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Interview questions to ask your interviewer

daveceddia.com

11–20 of 183 posts

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#11
Don't wait until the end to ask questions, ask them throughout the interview. When the interviewer asks, are you familiar with X, respond and then ask if that's something you'll be using on the job. If you're familiar with X, ask more about their implementation of X. By asking questions, it seems like you've got a lot of options and are looking for work that interests you, not just trying to qualify yourself to the interviewer.

It also makes them feel like they are already working with you because that's what a good employee does when a manager gives him work: he asks questions about it throughout the process. He doesn't wait until the end when the manager says, do you have any questions?

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#13
post #8

I would add Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? Am I allowed to contribute to open source from work? ie bugfixes for libraries we use. How many meetings are there in an average month? Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) How strict are the requirements in whatever tracking software we use (jira,rally, etc) How many required programs are there? Outlook? Slack…

> Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? > Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) Your contract specifies that and other answers to other questions. Don't ask your interviewer this question, the only thing he/she can do is rely to HR. Best ask HR directly. > Why did the person before me leave? It is unlikely you are ever going to get answer to that and even if yo…

> As a general rule, the only job of interviewer is to decide whether you are fit for the role.

These days half the job is convincing the candidate to accept an offer if it comes through.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#14

I would add Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? Am I allowed to contribute to open source from work? ie bugfixes for libraries we use. How many meetings are there in an average month? Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) How strict are the requirements in whatever tracking software we use (jira,rally, etc) How many required programs are there? Outlook? Slack…

My go-to question is: Am I able to use Linux? This tells you a lot about the company. I avoided some Windows-only jobs in the past :)

I've avoided jobs that are Mac only. Life is too short.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#15
For this job, I asked all my interviewers (from my immediate manager to the CEO) what direction the company would be taking in the next few years: what are they focusing on at a high level, and what's the roadmap?

Very informative. A lot of people did not have pat answers, and had to search their souls a little bit. I got different answers from everybody, but the same broad themes, and I interpreted that as meaning everybody was on board for the vision, but that there wasn't much top-down direction on how to get there. To me that was a plus, and it turned out to be the case.

It also gave me an idea of what I'd be hired to work on, and what I'd be working on after that. I recommend this question!

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#16

I would add Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? Am I allowed to contribute to open source from work? ie bugfixes for libraries we use. How many meetings are there in an average month? Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) How strict are the requirements in whatever tracking software we use (jira,rally, etc) How many required programs are there? Outlook? Slack…

% Why did the person before me leave?

They just lied to me. That was a painful year.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#17
post #8

I would add Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? Am I allowed to contribute to open source from work? ie bugfixes for libraries we use. How many meetings are there in an average month? Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) How strict are the requirements in whatever tracking software we use (jira,rally, etc) How many required programs are there? Outlook? Slack…

> Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? > Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) Your contract specifies that and other answers to other questions. Don't ask your interviewer this question, the only thing he/she can do is rely to HR. Best ask HR directly. > Why did the person before me leave? It is unlikely you are ever going to get answer to that and even if yo…

If I'm interviewing with a future teammate, then they should know what the contract is. If the company is so big that they have bespoke employment contracts, then the first interview is usually HR.

As far as the person im replacing, that's more of a poker move to feel out if there is a toxic boss driving people away. Perhaps a better way to do that would be to ask about the turnover rate for the team/department/company?

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#18
I had a really cool job opportunity to implement cool technology in a novel field but I rejected it for two reasons:

1) My immediate manager was dressed in incredibly expensive clothing in the interview, 2) He said we didn't need Linux, we could afford to use Mac.

Barf

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#19

I had a really cool job opportunity to implement cool technology in a novel field but I rejected it for two reasons: 1) My immediate manager was dressed in incredibly expensive clothing in the interview, 2) He said we didn't need Linux, we could afford to use Mac. Barf

Was the pay terrible too? As a Mac is a lot cheaper than a developer.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#20
Thats a good list. The questions are pretty specific. Interviews are 2 ways. As an interviewer realize the applicant can reject the job if they don't feel like its a good fit.

I've asked a couple questions the past few interviews when looking for a job:

- What do like about working here.

- What could be better, or what are the pain points of working here.

They're been pretty honest about those things.

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