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Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#51
post #19

Making fun of my side project. An interviewer looked at me with this vicious, incredulous look when I described my side project in ~2019, which was a weather network built on the sensors inside phones. Guy said, “a weather app, really?! You think that’s a good use of your time in 2019? What makes you think a weather app is useful to make today?” MFer, it was a good idea in 2011 and it’s a good idea today and it’ll be…

And even if it wasn’t a good idea, the fact that the person couldn’t be respectful when they’re trying to impress you the most is a very bad sign.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#52

Justifying lower pay with "we just want people who truly believe in the mission"

I had a recruiter trying to convince me to take an offer lower than my current salary, telling me it’s not all about the money. I told him I’d do it if he made up the difference by giving me some of his salary. He told me he’s not giving me his salary to which I replied “it’s not all about the money”

Well executed!

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#53

Justifying lower pay with "we just want people who truly believe in the mission"

I had a recruiter trying to convince me to take an offer lower than my current salary, telling me it’s not all about the money. I told him I’d do it if he made up the difference by giving me some of his salary. He told me he’s not giving me his salary to which I replied “it’s not all about the money”

To be fair, sometimes it's not all about money. Better work life balance after making bigger money can be a nice transition as one gets older or starts a family. But yeah, those lower paying jobs have to play some kind of angle other than money. Some are garbage, but some might have perks.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#54
* Open office bonus points for adding "because we like collaboration"

* No remote or hybrid

* Unlimited PTO can potentially be a red flag depending on other aspects

* Dinners at the office

* Business model that is not generating any revenue

* Needing 5 references for a junior position and they had to be people I worked with(my team was 3 devs). So, I listed other people I knew. One of them a VP of a tech company, who worked for large tech companies. They called him and grilled him. He told me he did his best but not to take the job and maybe just come work for him.

* Another time, I was told my code was wrong and wouldn't compile during the interview, I said "I am certain it will", but the dev said unless I change the answer is wrong. I changed it, he was wrong. I got the offer, and did not take the job.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#55

The ones that come to mind: * If they are a small company who outsources any step of their interview process to another company. If you're only interviewing for a couple positions—people you will work with every single day—take the time to do it yourself. * If they are a startup that says they are looking for people who are interested in solving exciting problems . For some people, this is going to be an enticement,…

Outsourcing any part of the interview process for a small company is definitely one for me. Any hire is going to be absolutely critical and you’re going to let someone else make this decision?

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#56
post #9

Not so much about words for me, more about the vibe: Unwillingness to compromise. Unwillingness to evolve. Lack of empathy. Lack of trust. Lack of flexibility. A fetish for telling people what to do.

I don't think I've ever seen a job that doesn't have one or more of these.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#57
post #34
post #15

Pro-tip: Too many interviewers can be threatened by incoming talent being better than them.

That's so sad. I get so excited when I interview candidates that are ahead of me in their knowledge and experience.

Seems like one may be the exception and not the norm.

In too many cases the top candidates are completely omitted from scoring let alone for an interview.

Not everyone has an unbiased process, it's common.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#58
post #19

Making fun of my side project. An interviewer looked at me with this vicious, incredulous look when I described my side project in ~2019, which was a weather network built on the sensors inside phones. Guy said, “a weather app, really?! You think that’s a good use of your time in 2019? What makes you think a weather app is useful to make today?” MFer, it was a good idea in 2011 and it’s a good idea today and it’ll be…

And even if it wasn’t a good idea, the fact that the person couldn’t be respectful when they’re trying to impress you the most is a very bad sign.

And you're not being hired as a product guy. You don't need marketable ideas. They could have dug into the technical architecture of it instead.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#59
Outside of a couple of phrases I consider clear-cut red flags (such as "we're a family here", "we work hard and play hard", etc.), what I'm really looking for is a bit squishier and not tied to particular phrases and such.

Things that I think indicate a poor fit for me include places where it's expected that people work more than 40 hours per week (I have no problem doing that in unusual circumstances, but if it's part of routine practice, that's a problem); where it's expected that you'll take part in extra-curricular activities; where they take agile methodologies too seriously; where there's too much social stratification in the workplace; and such.

Concrete red flags include using leetcode tests, using personality tests, absurd interviewing hoops (too many interview rounds, too many days to complete the interviewing process, etc.).

Not being interviewed by (or at least meeting) the members of the team I'd be working with is a bad sign, as is the interviewer not knowing the position I'm being considered for. The interviewer not answering my questions (or being vague or evasive in their answer).

I pay attention to the other devs I see. If most of them look unhappy or stressed, that's an enormous red flag. If in-person, most of the desks in use being pretty bare (little in the way of knick-knacks, personal photos, funny or interesting things hung on the cube wall, etc.) is bad. A lack of enthusiasm about what the devs are working on is bad.

Immediate showstoppers are having an open office plan or hot-desking.

Having too fancy of an office is a bad sign, but more of a yellow flag than red.

I'm sure that I've omitted a bunch of things here. I don't have a literal list in my mind. What I tend to do complete the interview process and then put it out of my mind until the next day. Then I go through my notes and examine to totality of what I observed, both things that pleased me and things that didn't.

Re: Ask HN: What are your personal red flags when you're interviewing at a company?

#60
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a recruiter trying to convince me to take an offer lower than my current salary, telling me it’s not all about the money. I told him I’d do it if he made up the difference by giving me some of his salary. He told me he’s not giving me his salary to which I replied “it’s not all about the money”

To be fair, sometimes it's not all about money. Better work life balance after making bigger money can be a nice transition as one gets older or starts a family. But yeah, those lower paying jobs have to play some kind of angle other than money. Some are garbage, but some might have perks.

Honestly I just found it irksome that the recruiter was trying to tell me how to prioritize my needs in the job search when it was obvious he was just trying to make a placement.
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