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Interview questions to ask your interviewer

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Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#161

Post by tragictrash »

JonChesterfield wrote: post #154
Osiris wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"better"? Every tool has pros and cons and tradeoffs. I run Linux, Windows, and MacOS. Each one has it's pros and cons. Each is the "better" tool depending on the need. The same goes for programming languages and engineering problems. I train my team to identify multiple possible solutions to a problem then identify pros and cons and then pick the solution that optimizes for the most important goal. There is rarely a…

There is rarely a right solution but there are always wrong ones. Searching for pareto optimal contours is great but implies the existence of pareto pessimal contours where N poor solutions combine to make something maximally rubbish. Software dev is not in a design space where all things are broadly equivalent with small pros and cons to choose between. It's more a discontinuous surface with orders of magnitude of c…

This cliff being performance, stability and my sanity.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#162

Post by PretzelPirate »

errcorrectcode wrote: post #35

How's the food? What do you do for fun after work?

> What do you do for fun after work?

This is nice as a casual social question, but it isn’t related to the job and shouldn’t be relevant. If your goal is to understand if all they do is work, asking about working hours is more to the point.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#163

Post by autarch »

djhn wrote: post #129
autarch wrote: post #49

I've been maintaining my own list of questions for quite a few years. I added some based on this post and the discussion here on HN. Here's the full list - https://gist.github.com/autarch/6e7e25e85db62a359f91aa090033... There's a few that are very specific to my future travel plans and my height, but the vast majority are potentially useful for everyone. Note that my goal is to _get answers to these questions during…

I'm sorry, your height ? That piqued my interest enough to look through your questions. They are all great, but I didn't find anything related to height and can't think of any I would personally ask. (Ergonomics? Business class travel?)

One of the questions is this:

> How is work travel handled? Will it be an issue if I want a somewhat more expensive seat for legroom?

I'm 6'7" (200cm), so flying in a regular economy seat is horrible for me. I want to make sure the employer won't balk at me paying extra for an exit row or premium economy seat.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#164

Post by dec0dedab0de »

lmilcin wrote: post #54
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/compa…

The contract that the interviewer has may not look anything like the one you are going to get. The only contract that matters is the one you sign. Every company will negotiate the contract with you and they will frequently be happy to negotiate other things than just your bare salary. There might be things that you care more than others and the company will be happy to provide you with. A lot of people treat the cont…

You're right, but I wouldn't want to have a special contract for things I believe should be standard decency. As long as I was in the position to turn down a job that is.

Actually, maybe the question I really want to ask is Can everyone have side projects?

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#165

Post by BeetleB »

mcv wrote: post #150
BeetleB wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are multiple things to sign. At my company, you sign most of them on your first day on the job. I probably could have asked to see them during the offer stage, but there's no guarantee that's the same document you'll be asked to sign (and likely the part of HR involved in giving you the offer is not the same part of HR that makes you sign the first day).

Never sign anything on the spot. Always take it home to study it. If there's clauses you have doubts about, consult with your lawyer. Negotiate everything that's not acceptable to you. You could also being a contract of your own for them to sign. They won't, of course, but it can help drive home the point why you need time to look at the contract.

So you've left your old job, and now want to negotiate? No one's fooled about who has leverage.

Story here not too long ago of a Google employee being let go on his first day because he did exactly what you're suggesting. I'm sure my company would do the same. When you hire over a thousand people a year (let alone thousands), they're not going to modify their efficient procedures for you. It's cheaper to hire another person.

I'm sure they'll let you take the contract home, but your only option really is to quit.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#166

Post by shalmanese »

Kranar wrote: post #96
rad_gruchalski wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signing means accepting an offer. To sign, one needs to get a copy of a contract. So one always sees a contract before signing, no? Let’s look at it from a different angle. One does not file a resignation before receiving a countersigned copy from the company.

