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Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

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Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#141

Post by ianmcgowan »

howard941 wrote: post #59

Next time I will scour online maps to make sure that the engineering spaces aren't within a warehouse no matter how nice they are. The forklift horns honking and beeping drives me to distraction.

Agree on this, not so much for the SV unicorn crowd, but at a couple of interviews I’ve asked to see the actual seat and workstation where I’ll be sitting. I’ve never had honking forklifts, but some office space “corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking, just a moment” type spaces were enough to sour me on the job. It’s mundane maybe, but important to me..

https://youtu.be/4s5yHUpumkY

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#142

Post by walterbell »

motohagiography wrote: post #136
curiousfiddler wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, the points you make are very important. Specifically, on "... executive level bullshit politics related to their short term compensation milestones ...", I would like to add, this one is the hardest to figure out and has a significant impact on your growth not just within the company, but as a person in general. Any more suggestions, on good ways to find out if this is part of the company culture?

Slightly uncomfortable responding to everything in the thread, however, inferring comp milestones is the hardest one. Public companies are easy because it's all public. Interesting documents are SEC 8-K's, which are unscheduled filings about material changes to the business. Ask yourself why a couple of times to get to the reasons behind it. Volatility means uncertainty, and uncertainty often implies a power struggle…

Thank you for invaluable insight in this public forum.

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#143

Post by mpeg »

cimmanom wrote: post #104
goguy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy shit that is depressing - as a senior engineer in the UK working at one of the largest UK tech based companies I struggle to earn even $100k.

It seems like there must be some opening there for companies willing to pay 25% more to poach great talent.

It just doesn't work like that in the UK, even FAANG pay peanuts because they can get away with it.

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#144

Post by craz8 »

motohagiography wrote: post #57

Crunchbase to get current and former founders/execs, last rounds etc. Company website for investor relations page if exists, SEC and regulatory filings to get financials, technology roadmaps, prospectuses, etc. Then avoid pinging anyone on linkedin other than to find who the core informal network that runs the company is. Find out: 1. Revenue and runway before next funding round or profitability. This trumps all in p…

I just looked at the Crunchbase entry for my current company

It’s terrible

Actually, it’s worse than terrible

The revenue is several years old, the technology is wrong, the employees listed is laughable (except the founders)

From the info I do know, I wouldn’t trust the info I don’t know on that site

Since their data is so bad, I’m going to throw out some bad info too: if a company has less that 5,000 people, don’t look at Crunchbase

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#145

Post by simonebrunozzi »

motohagiography wrote: post #57

Crunchbase to get current and former founders/execs, last rounds etc. Company website for investor relations page if exists, SEC and regulatory filings to get financials, technology roadmaps, prospectuses, etc. Then avoid pinging anyone on linkedin other than to find who the core informal network that runs the company is. Find out: 1. Revenue and runway before next funding round or profitability. This trumps all in p…

All this due diligence for a job? Not sure it's the right approach. I would look for other signals, and in general for a good contract and comp package, among other things. What you are proposing is beyond the scope of a normal employee in most cases.

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#146

Post by craz8 »

titanomachy wrote: post #85
fierro wrote: post #53

Most of the other comments here cover the majority of useful tips/techniques. However for me, one thing I really like doing is reaching out to employees who quit/left. Ask them for honest information about why they quit and what the existing problems are.

This is interesting. I would assume that negative feedback from these people is less of a signal than positive feedback. The baseline approval rating from someone who left the company is going to be lower than people working at the company. If an ex-employee is disgruntled or bitter it doesn't tell me that much, unless I hear the same complaint from a lot of people. If someone left because another great opportunity c…

For smaller companies, the fit might not be right for certain people, so moving to a company that allows them a path that works better for them isn’t necessarily bad for the company they left

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#147

Post by fro0116 »

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned AngelList yet. Well, that's not quite true. I saw a few mentions of AngelList itself but nothing about what I feel is their killer feature for job searching: their salaries tool https://angel.co/salaries

Job posts there usually come with a salary range, and salary can be a deal-breaker for a lot of people (most people?), so seeing salary ranges up front for specific companies & positions you're interested in can help avoid a lot of wasted time on both sides due to mismatch in expectations around compensation.

The tool is even more helpful when you're in that initial stage of looking for work but not sure where to apply to yet, because you can filter for jobs that match a certain salary range, within certain locations/industries, level of funding, tech choices, etc.

I also personally really like job searching platforms like Hired.com, Underdog.io, Triplebyte, and AngelList's own A-List that allow you to apply once to their platform and then have companies come to you with offers for interviews, many of which of also require the company to disclose salary range up front so you can decide which offers are worth your time to pursue.

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#148

Post by Gonzih »

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Used to use Glassdoor, but it has become progressively more rude/pay-walled over the years, and they allow more paid employer astroturfing than they used to. I suppose that's just a sign of the times, and I don't necessarily have a grudge against the company for doing so. It does however mean that the site is no longer useful to this end, at least for me. As for directly contacting a company, I tend not to. Sometimes…

I saw some time ago that companies were dropping negative reviews by changing company name on glassdoor

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#149

Post by spacehome »

kelvin0 wrote: post #122
motohagiography wrote: post #57

Crunchbase to get current and former founders/execs, last rounds etc. Company website for investor relations page if exists, SEC and regulatory filings to get financials, technology roadmaps, prospectuses, etc. Then avoid pinging anyone on linkedin other than to find who the core informal network that runs the company is. Find out: 1. Revenue and runway before next funding round or profitability. This trumps all in p…

Is this advice for employees? Or VC's? I've NEVER had to do this for any of the jobs in my 20+ years as a software developer ... but there are some interesting points indeed.

If you are accepting stock options for part of your compensation (and you actually care about what the value of those might be), it's important. Otherwise, no.

Re: Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace before taking a job?

#150

Post by khorpy »

tootie wrote: post #106

When you are interviewing, make sure you go to the bathroom. Bathroom quality is key indicator of how a company values it's employees.

In our local IT community chat, we have a funny tradition of posting bathroom review videos from different IT companies. From what I've seen, turns out that your assumption is totally true.
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