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Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

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Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#31

Post by rudolf0 »

gyardley wrote: post #10

Talk to as many people as you can at the company, especially people who aren't in leadership positions. Ask if you can talk to a couple of the people who'd be reporting to you. A scheduled interview is like talking to a provided reference, while an unscheduled interview is like calling up someone not on the provided reference list - you're more likely to get something interesting from the latter. Whether it's a sched…

I don't think this would work on me if I were being asked questions by a candidate. I would just lie and say everything's fine no matter how much they insist.

Telling some random stranger "I hate this fucking company and wouldn't be surprised if it goes bankrupt within a year" gives me no benefits and puts me at a lot of risk; plus it's just awkward.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#32

Post by jarsin »

gmarx wrote: post #30
jarsin wrote: post #25

"Communication" issues is a catchall b.s. reason rarely used for legitimate reasons. Whenever i hear it my b.s. radar sounds and I instantly suspect the person claiming another has communication problems as trying to undermine them...throw them under the bus etc. The reason being is its an abstract issue that is hard to define or fix. Have them clearly define the "communication" issue that led to the person getting f…

It is often used this way similar to the word "unprofessional". But, in the context of a manager of a muti-continent team could be quite legit and easy to define in more detail

Yes it can be legitimate but it's my belief that true "Communication" issues are not that difficult to address.

Such as, the team is all over the place you need to do daily standups to get everyone on the same page.

Once the actual issue is defined if the person then does not take simple steps to improve "communication" then at that point they are more in the category of insubordinate, incompetent etc.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#33

Post by compiler-guy »

I like to ask things like, "If you could change one thing about the company engineering practices, what would it be?"

The answers can be telling. If they give an answer like, like, "I wish we would adopt $random_programming_language." That, to me, indicates a fairly healthy organization, because this is just one guy's technical preference.

If they give an answer like, "We need need to stop thrashing", that gives a different picture.

If they say, "Nothing at all", you need to run, because they can't think critically about themselves.

If they use pronouns like "them" and "they" instead of "us" and "we", then the interviewer doesn't feel like part of the team.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#34

Post by st3v3r »

Havoc wrote: post #23
dccoolgai wrote: post #16

Some interesting advice I got from another thread a while back: During your interview excuse yourself to the restroom at some point. The general cleanliness there says a lot about how they value employees.

>During your interview excuse yourself to the restroom at some point. And annoy the hell out of the interviewer because you can't time a toilet visit to fall outside of a key event? No thanks

So get there a little early, and ask to use the restroom. Or ask to use it on your way out.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#35

Post by sailfast »

This flips your question on its head a bit, but are you going into this offer excited to try and get the teams to work better together, or because you want a role leading teams that are already working really well?

If you expect to inherit fully functional teams I think you're probably not going to enjoy the gig. If, however, you're excited about the chance to get a group of developers firing on all cylinders again then perhaps this is the right job for you.

If you want to ask a question, I'd ask what challenge they have experienced to date linking these teams together to get them working well. What specific things do they expect you to try and fix and improve, etc. I'd also ask how, as leaders at the company, they stay aware of how things are going, touchpoints, etc.

Key symptom for a lot of issues at a company tends to be a lack of transparency (at least this has been my experience). Asking questions that get to employee engagement, involvement, and feedback processes can be good signals of transparency or potential issues.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#36

Post by DelaneyM »

Worry less about "organizational health" and more about "organizational fit".

"Healthy" can mean different things to different people. Some employees care primarily about work/life balance, and being able to sneak out early on Fridays to hit the slopes. (I'm looking at you, entire state of Colorado.) Others want a high-pressure, high-reward environment, where their colleagues live up to the same high standards they expect of themselves. (cough Amazon cough)

So rather than trying to find a place which is healthy, find somewhere which is healthy for you; with a culture which reflects your values, benefits which support your lifestyle and leaders who help you grow.

No company is a perfect employer and no person a perfect employee, but that doesn't mean there doesn't exist perfect relationships.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#37

Post by JSeymourATL »

gyardley wrote: post #10

Talk to as many people as you can at the company, especially people who aren't in leadership positions. Ask if you can talk to a couple of the people who'd be reporting to you. A scheduled interview is like talking to a provided reference, while an unscheduled interview is like calling up someone not on the provided reference list - you're more likely to get something interesting from the latter. Whether it's a sched…

> Talk to as many people as you can at the company, especially people who aren't in leadership positions.

Solid advice, do try to connect with the junior & overseas staff. Listen to the substance of their answers. Is it an "Us" and "Them" corporate culture?

Areas to explore: Ask, What are things that the group does well and should keep doing? What are some things you'd like to change? What is it you're afraid a new leader might do? Anything else they'd like to discuss?

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#38

Post by veneratio »

cabacon wrote: post #8

My favorite interviewing question as an IC was "Tell me about someone on your team you admire". It let me learn about what people valued based on why people were admired, and gave some depth-of-bench sense whether there were lots of distinct names, or if everyone was in awe of the one good person on the team. If you're looking for cross-team health, maybe you could adapt it to "Tell me about someone on the other team…

This is an awesome question. What sort of responses have you seen from this? Do most folks have a quick answer or do you get some thought? As an interviewer, I'm not sure I would ever expect a question like this.

Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?

#40

Post by eric-hu »

sailfast wrote: post #35

This flips your question on its head a bit, but are you going into this offer excited to try and get the teams to work better together, or because you want a role leading teams that are already working really well? If you expect to inherit fully functional teams I think you're probably not going to enjoy the gig. If, however, you're excited about the chance to get a group of developers firing on all cylinders again t…

Honest question, do you know many people who enjoy jumping into dysfunction and making it better?
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