[HN Gopher] Interview questions to ask your interviewer ___________________________________________________________________ Interview questions to ask your interviewer Author : skellertor Score : 107 points Date : 2022-02-09 20:49 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (daveceddia.com) (TXT) w3m dump (daveceddia.com) | buscoquadnary wrote: | A good couple of questions I've found that are very indicative of | how things work is | | 1. How does budgeting work with your group? Who controls the | budget they get? | | 2. How are priorities set on the team? | | 3. Who is the customer of your team, not your company but your | team specifically is it sales, ops, finance, etc? | | It comes from the idea that if you can discover the incentives | you'll be able to deduce a lot more about the position. | toss1 wrote: | I recently saw a great question that is generally applicable to | all types of job: | | "When you think about the person in this role doing really | outstanding work in the future, say, one and five years from now, | what does that look like to you?" | bryanrasmussen wrote: | Out of the classical screwed up interview questions that people | ask I think "where do you see yourself in 5 years" would be a | pretty good one to hear the real answer to from your interviewer. | kerneloftruth wrote: | That's a good question to look for, as it indicates a really | stupid and unimaginative interviewer. One should regard it as a | possible symptom of a dull management staff. It's also a good | one to turn around on the interviewer: "What have you been able | to achieve here in the past 5 years?" | daniel_iversen wrote: | Important is to curate your own list based on the company and | role. In the posted article there wasn't many cultural questions | and I'd certainly add those (why do people typically enjoy | working here? examples of tough situations the team or company | has been through? What are the company values (does the | interviewer even know?) and how are they important or not day to | day, etc...) also probe on your managers management style (or you | might end up hating the job) as well as ask to speak with future | colleagues (in everyone's interest). Be prepared to be quizzed on | why you're asking your questions (after all there has to be | thought behind it). And for interviewers - many time the free | dialog and understanding what's top of mind for your candidate is | as important than the scripted questions. In fact I start off | interviews saying we both need to get to know eachother in this | session, and if there are any burning questions or things they'd | like to know already? (that way I can see how much they've | thought about the role and what's in their mind before they've | had a chance to analyse the company or myself too much and maybe | get a better picture of the candidate).. oh and my favorite | question to the interviewer (even if it's me) is "If you had a | magic wand and could improve one thing about the company what | would it be?" - hard not to get some interesting insight into the | company with that one. | pmulard wrote: | I've been keeping a list of interview questions in my personal | docs, but just uploaded them to a repo once I saw this post. | | Feel free to check them out. They also include questions to ask | the recruiter. I hope they can be of use. | | https://github.com/pmulard/interview_questions | c7DJTLrn wrote: | I did some interviewing recently and took a bit of a different | approach. I remember reading somewhere about the idea of taking | interviews as a casual conversation to establish wants/needs | instead of taking turns to interrogate. I just spoke with the | people interviewing me like colleagues, talked about technology | frankly, asked questions when they popped into my head, and it | turned out pretty well. It wasn't calculated but rather the | opposite - I just behaved like my normal self and ended up with | an offer. | insickness wrote: | Don't wait until the end to ask questions, ask them throughout | the interview. When the interviewer asks, are you familiar with | X, respond and then ask if that's something you'll be using on | the job. If you're familiar with X, ask more about their | implementation of X. By asking questions, it seems like you've | got a lot of options and are looking for work that interests you, | not just trying to qualify yourself to the interviewer. | | It also makes them feel like they are already working with you | because that's what a good employee does when a manager gives him | work: he asks questions about it throughout the process. He | doesn't wait until the end when the manager says, do you have any | questions? | emaginniss wrote: | On a scale of "Bob Saget on Full House" to "Bob Saget not on Full | House" what level of jokes can I get away with? | jaaron wrote: | Great list of information anyone should know before accepting an | offer. | | As a hiring manager, I'm usually one of the first people new | candidates speak with (perhaps right after briefly talking to a | recruiter). Generally, I want to