sure this is straight with my manager.
I don't like companies that want you to use your OWN money for traveling and training up front then get reimbursed. I would guess it's common in traveling jobs so you can manage your own funds, but making it common practice for "office" workers seems kind of tacky, especially when the expenses are more than your take home pay.
Better than where I work! Our policy is "no blood on the carpet".
OTOH, your contract allows the beating of customers. They've both got their pros and cons, I guess.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
good point... this is where the interviewer giveth and the HR department taketh away.
But it's "standard" paperwork, and "company rules" so the HR person HAS TO make you follow them even if it's not what you were told. Classic bait and switch.
Are they the kind of shop that ponies up for Resharper licenses, or do they save hundreds of dollars avoiding that only to burn thousands in developer hours using VS's poor built-in re-factoring tools? If they're using subversion, do they pay for integration tools like Visual SVN? Do they primarily do unit testing via MSTest, NUnit, TestDriven.Net? Do they purchase and use third party controls, or would they rather roll their own? MSBuild or NAnt? NHibernate or Ibatis or Entity Framework or ADO.net?
"C# Development" is not the monolithic thing you're making it out to be. There are many important tooling questions that "it's C# we uses Visual Studio lawls" doesn't even begin to address.
But realize your questions are not the tools in specific, but really "are these guys gonna whine when I want a $50 utility?". Asking about third party controls is a good question. Another one might be "what kinds of things do you have a site license for"--maybe they have a site license for Photoshop or something?
Actually, I'm becoming pretty convinced that the kinds of questions you and some others on this thread suggest are pretty good ones. You just have to phrase them in a way that doesn't make it look like you are gonna be a pain in the ass--but that is just knowing how to phrase the question in a politically safe way.
What do you ask every new (prospective) employer?
First of all, like any good applicant, you should tailor your questions to the information that was unavailable through the company's website, application posting or from the interview itself. Those questions should be based on things that matter to you and have, through your DIRECT experience, been lacking or of high quality in other jobs you have worked. Having a canned set of questions is like having a canned cover letter. They can be spotted immediately and do not reflect well upon the applicant. It shows they haven't done their homework or are just not paying attention. If you want this job and want to work for this company you had better show it in the interview by being focused, not only on the company, its products and services, its people, its benefits, etc., but on the job function you will perform and the personalities of the people in the room.
When you're sitting in the interview room after they've finished grilling you, there's usually an opportunity to reciprocate. There will be some niche questions for specializations (sys admin, programming, PM, QA, etc.), but there are some generic ones that come to mind, such as: what is the (official) dress code?
If you feel like you're being "grilled" then the situation is all kinds of wrong. Either the people interviewing you are not people you'll want to work for, or you are not the right fit for the job. In one of those cases the best thing to do is to excuse yourself from the interview. Don't let it drag out. It's uncomfortable for you and the interviewers. Be the bigger person and admit that this isn't going to work out and thank them for their time.
An interview is not a court proceeding where the plaintiff and the defense get their turn in subsequent order. It should be a dialogue, not an inquisition. You should be asking relevant questions as they come up in your mind, or as the interviewers prompt you with their questions or hypothetical situations. You should not be a passive lump that only responds to stimuli. That is also an indicator of a poor candidate. Will there be tough questions in any job interview? Absolutely, but those questions are usually designed to gauge your response and how you handle yourself more than they are for the actual answer. If the folks on the other side of the table didn't think you had some idea of what the answer was to their toughest of questions, you wouldn't be interviewing.
Finally, if you're worried about dress code then you're definitely in the wrong place and have not done your homework. That question should be asked BEFORE the interview, i.e., "Do I need to wear a suit to the interview?" If you have to dress like you're going before the Supreme Court for the interview then that's usually what the expected attire will be for daily operations. If the dress code isn't "business casual", or you are unclear what that means, then you are applying for the wrong job. In the modern business era, it is highly irregular for employees below the Director or Senior Manager level to be required to wear formal clothing during daily operations. There are exceptions to that rule, but that will come out when you do a little observation and digging of your own. For instance, Enterprise Rental Cars requires all their customer-facing employees to wear formal business attire (coat and tie). You can see that by just visiting any location. Financial companies are very similar. There are no real surprises there unless you're not paying attention.