This isn't true unfortunately and there are absolutely horror stories of this happening to people. For example at some FANG companies you sign what you think is your regular employment contract and then move on down to the Valley excited to start your new job on the agreed upon terms... then as soon as you introduce yourself at reception just before orientation, you're made to sign a secondary agreement with terms yo…

The people interviewing you are more on your side than the company's. If they had this happen to them, they would absolutely tell you about it.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#167

Post by djhn »

autarch wrote: post #163
djhn wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, your height ? That piqued my interest enough to look through your questions. They are all great, but I didn't find anything related to height and can't think of any I would personally ask. (Ergonomics? Business class travel?)

One of the questions is this: > How is work travel handled? Will it be an issue if I want a somewhat more expensive seat for legroom? I'm 6'7" (200cm), so flying in a regular economy seat is horrible for me. I want to make sure the employer won't balk at me paying extra for an exit row or premium economy seat.

I see. Fair question. I might adopt this if I'm ever applying for jobs that require frequent travel.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#168

Post by autarch »

djhn wrote: post #167
autarch wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the questions is this: > How is work travel handled? Will it be an issue if I want a somewhat more expensive seat for legroom? I'm 6'7" (200cm), so flying in a regular economy seat is horrible for me. I want to make sure the employer won't balk at me paying extra for an exit row or premium economy seat.

I see. Fair question. I might adopt this if I'm ever applying for jobs that require frequent travel.

For me, even visiting an office once or twice a year by plane is enough to make this important. I also have knee issues. I really can't tolerate being jammed into a regular economy seat for any length of time.

I would also note that premium economy is usually 30-60% more than an economy seat. Typically this amounts to maybe $150-300 per trip, so I'm not asking for a huge amount of money here!

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#169

Post by BeetleB »

wink wrote: post #152
BeetleB wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that way before my current job. I learned the error of my ways. In companies like mine, you'll get a Linux account on a server, and will not have root privileges. So you're quite limited on the SW you can easily install (try installing Emacs with all its dependencies from source). Since then, whenever I shifted teams, I'd pick ones where I don't have to use Linux. At least I can customize my Windows laptop…

That's a weird experience. 100% of companies I worked for (or where I worked with a customer's computer, so not just 3-4) it was: Windows = managed, user account, pain (sometimes exceptions for developers, sometimes not) Linux = you have root on your machine.

My windows laptop is "managed" in terms of forced IT updates, etc. But I can install whatever I want and have Admin privileges. They do scan the SW and if they see obvious problems (installed a SW that is not free for commercial use), I'll get an email about (show proof that the team purchased a license).

I can't make deep changes (e.g. reinstall the OS), and would likely get in trouble for disabling the antivirus, but there hasn't been anything I wanted to do on it that I couldn't.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#170

Post by mcv »

BeetleB wrote: post #165
mcv wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never sign anything on the spot. Always take it home to study it. If there's clauses you have doubts about, consult with your lawyer. Negotiate everything that's not acceptable to you. You could also being a contract of your own for them to sign. They won't, of course, but it can help drive home the point why you need time to look at the contract.

So you've left your old job, and now want to negotiate? No one's fooled about who has leverage. Story here not too long ago of a Google employee being let go on his first day because he did exactly what you're suggesting. I'm sure my company would do the same. When you hire over a thousand people a year (let alone thousands), they're not going to modify their efficient procedures for you. It's cheaper to hire another…

> So you've left your old job, and now want to negotiate? No one's fooled about who has leverage.

Handle it before you leave your old job, then. Do what works best for you.

I have negotiated contracts while already working, and that has worked fine for me. If they back out, I'll find something else. At some point you may notice they won't move any further, and then you've got a choice to make. If this is just another job and there are plenty like it, you quit. If it's a unique opportunity, you suck it up and sign.

But the point remains that you should never sign a contract on the spot. Unless it's really something super standard, negotiated by your union, or otherwise something that you really can't get around. But in every other circumstance, you always have options open. Never forget that.

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