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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?

#31

Post by lynnetye »

OJFord wrote: post #26
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…

Nice idea, but I'm very confused what I'm doing or how it works - it starts with non-zero matches, and then for each thing I click it _increases_ the number of matches... I'd expect it to start large, and then filter down with more things selected. But it's not even like it's acting the other way, including only companies that match at least one thing I clicked, because it started non-zero.

I'm using OR logic until I have enough companies for AND logic to provide a good user experience. I'm looking forward for that day to come, too, trust me!

If you select multiple values, the results will be ordered by number of matches and prioritize the companies who ranked those values highest.

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

#32

Post by rob_b »

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #29
rob_b wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but that approach would make me not want to hire someone like that or work with someone like that. It may appear that you’re pulling one over on your previous employer, but if anything, that is probably a blessing for them to no longer have someone that operates in a shady fashion like that employed by them. Edit: The undesirable behavior was in reference to the lying about a personal crisis. I personally…

I wouldn't lie about a crisis, but it's business. It's not unheard of to take a better offer and offer to work as a consultant at the previous employer.

The lying about the crisis is the part that I was referencing was shady. Working as a consultant for a previous employer is completely acceptable and provides mutual benefit.

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

#33

Post by toomuchtodo »

devrod wrote: post #30
bjornlouser wrote: post #6

Don't give notice yet. Instead, take a week of vacation and start the new job during that week. Make your official decision during afternoon tea on Sunday.

This is very unprofessional and a great way to burn your bridges.

Not all bridges have equal value.

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

#34

Post by JohnFen »

Here's the core of what I do:

I pore over their website, and do web searches on the company and the company's top executives. If I don't personally know anyone who works for (or used to work for) them, then I hit up my professional contacts to see if I can find someone who does. I then ask those people about their day-to-day experience at the company. I make sure to ask, at a minimum, both what they consider great about working there and what they consider awful about it.

What I'm looking for is a good fit -- does the company operate in a way that works for me? Do I feel good about what the company produces and how they do business? Are the employees generally satisfied? That sort of thing.

One thing I would never do unless I were in a crisis of some sort is to just jump in and hope for the best. It's too easy for that to go horribly wrong.

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

#35

Post by JohnFen »

bjornlouser wrote: post #9
HashBasher wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And do what? Just quit your old job on the spot?

Of course not. You tell the old job that you have a personal crisis and that you would love to stay on as a part-time remote consultant...

That's pretty much the same as quitting without notice, not to mention lying.

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

#37

Post by Chloro »

JohnFen wrote: post #34

Here's the core of what I do: I pore over their website, and do web searches on the company and the company's top executives. If I don't personally know anyone who works for (or used to work for) them, then I hit up my professional contacts to see if I can find someone who does. I then ask those people about their day-to-day experience at the company. I make sure to ask, at a minimum, both what they consider great ab…

You make it sound like it a marriage or something. If you don't like it you can always leave. That's worked for me so far.

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

#38

Post by gxs »

I work at a company of 10.5k employees.

Even considering global offices, there are ~5k employees here on campus.

The problem is that every single team, organization, every executive and the functions that roll up to them, are of course different.

The best advice is what others have said here: go into the interviews bright eyed and try as hard to get a sense of the people who interview.

Are they good people? Is there a good mix of people who are task oriented vs relationship oriented?

At the end of the day, looking at things like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, will only give you a very high level picture so the interviews are your best bet.

Also, if you're anything like me, I value money quite a bit over other conditions, so asking about salary up front is a must.

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

#40

Post by jb3689 »

Crunchbase to understand the company's funding

Github to see if they have open source stuff

Company blogs

I've told companies I want to remeet the team after interviews and they've scheduled lunches for me to talk with them in a more low pressure situation

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