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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?

#121

Post by thundergolfer »

balfirevic wrote: post #100
titanomachy wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're serious: get a job at a well-known tech company. You might have to move for this unless you're already in a top-tier tech city (NYC, SF, and Seattle, definitely qualify; maybe Zurich, London, Toronto, and Sydney). Work there for two years. Move to a better tech company. You are now worth $300-400k per year. If you're not already considered top-tier talent, I think Amazon is the easiest way into this right n…

> You are now worth $300-400k per year. Are you sure this number still applies if you're outside of US (London, Toronto, Sydney)? My understanding is that numbers in Europe are nothing like those in the US.

It doesn't apply to Sydney for sure.

I make $50k-100k AUD less in Sydney compared to Bay Area, with all the same HCOL problems.

A very, very good new grad total comp figure in Sydney is say, $150k AUD. That's $106K in USD, which is less than the salary for a new grad at Google or Facebook in the Bay Area. Throw in RSUs, signing bonus, and performance bonuses, and a new grad is making $50-100k AUD more.

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

#122

Post by kelvin0 »

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.

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

#123

Post by chapium »

01100011 wrote: post #120

I'm curious about this, having recently joined a company where I feel completely out of place. I like the work, but I hate the work environment and I'm not really gelling with my coworkers. I'm not sure how you can assess team dynamics before committing to the job. Unless you sign on as a contractor, you're taking a big risk signing up.

i strongly suggest leaving if you can, its not likely that feeling will change

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

#124

Post by cronix »

davidwparker wrote: post #88
itamarst wrote: post #49

You can (sometimes) use GitHub to figure out if the company has bad work/life balance, e.g. if you see lots of employees committing code on the weekend on the same dates: https://codewithoutrules.com/2019/01/31/does-company-have-wo...

I work Tuesday-Saturday, by choice, to align with my wife's schedule. So commits on the weekend may not be a good indicator.

Same boat. I like to take my "weekends" while everybody else is mostly "at work." A lot of things I enjoy doing are very busy on the weekends when a lot of people have the same day(s) off. For instance, going to the beach on a Tuesday is generally a lot better than a Saturday. A lot less traffic to/from, less crowded beaches and restaurants, etc.

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

#125

Post by lynnetye »

rajacombinator wrote: post #119
lynnetye wrote: post #14

If you're a software engineer (or will work closely w/ engineers), I built Key Values ( https://www.keyvalues.com ) to help w/ this. Before building KV though, my research process included looking for and reading: - the company's career and about us pages - an active blog w/ recent posts (w/in the last 2 months) - LinkedIn / Twitter / GitHub of founders and existing team members (I'd also look for any old blogs writt…

This site looks nice but a question and couple suggestions for you. Question: why not include a "high compensation"/"high equity"/"top of market comp"/etc category? Talk about culture and values is nice but as far as I'm concerned the best way for companies to show they care about engineers is to put their money where their mouth is. There's surely a subset of engineers and companies that agree with me on this. It wo…

In reverse order:

2. Yup! Companies are limited to choosing 8 values. They're also forced to rank them in order of importance. As you can see, not all companies select Impressive Team Members.

1. Pretty much every other job board / recruiting tool out there filters on compensation. If you're optimizing for comp, you have plenty of places to go! However, there's no place to discover companies that share your values. There's no place to learn about the team or what your day-to-day might look like before jumping through all of the other hoops (cover letters, apps, take-home tests, whiteboarding questions...). Not until Key Values that is. This is the space I'm working to fill.

Additionally, I'd argue that constraining your job search based on comp is a mistake. After some level of $$$, an additional $10k-$20k/year means a lot less than everything else. Value alignment (aka your happiness) is worth so much more.

As a not-so-extreme example: you couldn't pay me a $300k/year to work w/ people I hated.

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

#126

Post by wpmoradi »

lynnetye wrote: post #14

If you're a software engineer (or will work closely w/ engineers), I built Key Values ( https://www.keyvalues.com ) to help w/ this. Before building KV though, my research process included looking for and reading: - the company's career and about us pages - an active blog w/ recent posts (w/in the last 2 months) - LinkedIn / Twitter / GitHub of founders and existing team members (I'd also look for any old blogs writt…

Thanks for building this! I will definitely use your site when scouting for my next role.

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

#127

Post by 01100011 »

chapium wrote: post #123
01100011 wrote: post #120

I'm curious about this, having recently joined a company where I feel completely out of place. I like the work, but I hate the work environment and I'm not really gelling with my coworkers. I'm not sure how you can assess team dynamics before committing to the job. Unless you sign on as a contractor, you're taking a big risk signing up.

i strongly suggest leaving if you can, its not likely that feeling will change

Yeah, I'm guessing I will underperform until I get fired anyway. I was hoping it would work out, since the company is so large and stable that it could have been my final job over the last 20 years of my career. I have a non-verbal offer from another company who would pay me close to the same, with the option of moving to Austin. I'm just not sure the company(a well known manufacturer of set-top boxes and TV middleware) will be around for the long haul. I met their team though and really felt at home.

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

#128

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

Every job I’ve had in the past 15 years has had exactly the same office workspace:

- horrid open plan layout with no quiet or privacy.

- comically stupid budget wasted on boutique cafeteria and presentation spaces, catered lunches, coffee, snacks.

- corporate slogans and motivational gimmicks painted on the walls.

Why do you need to research office space for a new job? It’s always exactly the same.

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

#129

Post by coffeemug »

One piece of advice I heard recently that in hindsight is extremely important -- look around the company and see if there are people who look like you in positions similar to the one you're expecting to get. If there aren't, you're probably not getting the position you think you're getting.
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