Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@handrus
Last active February 14, 2022 05:30
Show Gist options
  • Save handrus/3f8e665a04567cc410c8b9ed2d23ca95 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save handrus/3f8e665a04567cc410c8b9ed2d23ca95 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Questions to ask at interviews

https://daveceddia.com/interview-questions-to-ask-company/?utm_source=hackernewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=working

  • How big is the company?
  • Why did you choose to work here?
  • Do you enjoy this particular project?
  • Is there flexibility within the org to move around to different projects?
  • What's a typical day like?
  • Software dev process? (agile/tdd/pairing?)
  • Bug tracking system?
  • Version control system?
  • Dev. desktop vs server OS? Developer machine hardware?
  • Is the product live in production? If not, what's the schedule for developing it?
  • How often are releases done?
  • Who supports the product once it's released? Pager duty? Monitoring email?
  • Where do feature + bugfix requests come from?
  • Who does the "design" of the product? Internal designers, devs, both?
  • Would my work be full-stack, or focused on backend/frontend?
  • How big is the code base? Lots of ties to external/legacy projects?
  • Typical working hours? Flexibility? Crunch times?
  • Working from home? Regularly vs. Snow days?
  • Do you have a favorite part of the job? Least favorite?
  • Do you have a time tracking system?
  • Centralized IT dept?
  • Gov’t contractor? Clearance required? Potential for clearance?
  • Regulatory compliance? PCI, SOX, etc. Annual training?
  • Do people hang out outside work? Company outings? Lunch?
  • Budget for conferences?
  • Internal lightning talks/brown bag lunches?
  • Dress code?
  • Does the company seem stable? Profitable? Any plans to sell?
  • Bonus structure?
  • Management style/structure? Frequent catch-ups aka one-on-ones? Something else?
  • Room for advancement?
  • Learning opportunities?

https://gist.github.com/markerikson/bc9e16de24e46712ff80bb658766185a

Questions

Company

  • company location / remote?
  • what project management method?
  • good and bad company culture?
  • performance reviews?
  • what's the path to profitability?

Team

  • work/life balance?
  • meetings? tools?
  • what's the dev environment like? how long does it take to get a dev env set up? how long does it take to get code from editor to production?
  • team code review / source control process? how big are PRs? how long does it take to merge?
  • how do you approach larger technical decisions?
  • what general problems / goals are you working on atm?
  • how much time is given to learning or exploration?
  • what things about your job would you change? what are you biggest likes and annoyances on a daily basis?

Position

  • actual potential position details?
  • amount of coding vs "architecture" work? team lead?
  • compensation / benefits / equipment?
  • next steps?
  • schedule flexibility (9/80? expected hours at all?)

Additional Suggestions

Others

  • byron:
    • What do you do when there’s a deadline but not enough time to finish the work?
  • updog:
    • how seriously is developer productivity taken. things like, does it take an hour of builds for you to get your thing deployed
    • what are on-call expectations if any (do not take the fact that a company doesn't yet have on call as an indication that that will continue)
    • work/life balance like how many months of vacation can i get away with taking
  • raptori:
    • What inspired you to start the company?
    • What's your vision for the future?
    • What are you worried about?
    • What's the hardest decision you've had to make so far?
    • What does culture mean to you? (aim to dig deeper into what kind of company they want to build, etc)
    • plus depending on time and what stage the company is at:
      • How are you planning to scale the business over time? (i.e. team structure, work practices, autonomy etc at a high level)
      • How do you aim to build and develop talent?
      • Why are you hiring for this particular role right now?
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment