DEV Community

RobL
RobL

Posted on

How to smash that interview

Ask questions, lots of them.

It's the end of a rather nice interview and the MD of YourPerfectJobProbably.com says do you have any questions? You panic.

Ask questions, lots of them

There are always questions, so I'll chuck out some.

  • Why are you hiring now? (Growth/Expansion/Last developer decided they wanted to be an astronaut)
  • What projects are you working on
  • What does your tech / deployment stack look like?
  • What is your typical developer day (70% writing code, 10% meetings, 20% code review)
  • What are the working hours?
  • What's the biggest challenge to the business
  • Do you have any Technical Debt? How much of that is a priority?
  • Do you think I would be a good fit for the team?

The best comedians out there have a tool in their arsenal, it's a callback. If you're paying attention at the beginning of a show and that sly quip comes back again later in the performance and you notice it. That's for you, because you've been paying attention. You win an ice cream.

It wouldn't spoil the line of a tight fitting cagoule or poncho - Harry Hill

Always, always, show that you've been paying attention. Not because you're playing a game but because you have been.

Oh and never ever ask.

  • How many days holiday are there
  • How much are you going to offer me

Oh and if they ask you what you want to be doing in 5 years time

I love code, I live and breathe it, you can't eat it that would be silly and given the choice of writing code and sitting in meetings for 60% of my life I'd choose code every time. In fact talking to you is taking away from my coding time. I definitely don't want your job, your job is your job.

Definitely don't say

I will be doing your job (while you are unemployed and living under a bridge because I am so brilliant. I love code so much that I want to not be doing it in 5 years).

Top comments (0)