Tom lost his job
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/4/Office-Space-I-have-people-skills-488721.html
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I am reading through these responses and some have good generic questions in them, but a lot of them are questions you should be asking HR BEFORE you interview, i.e., how many people with children work for the company? Your interview team is not going to know that number. HR will.
There were also a lot of common sense, "Duh!", questions in there, i.e., what sysadmins tools do you use?, what code versioning system do you use? If you don't know the specific questions to ask about the discipline or job environment you're applying for then you're in trouble. Maybe that just seems obvious to me?
Finally, "Where's lunch?" is not a question I want to hear come out of a candidate's mouth, unless the interview has gone really well and it's lunch time. That's a "their time" question and is not relevant. A more generic question about benefits and the work environment would be prudent, i.e. "What facilities are available for employees' health and wellness?" That question will cover cafeterias, gyms, day care, etc. and won't make the interviewer think you're only applying for the job because there's a restaurant you like around the corner, or will be hanging out in the cafeteria all day instead of doing work. Of course, this might also be a pre-interview HR question.
They ask this question to gauge your true interest in the job and company. The depth of your questions tells them how much you have thought about that role. Interested people do better long term because they are there for more than money. Also, there is a bit of ego involved and interviewers who like their organization want to hire people who feel the same way. It's a good sign when they ask you this, despite the stress you might feel. It can mean that they try hard to find the best people, not just fill seats. It also means the existing employees might have been through more scrutiny and could be better to work with because they like their jobs.
"Can you hammer a six-inch spike through a board with your penis?"
Emplyees have got to have their standards.
disagree. better to overdress than to underdress. err on the side of caution. conservative rather than flamboyant etc. unless it is a sales job in which case flashier clothes might be a plus.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I always ask two questions. If the position is an already established position I will ask why it is vacant and why the previous employee left. You can learn a lot about the company you are going to work for based on the way that they answer that question. I also ask how senior management views IT's role in the organization. Specifically, are they simply a cost to be controlled, or does senior management view IT as a fundamental part of their business and are they willing to fund it accordingly? That question will let you know if you're going to be relegated to the wings of the organization and marginalized, or if you are going to have a seat at the table with everyone else when it comes time to make business decisions.
How many meetings do you have?
This always gets a laugh, valuable when potential engineering hires usually seem quite dry. Meetings usually waste time, and their answer will give you a better idea of how much real work you can actually achieve.
What's your relationship with academia?
This question is good if you're interested in more researchy-work, or have grad school on the horizon (or in your past). Companies that associate with universities tend to do more serious research. If you plan to attend grad school, working for a company connected with academia will get you a letter of recommendation appearing much stronger to the professors who handle PhD admissions.
Is there a dresscode?
You'll probably know the answer to this beforehand, but some companies aren't so clear. The aeronautical engineering field is generally business-casual, but I've interviewed at two aero companies where anything goes. For some people, this can be a significant workplace comfort issue and indicative of overall work environment.
How selective are you with tuition reimbursement?
Most engineering companies will compensate you for taking courses at a nearby university (or online). Some companies only pay for courses related to your work, others will let you take courses in anything. It can be a nice perk to finally take that astronomy or life drawing course you couldn't squeeze in during undergrad.
You're already on the right track asking about their version control and QA, so generalize the questions a little and find out how they feel about quality. Most companies just want to ship product, that is, "quality may be king, but schedule is god". Run away from those companies because they won't survive long enough to make your stock options worth anything, and you'll spend your time cleaning up other people's messes.
Ask them if they do agile-like things such as do they expect you to write unit tests. Ask if the developers write functional tests for each other (not pair programming -- I don't want you crowding me in my cubicle unless you're cute).
Ask how much time they spend on bug fixing. General rule of thumb is that if they're spending more than 50% of the time on bug fixing, the organization is going to crater within two years. Ask if they have a separate support organization that does bug fixing, which is a company's favorite way of hiding the true cost of their bugs.
It doesn't make any sense and if you note some of the other posts here, if a company asks those types of questions upfront, you probably don't want to work there. IOW, just as if you ask, if they ask it is a bad sign.
