What kinds of questions would you ask coworkers before you begin working with them and accepting a role?
Disclaimer: my role will be in info sec.
Thanks
Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
1–10 of 76 posts
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#2"How much overtime have you worked in the past year?"
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#3“How does the company reward tenure?”
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#4"What would you change right now in this team/company if you could?"
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#5"How would you describe the code quality of the project you work on?"
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#6What's the on-call system/expectations. What's the overtime pay/expectation. What's the career progression system. How many meetings a week do you have. Who controls requirements / work organisation. Remote work possibilities.
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#7When is the last time you took vacation?
Do you have any vacations planned for this year or next?
This should give you some insight into how taking time off is viewed. You didn't say in your original question, however, if this would be a new company or an existing one where you're just switching roles.
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#81. "What is your biggest gripe with the company?" -- For me, at my current company, this would be exaggerated over-rigidness and glacially slow moving processes (because of checks and emails and re-checks and approvals and and and) when a fast answer/development is required.
2. "How many levels are there in the management hierarchy?" (deep vs flat) -- I tend to prefer flatter hierarchies, which plays into 3:
3. "How much personal freedom do you get?" -- Having more freedom means being more responsible for your work, but also enables you to produce better, faster, more creative stuff. The flatter the company management structure, the better (usually).
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#91. Who is the most difficult person here to work with, and why? (Who should I watch out for - do they have a bad temper or goto management every disagreement?)
2. What's the biggest technical thorn in the company's side? (This is almost always something basic - like convincing management to buy more storage, or getting everyone to migrate to the newest version of something, or an underperforming vendor with a long contract.)
Both of these tell you about the company, and also about the person's perspective from their role and expected duration.
Re: Ask HN: Types of questions to ask team members before accepting role?
#10"You've been here for a while, what keeps you here?"