make sure candidates have all | this information within the first interview or two. These days, I | tend to open my interview with an opportunity for the candidate | to ask any questions about the role and company that weren't | answered by the recruiter. | | I also try to leave time at the end, but I find that there's | often so little time at the end, that it's better to start with | any questions. | msisk6 wrote: | Same here. Nowadays I usually do "reverse interviews" and have | the candidate grill me and ask me questions. After all, there's | a ton of tech jobs and the power is in the hands of the | candidate; their questions should come first. | | Some folks are surprised by this and I often have to help them | along, but that's cool -- it is a bit different. | errcorrectcode wrote: | How's the food? | | What do you do for fun after work? | yanowitz wrote: | I've found this repo https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview- | questions to be useful as well. | stephendause wrote: | Cool! I've also used these: | | https://github.com/lkostrowski/job-interview-questions-to-as... | https://github.com/viraptor/reverse-interview | autarch wrote: | I've been maintaining my own list of questions for quite a few | years. I added some based on this post and the discussion here on | HN. | | Here's the full list - | https://gist.github.com/autarch/6e7e25e85db62a359f91aa090033... | | There's a few that are very specific to my future travel plans | and my height, but the vast majority are potentially useful for | everyone. | | Note that my goal is to _get answers to these questions during | the interview process_. I do not expect to sit there and ask _all | of them_ in a single interview. In my experience, quite a bit of | this comes about naturally. For example, I'll often find out | about their dev process, tech stack, tools, and so on from the | technical questions they ask me, and the conversations those | questions lead to. | | But my goal would be to have satisfying answers to all of these | by the time I'm making my decisions about whether to accept an | offer. | jll29 wrote: | Two questions to ask your interviewer: | | 1. What - from all the things you have accomplished while working | here so far - are you most proud of? | | 2. What did they do for the last social outing? | | (Look for their face reaction as they answer the two questions. | If they look surprised, or don't have a good answer, you may want | to look elsewhere.) | | And, if not already covered in the interview (which they really | should): | | - How technical is the CTO? Can/does s/he program? Ph.D. Degree? | | - Who (name and function) does the group (my boss' boss) report | to? | | - What does the company do for training its people? Is there an | annual budget? | | - What is the attrition rate in the team? | | - What is the career path anticipated for the role under | discussion? | sugaroverflow wrote: | I love these! Adding some follow-up questions: | | To better understand the attrition rate: | | - Who is the team made up of - internal transfers or external | hires? | | - How long have the current team members been on the team? | | - When was the last time someone on the team was promoted? | | Delving into career trajectory and your questions about | training: | | - What does the path look like in 3, 5, 7 years for this role? | | - What leadership opportunities does this role lead to? | | - Will my professional goals be linked to the company's goals? | dizzydiz wrote: | What is the one thing you wish you knew before you joined? | choletentent wrote: | This is GOLD. | comprev wrote: | - Can you give me an example of when a project took a major turn | in another direction, and what was the cause of this change? | - (if applicable) How many heads is this role expected to | support? - What was the team's last achievement recognised | by the whole company? - When was the last time the team | performed a disaster recovery exercise? - Can you explain | the process of "idea to feature retirement" starting with the | request from the product owner? | | I've got hundreds of questions from interviews over the years. | karaterobot wrote: | For this job, I asked all my interviewers (from my immediate | manager to the CEO) what direction the company would be taking in | the next few years: what are they focusing on at a high level, | and what's the roadmap? | | Very informative. A lot of people did not have pat answers, and | had to search their souls a little bit. I got different answers | from everybody, but the same broad themes, and I interpreted that | as meaning everybody was on board for the vision, but that there | wasn't much top-down direction on how to get there. To me that | was a plus, and it turned out to be the case. | | It also gave me an idea of what I'd be hired to work on, and what | I'd be working on after that. I recommend this question! | dec0dedab0de wrote: | I would add | | Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? | | Am I allowed to contribute to open source from work? ie bugfixes | for libraries