Fundamentally anyone can ask you any question about any subject at any time. It's up to you to say "No, I won't answer that question" even(especially) in an interview. If they press on, your response, assuming that you still really do want to work there, should be something along the lines of "Are you making an offer? Are you offering carte blanche?"
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
For +$15K I would have asked if they allowed taking additional unpaid time off, not to exceed 2 additional weeks total over any 12 month period? A little imagination here might have resulted in a better deal for you overall.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
If you expect to be in and gone in one year, ask for salary on the high end of the scale. If not, try to pick a range that won't see you the first to go at the first round of layoffs.
Remember, some positions are hired on pure speculation - the BDM is "90% sure we're going to get this contract so we have to ramp up". This sort of position is a wee bit volatile, and far too common for comfort. You'll need a bit extra at the end to finance the next job hunt, so don't live too high in the meantime.
Other questions: "What happened to my predecessor?" - If you have no "predecessor" then the job is a new opening. Follow that bit of data with "How is the job funded?" These are the sort of questions that can be hugely useful, as well as make a decent impression. If you don't like the answers, back out with a smile - if the job isn't backed with a good business case, it's waste of everybody's time to proceed further.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Let me respond to the sample questions you re-posted:
"What about my resume caught your eye?
This is a good question to ask. It shows the interviewer that you are interested in the position, and want to know how your resume stacks up against others. But be careful asking a question like this - don't be too direct, or it will seem to your potential employer that you are "fishing" for positive feedback.
What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)?
An immediate red flag if you asked this of a manager. Tools are tools, to a manager.
While I'm an open source software advocate, even at work, asking a question like this can be very dangerous. Most hiring managers will wonder what kind of "zealous outrage" will follow if you're asked to run a Mac, and you're a Windows person. Or if you're asked to use CVS for version control, and you prefer SVN. (I've had to deal with these kinds of issues with staff previously, and it's not pleasant when you just need the work to get done, and have you do that work as part of a team.) If you don't have some kind of "religious" feeling towards one OS or one platform/tool, then don't ask this.
Be careful asking this to a fellow engineer, if you do a 1-on-1 interview. It's more appropriate to ask of someone on your level, because you really are asking about the toolset, but just be careful how you phrase it (i.e. tone.)
Are there team lunches or get-togethers?
Not sure what this question is about. Are you looking for me to pay for your lunch once a week? Are you kidding me? (That's what a hiring manager will think/say if you ask this question.)
What are your goals for the next six months, one year, three years?
This is a very good question, because it shows you are interested not just in what the job is about, but what you need to get done. I would see this as a very positive sign.
What ticket/issue tracking system do you use? Do you have separate build/stage/QA/etc. environments? How do you keep track of documentation?
Again, if you ask this of a hiring manager - red flag! I'd start to wonder if you have a particular point of view you are going to try to "sell" me. For a mid-size to large company, the hiring manager may even be insulted that you question if they even have these things. Interestingly, a small company might be flattered you asked, and may be happy to describe it in detail. Generally, I'd steer clear of this question on a first interview.
But as above, you can ask these to someone on your level, if they do a one-on-one interview with you (like, a follow-up interview.) Just be careful how you ask it.
What are your full names (so I can Google them)?
I'd immediately put a "no" next to your name if you asked me this. My full name? What does this guy plan to do? Who does he think he is?
Rather, just make sure you got their names down correctly as they introduced themselves (maybe they even gave you a card) and remember to Google them later. But really, what do you think you'll find on Google? Unless the person's name is "Annaleigh Skymaker" or "Tyler Harkskiind" you aren't likely to come up with any useful hits. "Bob Baker" or "John Johnson" or "Kristin Jones" are pretty low-contrast names that will have lots of hits on Google, but have nothing to do with that person.
What are the typical hours of the team members?
Could be a good question, if you use the suggested phrasing. You're basically asking what are the work hours of the employees, and the answer will tell you how hard the company will push you. Just be careful about a lie for an answer. When I moved to my current employer, I asked a similar question. The Director (no longer here) gave me a total lie: "8:00 to 4:00". Yeah, right. Some people in the office
Hey, we have the same expense app!
I can only speak for myself, but I recall a friend of mine fresh out of college wore a business suit to a developer interview, and basically got laughed at. Not in a mean way, granted, but still. Honestly, from my point of view, if "not wearing a suit" is going to be counted as a black mark against me then that's probably not a job I want to begin with. My typical "outfit" is khaki pants and a collared long-sleeve dress shirt. No tie. Casual-ish brown leather shoes.
