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Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

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Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#81

Post by GuB-42 »

> Let’s say I’m the person you hire. 6 months have gone by, what’s different?

What's wrong with "you’ll be here and doing the job"? The point of hiring someone is that there is a job to do, if you are hired and get to stay for 6 months, then you will be doing the job, if someone else is hired, he will be doing the job instead, if no one is hired, and there is no internal restructuration, then the job will not be done.

For the details, just look at the job offer. I don't understand the point of asking this, even after reading the article. Why not just ask about the job directly, instead of resorting to some cryptic roundabout question?

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#82

Post by paradox460 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #81

> Let’s say I’m the person you hire. 6 months have gone by, what’s different? What's wrong with "you’ll be here and doing the job"? The point of hiring someone is that there is a job to do, if you are hired and get to stay for 6 months, then you will be doing the job, if someone else is hired, he will be doing the job instead, if no one is hired, and there is no internal restructuration, then the job will not be done…

It's kind of the inverse of questions like "why do you why to join this company", where most interviewers would be put off by the truth, which is "because you'll pay me"

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#83

Post by ungreased0675 »

cousin_it wrote: post #61
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #41

> “There’s an IC sitting out there who just had an amazing idea for a new feature/product. What happens?” Man, I bet my answer and my VP's answer to that are gonna be rather different.

Maybe the question could be sharpened: "Can you tell about some examples where an IC in your company had a good feature idea, and what ended up happening?"

To me, a better signal is a set, repeatable process in place. Does it happen often enough that people know what to do? When they tell you a story, they probably will minimize the gauntlet the innovator had to run.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#84

Post by eropple »

bradjohnson wrote: post #60
rr808 wrote: post #28

I usually try to ask these What are the bad things about this job? What's the average tenure on the team, how many people have left the team recently and why? How does this team & company compare with other places you've worked? (second or third round) How many other people are being interviewed and how do I compare?

I like the middle two questions a lot, and I try to ask them as well. I think the other two are flawed, though: > What are the bad things about this job? Too vague. Most interviewers won't be ready to shit talk their employer with this question and will say "nothing." A better question would be some variation of "What would you change about the way your team works if you could?" Frame the question properly so that th…

> Most interviewers won't be ready to shit talk their employer with this question and will say "nothing."

I'm not sure that's really true. I ask, verbatim, "what sucks about this job?" to everyone in the interview loop and I frequently get high-signal responses from it. What you're saying might be true in some places and for some (probably earlier-career) roles, but that's signal too.

> Comes off very insecure and gives you no useful information.

This one is true to a point, and probably depends on how it's asked (and whether you actually are insecure). Working mostly in smaller companies and startups, interviews have generally ended up at the CEO level, and a "what's your funnel look like for this role?" has never gone poorly while getting me pretty clear signal on whether I should toss this one in the trash or not.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#85

Post by pavel_lishin »

bradjohnson wrote: post #60
rr808 wrote: post #28

I usually try to ask these What are the bad things about this job? What's the average tenure on the team, how many people have left the team recently and why? How does this team & company compare with other places you've worked? (second or third round) How many other people are being interviewed and how do I compare?

I like the middle two questions a lot, and I try to ask them as well. I think the other two are flawed, though: > What are the bad things about this job? Too vague. Most interviewers won't be ready to shit talk their employer with this question and will say "nothing." A better question would be some variation of "What would you change about the way your team works if you could?" Frame the question properly so that th…

> Most interviewers won't be ready to shit talk their employer with this question and will say "nothing."

I don't think that's true. During times I've been an interviewer, I've been open about the bad parts of the job.

And if everyone tells you nothing, then that in itself is valuable information - that they're all fucking lying to you.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#86

Post by Sakos »

paradox460 wrote: post #82
GuB-42 wrote: post #81

> Let’s say I’m the person you hire. 6 months have gone by, what’s different? What's wrong with "you’ll be here and doing the job"? The point of hiring someone is that there is a job to do, if you are hired and get to stay for 6 months, then you will be doing the job, if someone else is hired, he will be doing the job instead, if no one is hired, and there is no internal restructuration, then the job will not be done…

It's kind of the inverse of questions like "why do you why to join this company", where most interviewers would be put off by the truth, which is "because you'll pay me"

The point isn't necessarily to get an accurate rendition. It's to see how they answer. What they emphasize. What they don't mention. Most of the questions I ask when being interviewed are like this, ones that give me a sense of what the environment and the people are like.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#87

Post by Sakos »

em-bee wrote: post #77

i don't care about most of the questions being raised here. a slow process to get changes accepted, long build cycles, bad legacy code, irrational business decisions, whatever. what i care about is how the team works together. how supportive the people i get to interact with are. how i can get help when i am stuck. if i can ask dumb questions without repercussions. if people compete or cooperate to solve problems. if…

I've worked at a place like you describe. Supportive team, cooperation, understanding, etc. Despite whatever disagreements it was pretty great. For about 2 years.

Then the stuff like irrational business decisions, difficulty getting people on board to address issues, all this institutional inertia, people saying no to everything that could possibly improve things internally. It weighed down so much that I just couldn't handle working there anymore.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#88

Post by claudiulodro »

nickdothutton wrote: post #67

When I was more junior, one of my favourite questions to ask a company was "Can you give me a day in the life, or a week in the life of this job/role?". The reason being, job descriptions are very often a fantasy. An aspiration. What the company wishes its people did, not what they are actually doing. Often the reality is much less attractive than the job description you think you are interviewing for. Faced with thi…

I ask this question every time I interview and the answer is always useless, something like “Well, it varies”. For some reason companies never want to say what they’re working on, like it’s state secrets or something. I guess that’s a signal too though.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#89

Post by stevenpetryk »

lolinder wrote: post #44
stevenpetryk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. When I’m interviewing folks at my current company, and the Q&A portion begins, I tell them they can ask whatever they want or just reclaim the time; my notes are sealed. More interviewers should operate like that.

You can tell them that, but I don't think I'd believe it as a candidate. I'll assume that every interaction I have with you up until an offer is extended is going to influence your perception of me, whether you're taking notes or not.

I suspect most don’t believe it, and in general it’s wise to remain suspicious. But I’ll continue to reassure nonetheless.

Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews

#90

Post by marcosdumay »

claudiulodro wrote: post #88
nickdothutton wrote: post #67

When I was more junior, one of my favourite questions to ask a company was "Can you give me a day in the life, or a week in the life of this job/role?". The reason being, job descriptions are very often a fantasy. An aspiration. What the company wishes its people did, not what they are actually doing. Often the reality is much less attractive than the job description you think you are interviewing for. Faced with thi…

I ask this question every time I interview and the answer is always useless, something like “Well, it varies”. For some reason companies never want to say what they’re working on, like it’s state secrets or something. I guess that’s a signal too though.

Well, if everybody gives the same answer there's no signal there, by definition.
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