we use. | | How many meetings are there in an average month? | | Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more | of an email question) | | How strict are the requirements in whatever tracking software we | use (jira,rally, etc) | | How many required programs are there? Outlook? Slack? Teams? | Jira? Timesheets? Confluence? sharepoint? skype? etc | | How locked down are the computers/network? | | Am I able to use whatever development tools I choose without | asking permission? | | Why did the person before me leave? | lmilcin wrote: | > Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? > Does your | insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an | email question) | | Your contract specifies that and other answers to other | questions. Don't ask your interviewer this question, the only | thing he/she can do is rely to HR. Best ask HR directly. | | As a general rule, the only job of interviewer is to decide | whether you are fit for the role. | | I don't have anything against people asking | | > Why did the person before me leave? | | It is unlikely you are ever going to get answer to that and | even if you get it, it will have low value. | | First, there does not necessarily exist a link between your | position and the person before you. If you are a developer then | it is more like a pool with new developers replenishing losses | over time. | | Second, a lot of people do not really know why they leave. | | Third, even if they do know, they do not give truthful answer. | They might be saying something like "I needed a change", or | they might be rationalising it in some way, where in fact they | just got a better offer from FB. | | Fourth, as an interviewer you might not be privvy to that | information officially. | | Fifth, even if, by accident you got to know this information | privately, I still don't feel ok passing private information | especially one that can be basically gossip. | Dayshine wrote: | Unless you're at the strange faang companies which do intake | without finding you a team first: one of your interviewers | should be your like manager, who can get these amendments | made to your contract, and should know the answer. | duped wrote: | > As a general rule, the only job of interviewer is to decide | whether you are fit for the role. | | These days half the job is convincing the candidate to accept | an offer if it comes through. | dec0dedab0de wrote: | If I'm interviewing with a future teammate, then they should | know what the contract is. If the company is so big that they | have bespoke employment contracts, then the first interview | is usually HR. | | As far as the person im replacing, that's more of a poker | move to feel out if there is a toxic boss driving people | away. Perhaps a better way to do that would be to ask about | the turnover rate for the team/department/company? | the-dude wrote: | % Why did the person before me leave? | | They just lied to me. That was a painful year. | denysvitali wrote: | My go-to question is: | | Am I able to use Linux? | | This tells you a lot about the company. I avoided some Windows- | only jobs in the past :) | nemoniac wrote: | Good question! My answer would be, not only will you be able | to use Linux, you will have to use it. What does that tell | you about my company? ;) | lapetitejort wrote: | I like to ask what version of software they're running, and | why. You might catch some change-adverse or bleeding-edge | jockeys that way. | yjftsjthsd-h wrote: | My favorite question as an interviewer is "What's your | favorite OS of all time and why?"; the what is almost | irrelevant and there are no right or wrong answers, but the | whys are always useful/interesting (my favorite is probably | a guy who raved about AIX's apparently amazing backup | functionality). | mrtranscendence wrote: | One of my former coworkers who's an absolutely _huge_ Apple | guy recently left for another job. When I asked him whether | he could use a Mac he told me he didn 't know and hadn't | asked ... he must've really wanted that job. Or really hated | his old one. | | I'd take a job that let me use Linux, but I too am a Mac guy | at heart. I had a short stint on Windows not long ago and | hated it. Where I work now they'll give developers Macs by | default, though getting blanket approval for data scientists | has been an uphill battle, stupidly enough. | blahyawnblah wrote: | Windows with WSL2 is great. Have you tried that? | | VSCode can run from WSL2 and have access to its file system | tragictrash wrote: | Tell me you don't use Linux without telling me you don't | use linux | | Wsl is pretty terrible in my experience. your better off | using a vm you manage yourself. Every vendor has shared | folders. Each one can use a x server to display programs | in your windows window manager. | ygjb wrote: | Oh please. Tell me you are a Linux zealot without telling | me you are a Linux zealot. Its a tool in the toolbox. I | use Linux everyday on servers at work, two desktops at | home, and servers for my partners businesses. | | My main personal