Many years ago, when I was using a recruiter, I once spent nearly a full day interviewing over two days only to find out at the end that their max salary was about 70% of my minimum. Because the recruiter screwed up, and didn't figure that out at the outset, I ended up wasting a hell of a lot my own time, as did the company I was interviewing at.
The cake is a pie
If they respond to #1 with a blank stare or "huh?" I'd advise running for the door. If they are not using any kind of revision control software, and don't know what it is, the place is very poorly managed and will cause you some serious nightmares. All of the places where I've worked, which didn't use revision control, went out of business within a couple years.
Personally, I prefer Subversion, and I converted my prior employer to using it. They didn't understand why I wanted to use it, but they weren't averse to trying something new. After it saved our butts a couple times, they understood perfectly well why I wanted to use it and continue to use it after I left.
The job before that, I used StarTeam. Borland bought StarBase (the maker of StarTeam) while I was with that employer.
My current employer uses CVS. It has its warts, but it works.
For question #2, my current employer uses Bugzilla. It works reasonably well. My prior employer didn't have a bug-tracking system. The second or third web app they had me write was a bug-tracking system, not oriented toward software development but toward the larger company (hospitality). We ended up using a wiki for bug-tracking. StarTeam had a "Change Control" system built into it, so that employer had excellent bug-tracking software.
I've had only one employer who knew what CMMI was (question #3). They could've passed a level 3 certification if necessary. If you're going to develop for the DoD, you used to need a level 4 cert; not sure if that's the case any more.
For those who don't know, CMMI is merely a methodology for ensuring that:
It can be tedious, consistent, or both. The better places are the latter, not so much the former.
In short, they should have good, solid answers for #1 and #2, while #3 is a nice-to-have.
... by the Dew of Mountains the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning
I had the same experience just a few months ago. As a software engineer, I've found recruiters to be almost completely useless at finding a job. Most of them have zero idea of what kind of work their clients do, don't know the difference between C and C# (a pretty important thing when dealing with low-level embedded software engineers), and worst of all, demand a huge cut of your salary, resulting in low-ball offers from employers. Usually, recruiters seem to work with very small companies who want to pay 60-70% of market rate, and who are apparently too lazy or stupid to simply post an ad on Craigslist or Dice.com. My last two jobs came from those sites, the previous job from the hiring manager looking on Dice.com himself and finding my resume there (this was a company with 20,000 employees). Somehow, these small companies seem to think their time is sooooo valuable, they can't spend 30 minutes looking on Dice.com themselves, and would rather pay some dumbass recruiter $20,000 to find some people for them.
So, in a nutshell, I try to stay away from both recruiters and small companies. Recruiters are just time-wasters, and small companies are cheapskates.
Some brilliant advice here, but an awful lot of it is "I'm interviewing the employer too"
You should always have a certain amount of that attitude to appear confident, but what if you cross the line of arrogance and not appear as attractive to the employer?
That all depends on one thing: your current situation. If you're unemployed, you don't turn your nose up at anything - you get in there, bend over like a good little employee, and get a salary coming in. *Then* and only then do you have bargaining power such as experience and the general attractiveness of not sitting doing nothing, and can afford to say no and stay where you are.
The situation isn't as black&white as 'unemployed' or 'employed' either - you have things like dead end jobs and potential redundancy to consider.
None of it is black and white, so I don't think there are the formulaic answers that some are coming up with.
"Do you run your business like a businessman or do you run it like a human being?"
The correct response will depend on how much of a fucking douchebag you are.
Love this one, and always ask it.
This isn't really a question to ask, but it's something useful to do.
Make sure you get a tour that includes your general working area. Most places should be fine with giving you a tour at some point before you commit, and one that doesn't should turn up some red flags right there. When you're on the tour, see if the other employees (especially your prospective coworkers) are smiling. If they are, it's a good sign that they have decently-balanced workloads, lives, opportunities, etc. If they aren't, be rather leery of the job, as it will likely turn you into a grump. Something is probably distinctly dysfunctional, and it may not be anything that you can find out by asking questions of the interviewers.
