I'm thinking about something that maybe you can help me out with? When you're looking for a new job and get invited to an interview, usually what happens is that the presumptive employer starts asking you a bunch of questions about your career, experiences etc. Sometimes they even make you write some code or ask you to solve some programming problem (if it's a programming job you're interviewed for) at home. Maybe they even check out your public repos on Github (or some other source code platform). And there's nothing strange about that at all.
The point I'm getting to (and that I've been pondering for a couple of days) is that it's often mostly all about you. Yes, they likely did the two-minute company introduction and introduce Paul who's a developer and is sitting in on this interview... But when it comes to the code writing, the aptitude tests and the probing of days gone by, it's usually just your experience and your days gone by that is of interest.
Why is that? The last couple of interviews I've been to, I asked the employer a bunch of questions. I was the one who asked most questions. And even then the last one (before my current job) didn't work out very well.
I'd usually say, that when I'm invited to a company for an interview, I go there to interview them. Not the other way around. Perhaps the situation for developers is different in other parts of the world, but in Sweden, senior developers (or any developers for that matter) are very sought after. I heard someone say there's a shortage of about 50.000 developers in Sweden. So, perhaps it's easy for me to say all this.
Perhaps there should be an aptitude test for companies trying to hire you? Well, there is one, the Joel Test, but I think it's kinda lacking for use on a job interview.
Well, so I have a question for you. Well, I had two, actually, but I forgot the other one.
What questions do you ask the company that's interviewing you for a development position?
I'll start you off with a short list. Some of them I got from the Joel test. It's not in any sort of order, I just jotted the points down.
- Do you have meaningful sprint planning and backlog refinement meetings?
- Do developers have quiet working conditions?
- Do developers have their own desk?
- Can developers work from outside the office?
- Are developers administrators on their work stations?
- What are your people turn over?
- What source control system do you use?
- Can developers use their own tools? Phone, laptop etc...
- What project methodology do you use?
- What progress board or tracking system do you use?
- Are internet all locked down on the company network?
Top comments (2)
Well, I just thought you had some insight. I realise it's up to the developer, but I'm interested in the topic. You limited the number of questions at an interview to three (about three, I guess). I was just curious as to what those three questions might be for you. What you'd be most interested in knowing about a future employer. To see if I missed some good questions to ask in the future.
I'd be interested in knowing about all my example questions, and indeed I do ask them (and still get the job), but of course, I don't hand over a questionnaire for them to fill in. It's more of a discussion where I try to cover all these topics.
You may be right, of course, but which would your three questions be then? Except for the obvious money discussion when it's time for that.