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Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

blog.interviewing.io

41–50 of 394 posts

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#42
Red flags: ask if they have a standard operating procedure document or employee handbook. Basic stuff like where to go for healthcare, who to talk to about sick leave etc. This sort of logistical stuff is a weight on employee's to have to constantly be asking direct reports about. It's a bad sign when a company can't take the time to do a basic doc like this.

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#43

Why is the font on this article so hard to read? Maybe it’s not the font, but the weight. I had a hard time reading it and stopped part way through.

It's because default MacOS configuration is artificial systemwide bold(ing?) of all fonts. So developers create a lighter font than needed and then on MacOS it mostly ok (disregarding the fact that it is not a native bold font but processed one) but on other OSes it is this light grey mess.

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#45
post #6

I can identify with the red flag where they try to pressure you to accept the offer in a short period. This is also called an exploding offer. I had a place do that to me and I ended up turning the opportunity down.

This.

My biggest mistake once was falling for that pressure, and then I left soon again. It's a big red flag, or offeres that are only valid a few days...

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#46
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, there often needs to be a time limit, or else they will be too late to make an offer to the runner-up (when the leader turns it down). I am not sure what a 'reasonable period' is.

A reasonable period is: You tell them up front your ideal timeline, that you have a couple of other irons in the fire (if you do), and you keep them informed of the progress of those other fires. And they do the same for you. Maybe you can't get a timing that works for both sides together, but that is OK. The pressuring is what isn't.

[deleted]

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#47

Role clarity is a huge one in my book. I've turned down numerous offers because when I asked what the specifics of my day to day job were going to be, the answers weren't clear. From the secret FAANG that likes to pretend what they are doing is defense contractor level top secret, and even after your hired you might not know what your actually working on, to the big companies where its clear the hiring manager only h…

I get that Microsoft is a huge company but the inconsistency in quality is something I find quite comical.

To pile on to the Windows control panel for a minute: If you open the start menu and search updates, you bring up the settings menu for updates. Likewise for network settings or any other section of the control panel successor.

But if you open network settings from the start menu while you already have updates open, the updates window is replaced by the network settings.

Maybe they are working towards renaming the OS "Window".

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#48

Role clarity is a huge one in my book. I've turned down numerous offers because when I asked what the specifics of my day to day job were going to be, the answers weren't clear. From the secret FAANG that likes to pretend what they are doing is defense contractor level top secret, and even after your hired you might not know what your actually working on, to the big companies where its clear the hiring manager only h…

Role clarity issues during an interview feels like going on a date with someone who doesn't know if they want to be in a relationship, or would rather adopt a parakeet.

They don't understand why they are talking to you, "but maybe you can, I don't know, maybe do something of value here, but we don't know what that is. So here's a bunch of money. FIX US".

It's usually a sign of lack of vision by leadership in the company, so they are grasping at straws.

If you want to kill your morale, look for roles like this. They are great.

Re: Red flags I saw while doing technical interviews

#50

Role clarity is a huge one in my book. I've turned down numerous offers because when I asked what the specifics of my day to day job were going to be, the answers weren't clear. From the secret FAANG that likes to pretend what they are doing is defense contractor level top secret, and even after your hired you might not know what your actually working on, to the big companies where its clear the hiring manager only h…

Of the big tech companies, I've worked at Facebook, Google, & Apple. I've still not quite cracked what's different about Apple culturally that they seem to be more immune to this problem. The only main difference I can spot is I don't recall ever encountering a PM at Apple. To do planning engineers would propose improvements, new features, etc. These were bubbled up. Then executives would be responsible for building a theme around those developments & how that fit larger company-wide themes for iOS. On the other hand, I don't know if that was an Apple-wide thing or iOS-specific (at the time it was hard to distinguish since the entire company was largely organized around iOS/MacOS).

Another difference is that design is top-down at Apple. Any UI redesign was driven by Johnny's team which was responsible for a holistic and consistent across-the-board implementation. I don't believe you were allowed to deviate from the design language. This one I have less visibility into as I worked on technology pieces rather than things that had a user-facing component.

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