It seems so simple (and rather simplistic), but choosing jobs with happy coworkers, management, and other contacts really does make for a happier job and life.
A bit old, but a book called "How You Really Get Hired" has a great section about how to handle the 'do you have any questions' part of the interview(s). The basic idea is to use the time to show them you're interested, that you've done your homework about the company, and how to use the time as an opportunity to sell yourself or address perceived weaknesses.
-- All that's left of me, is slight insanity, whats on the right, I don't know. -- Bob Mould
I don't like companies that want you to use your OWN money for traveling and training up front then get reimbursed.
In 25 years and seven companies, I've never seen it any other way, for travel expenses at least. This is standard procedure for sales and consulting jobs.
I was taught to respect my elders. The trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find some.
Actually, that's not true. If you get the hiring manager to put it in writing in your offer letter, you can tell HR to go screw. It's a contract. I have done this several times. It's best to do it with things like getting your cell phone and network connection paid for, as opposed to challenging major policies like sick leave.
I was taught to respect my elders. The trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find some.
Here is the question list I have built up over the years:
Function
What is the responsibility of the function? Why is this position available? New function or replacement? How long has this position existed? Previous person? How many people have held this position in the last two years?
Who would be my supervisor? To whom would I report? Whom will I supervise? With whom will I be working most closely? Organigram?
What are the current problems facing the company/my department?
What are the top 3 priorities in the next 6 months and what would my role be in realizing this? And the top priorities in the next 2 years?
What hours do you (really) expect me to work.
What are the most challenging aspects of the position?
Describe the opportunities for training and professional development. Will I receive any formal training?
Organisation
What is the philosophy of the company? What is the mission statement?
What do you consider to be the companies strengths and weaknesses?
What are the companyâ(TM)s short terms and mid terms (2 yr, 5 yr) plans and goals? Acquisition plans?
What is the history of the company? How has the growth been, organically, by acquisitions?
What is this company's culture?
Office tour, check out the infrastructure, the people?
Financials
Yearly, Quarterly budget to make, history of budget â" always made?
How is the business running, how are the financials, how is the current funding, how is the company run financially?
What are the current plans for expansion or cutbacks?
Extra benefits need to be explained adequately?
Product
Explain product portfolio? History of the products, what are strong products, what are weak products? Plans for new products, new versions â" when, what, targeting who, which market?
What are the target groups, target clients (sample names)? Sales cycle time? Implementation time?
The Joel Test
Do you use source control?
Can you make a build in one step?
Do you make daily builds?
Do you have a bug database?
Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
Do you have a spec?
Do programmers have quiet working conditions? ïfY Office tour
Do you use the best tools money can buy?
Do you have testers?
no employer on earth will offer you more than you asked for.
Actually, the last two jobs I've been offered more than I asked. For the record, I'm a LAMP (Perl) developer - although in this case the M is an O, and sometimes the A has morphed into Cron or Postfix.
First one I had been without a job for 1 1/4 years, and just wanted to work. I gave a low figure, and was offered 25% more than that. Second job was not quite as bad, but I optimistically asked for a 10% rise as a result of moving - and got 10% *on top of what I asked for*
Seriously, if you're being hired via a recruiter, ask their advice, before the interview stages . Because they're getting paid a cut of your salary, they'll generally recommend something that's feasible, while being as large as the feel you can get away with.
A good recruiter is your friend. Bad recruiters a: should be shot, and b: are everywhere.
... and today's pet project has
I'd generally agree with this, but my standard response is more like, "of course my salary is very important to me, but more important is the total compensation package. I'd like to make the salary discussion part of our discussion about overall compensation."
Then ask some questions about compensation and try to fit in a question about their expectations of salary. That way you can sidestep the direct salary question and can also maybe get them to answer the question first, which will put you at more of an advantage.
The other danger about mentioning your salary range first, is that if you say $80-100k depending on benefits, then they describe their benefits package and you don't like it, you have to basically say "your benefits package sucks so I want $98k per year" which unless you are more diplomatic than I am might come across as being insulting.
www.clarke.ca
I sometimes ask about dress code before I even show up at the office. At times I've asked the HR person what the office environment is like, whether I should be wearing a suit and tie, or business casual. The answer is pretty much always "business casual", and I've never had a negative response from asking this question. I guess I also gauge whether or not I ask the question.
