92 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
92 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
# Reverse interview
|
|
|
|
This is a list of questions which may be interesting to a tech job applicant.
|
|
The points are not ordered and many may not apply to a given position, or work type.
|
|
It was started as my personal list of questions, which grew over time to include both things I'd like to see more of and red flags which I'd like to avoid.
|
|
I've also noticed how few questions were asked by people I interviewed and I think those were missed opportunities.
|
|
|
|
If you asked something not listed here, send in a PR.
|
|
|
|
## Expected usage
|
|
|
|
- Check which questions are interesting for you specifically
|
|
- Check which answers you can find yourself online
|
|
- Otherwise ask
|
|
|
|
Definitely don't try to ask everything from the list.
|
|
|
|
Remember that things tend to be fluid, re-organizations happens often.
|
|
Having a bug tracking system doesn't make bug handling efficient and CI/CD doesn't mean your time to deliver is necessarily short.
|
|
|
|
# The Role
|
|
|
|
- What's the on-call plan/schedule? (what's the pay for standby and call-out)
|
|
- What are the tasks I would do on a usual day?
|
|
- What's the junior/senior balance of the team? (and are there plans to change it)
|
|
- What does the onboarding look like?
|
|
- How much independent action vs working off a provided list is expected?
|
|
- What are the expected/core work hours?
|
|
|
|
# Tech
|
|
|
|
- What are the usual stacks used at the company?
|
|
- How do you use source control?
|
|
- How do you test code?
|
|
- How do you track bugs?
|
|
- How do you integrate and deploy changes? Is it CI/CD?
|
|
- Is your infrastructure setup under version control / available as code?
|
|
- What's the workflow from the planning to the finished task?
|
|
- How do you prepare for disaster recovery?
|
|
- Is there a standardised development environment? Is it enforced?
|
|
- How quickly can you setup a new local test environment for the product? (minutes / hours / days)
|
|
- How quickly can you respond to security issues in the code or dependencies?
|
|
- Are all developers allowed to have local admin access of their computers?
|
|
|
|
# The Team
|
|
|
|
- How is the work organised?
|
|
- How does the intra/inter-team communication typically work?
|
|
- How are differences of opinions resolved?
|
|
- Who sets the priorities / schedule?
|
|
- What happens after pushback? ("this can't be done in the projected time")
|
|
- What kind of meetings happen every week?
|
|
- What's the product/service schedule? (n-weekly releases / continuous deployment / multiple release streams / ...)
|
|
- What happens after production incidents? Is there a culture of blameless analysis?
|
|
|
|
# The Company
|
|
|
|
- Is there a conference/travel budget and what are the rules to use it?
|
|
- What's the promotion process? How are requirements / expectations communicated?
|
|
- Is there a separate tech and management career path?
|
|
- How much annual / personal / sick / parental / unpaid leave is available?
|
|
- What's the status of / view on diverse hiring?
|
|
- Are there any company-wide resources for learning available, like ebooks subscriptions, or online courses?
|
|
- Is there a budget for getting certifications?
|
|
- What's the maturity stage? (early finding direction / feature work / maintenance / ...)
|
|
- Can I contribute to FOSS projects? Are there any approvals needed?
|
|
|
|
# The Business
|
|
|
|
- Are you profitable?
|
|
- If not, how long is your runway?
|
|
- Where does the funding come from and who influences the high level plan/direction?
|
|
- How do you make money?
|
|
- What's preventing you from making more money?
|
|
|
|
# Remote Work
|
|
|
|
- What's the ratio of remote to office workers?
|
|
- Does the company provide hardware and what's the refresh schedule?
|
|
- Are extra accessories/furniture possible to buy through the company? Is there a budget for them?
|
|
- How often are office visits expected?
|
|
- Are the office meeting rooms always prepared for video conferences?
|
|
|
|
# Office Work
|
|
|
|
- What's the office layout? (open plan / cubicles / offices)
|
|
- Is there a support / marketing / other call-heavy team close to my new team?
|
|
|
|
# Other resources
|
|
|
|
- Find more inspiration for questions in the [Joel Test](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-better-code/)
|