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Discussion on: How should you prepare for your first interview as a developer?

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️

One thing I'd add: Remember that an interview is not a one-sided interrogation. Make sure to assess the company just as much as the interviewers are assessing you. Make sure to ask about both the working conditions (How's the workplace culture? How do they go about projects? Are they pioneering exciting new things, or keeping business running steadily and smoothly?) as well as about the companies product (what types of non-IT skills will you tangentially use? how close will you be working together with other workers?)

These questions are both for yourself to decide whether you want to take a job or not, as well as to signal two things to the interviewer:

  1. You're putting thought into whether this job will work out long-term. To the interviewer this means you're at least somewhat on the same page in terms of what you're looking for.
  2. You might have other options, and will have to choose which one to finally take, as opposed to just desperately hoping to get the job at all cost.

In the worst case, this will out a toxic environment. "We're the ones asking the question" type interviews are a sign that the interviewer is letting their inflated personal ego interfere with the interview process, which is a very big red flag, even more so if they would be your direct superior in case you got the job.