This is generally for consulting positions too, so pretty much always at this point I have the job and I'm just trying to make a good impression and fit into their environment.
www.clarke.ca
I've found this question will give you a lot of interesting insight into a company and the motivations of their employees. You can tell right away if they are blowing smoke up your ask or actually like working there.
RTFG - Read The F#$%ing Google!
or just as conversation. Like real-life Jeopardy, questions can reveal more about a person's intellect than answers. I've been able to learn more about companies through polite, off-topic conversation than through on-topic conversation or research. Questions and lively conversation also show the interviewer a lot about your communication skills and style. If you listen intently, without interrupting, and speak in grammatically correct speech, you are probably much more likely to pay attention to details on the job.
If you are making conversation, realize that people tend to look to the upper-right. Look to the (lower) left of the person to whom you are conversing when you are looking for something about which to make conversation. If people tend to look to the upper right, looking the other way for things about which to converse (something on the interviewer's desk or wall, for instance) could come across as attention to detail because fewer people are likely to notice those things.
Let the interviewer speak at length without any interruption. One recruiter I spoke with actually told me that he likes to ramble in an attempt to get candidates to interrupt him. The fact that I didn't do so, but rather let him speak for a long time was (in his words) 'very impressive'. Listening intently at length also gives the speaker a chance to betray his emotional attachment to his subject. If the technical interviewer spends 3 or 4 minutes speaking about what he does and he never once shows any sense of excitement, that's probably a clue about the environment.
it wouldn't hurt if you had your resume printed on human skin.
Klaatu Verata Nicto!
Turn it around and become a consultant. Ask "What gets in the way of doing your work more than anything else?" "What drives you crazy?" "What do you need help with the most?" Then show how you're the ideal one to fix things.
I believe that every worker in the IT industry is looking for that big idea company that goes huge overnight, something like Oracle comes to mind. 8-) Personally I've made enough companies rich off of software that I've designed and written, but while their rich (or were for a moment until they went bankrupt), it didn't really effect things for me - other than being worshiped for the god that I am. LOL I also can't count how many companies I've worked for and just about killed myself with overtime hours. Every company when they finally decide they want something, need it yesterday and it's priority 1... until later that day and next item becomes wanted.
This being said, one of the first questions I ask is do they have profit sharing or stock options, and is that on the table as a negotiating item. Also as a company, what are their immediate needs and goals, as well as their long term projected goal. If they answer anything other than "Complete and utter world domination", then don't expect to ever get a pay increase. If they don't offer any vested interest in the company, and they are presenting a salary position, I'd be clear on what is expected of you and how overtime hours (which will be guaranteed more than less) are compensated. Also doesn't hurt to ask them what their policy is on concealed weapons and gun carry to the office. LOL
This method's fine if dilution works, but specific gravity still fucks you I think.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
10) Don't learn how to appear professional from someone who spells 'you' as 'u'.
Mod parent up!
need to start charging them interest and fees then for borrowing "my" money...ain't free after all.
Just like most people and companies.
I don't see any reason to hide it.
That said I will usually wait to directly ask the tough questions.
I've already observed the place, people etc and have a good idea of the answers before asking the question. (e.g. I know a burnt out death marcher when I see one.)
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Good luck with that. Most people figure out how to work the float (and miles, and usage perks) in their own favor. Look at it as a stupid tax if it works against you.
I was taught to respect my elders. The trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find some.
For travel expenses ... well I'll admit to buying a bus ticket when I'm going to the office or to visit a client and then claiming it back, and taxis to and from the airport. But anything more substantial, i.e. flights ... well I'd have to find out where and how to buy a flight. I gather it's not as simple as waling up to the airport (or taking the bus) and buying a ticket, because there's the difficulty of finding out how to get to wherever it is I've got to get, who does flights there etc. All of which is what we've got secretaries for.
I had to buy flights for a holiday this year. It took weeks to find out what we needed to know, and a thoroughly discouraging experience it was too. Definitely what secretaries are for.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
I would suppose that's why companies have you pay, then you try to get the best deal possible with your money, and executives like it because they paid up front they get to keep the perks for vacation.