notebook is a windows device w/WSL and | my main work notebook is a MacOS device, because at the | end of the day, I need my computer's to just work, | painlessly. | | WSL is great for alot of Linux userspace stuff and is a | fantastic CLI for interacting with and managing remote | servers, alongside the ease of Windows. Of course it's | not as performance, and had some edges, but I happily | accept the trade-offs due to great driver support and the | flexibility to run almost any software on one device. | jaaron wrote: | Really depends on the sort of "windows-only" jobs you're | thinking of. | | My startup is mostly Windows, but that's because we're doing | AAA game development and still have some tooling that is | Windows only at this stage. | | I find that with WSL2, I can do everything I need. A fair bit | of my day is spent in emacs. | yjftsjthsd-h wrote: | This is probably just a personal thing, but that just | defines which areas of our industry I probably don't want | to work in. And WSL isn't helpful, because the goal for me | isn't "run Linux", but "don't run Windows"; WSL won't save | you from MS forcing updates down your throat, changing your | browser to edge, spying on you, and sticking ads all over | the system. | dec0dedab0de wrote: | _Really depends on the sort of "windows-only" jobs you're | thinking of._ | | I was hoping you were going to follow that up by saying | you're working on a robot to clean vertical glass. | tragictrash wrote: | Underrated comment of the century | ipaddr wrote: | I've avoided jobs that are Mac only. Life is too short. | Steltek wrote: | Even if you're allowed to use Linux, you still end up | getting a Mac to support your coworkers. I suppose I can be | grateful that Docker Desktop is slowly fading away. Sadly | Homebrew is too essential to die and the ${g} prefix | remains for random commands. | nlowell wrote: | I like these and find them wise. Here are some additional fun | questions: | | 1. How has the company changed in the past five years? How do you | think it will change in the next five? | | 2. What was the biggest surprise about working here? | | I like these because they force the interviewer to activate their | brain a bit and really highlight differences over time and | differences from expectation. The surprise question especially | helps you figure out unknown-unknowns as a candidate. | elliottcarlson wrote: | A question I like to ask, and have gotten some great answers to, | is: | | > If there was anything you could change about <company>, whether | or not it is in your control, what would it be? | | It has been effective in getting an idea of some of the problems | that might exist organizationally - it might not be the worst | things, but there's always something. | denysvitali wrote: | This is an awesome list! I always recommend every candidate I | have interview with to ask as many questions as possible because | with an interview both parties need to understand whether it | makes sense to enter into an employment agreement or not. | | Thanks to my questions I doged some bullets when I was on the | other end. Trying to understand if the company is a good fit for | you is as important as it is for them to check if you're a good | candidate. | fartcannon wrote: | I had a really cool job opportunity to implement cool technology | in a novel field but I rejected it for two reasons: | | 1) My immediate manager was dressed in incredibly expensive | clothing in the interview, 2) He said we didn't need Linux, we | could afford to use Mac. | | Barf | MattGaiser wrote: | Was the pay terrible too? As a Mac is a lot cheaper than a | developer. | fartcannon wrote: | It was pretty good for the field, which is not software | development. | time_to_smile wrote: | One general rule I've come up with is when your interviewer | mentions values of the company, ask for examples. | | For example, it's common for a senior manager to say something | like: | | "We value input from all of our employees, ideas can come from | anyplace" | | For this just follow up with a sincere: | | "That's something I really value too, can you give me an example | of when someone who was not in a leadership role proposed a | solution that influenced a major decision?" | | I've found this surprisingly effective at finding out which | values are real and which are bullshit. When it's real, you'll | get answers like "certainly, why just last quarter Jen in | customer support noticed..." and when it's BS you can immediately | tell because the interviewer will freeze completely. | acomjean wrote: | Thats a good list. The questions are pretty specific. Interviews | are 2 ways. As an interviewer realize the applicant can reject | the job if they don't feel like its a good fit. | | I've asked a couple questions the past few interviews when | looking for a job: | | - What do like about working here. | | - What could be better, or what are the pain points of working | here. | | They're been pretty honest about those things. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-02-09 23:00 UTC)