The questions an interviewee should ask any potential software company. The interview process exists not only to find a good candidate for the employer as it is for the candidate to find a position that'll suit their needs. The idea is for both parties to be satisfied.
Asking good questions can allow the employer to demonstrate openness to feedback. It can also allow the candidate to show a dedication to personal improvement. Finally it allows the candidate to close the sale.
- What is the pay for this position?
- What is the job title?
- What will a typical work day be like?
- Why are you hiring for this position?
- What can i expect to be doing the first 1mo/6mo/1yr?
- What are the top-3 aspects of an ideal candidate?
- How much runway does the company have left?
- What is the burn per month?
- What is the revenue of the company?
- What is the spending?
- What are the key business metrics that engineers have access to these close to real-time: number of users? Revenue? Signups? Percentage of returning daily users?
- Talk with people who left Message them on LinkedIn, and ask if they can share why they left.
- Where in the organization chart does this role exist?
- Describe a time the team delivered a successful project. When was this?
- How are team accomplishments as compared to individuals rewarded?
- Describe a high-pressure event. Was the pressured caused by a technology or people problem? Who was there to support you?
- Are developers integrated in product conceptualization, architecture, implementation, deployment and maintenence?
- Are developers required to be on-call? Describe the shifts and duties.
- How many people does my superior manage?
- How many people will I be directly reporting to?
- Will I have people reporting to me? If so, how many?
- Describe the most recent two or three changes of staff or management for this team. Were these due to new external hires, or internal promotions?
- Describe a time that gave you great joy at work.
- Describe a time you received help from a coworker. Was this a peer or a superior?
- How does the organization foster professional growth?
In technology, expertise comes with time and experience, but can be lost over time. Because the industry continues to change, the only way to remain on the cutting edge is to continue to learn and grow. The onus for this is not only on the individual, but also on the organization. Providing growth opportunities is the only way to keep passionate developers engaged and to protect against attrition.
- Do you provide professional development / training incentives or reimbursement?
- Do you have a program to support career-related industry conference
attendance?
- Does organization pay for relevant professional conferences?
- How does the organization evaluate employees?
- Is there a yearly review process?
- Does the organization use a stacked-ranking system?
- Does the organization use a forced-graded ranking system?
- Does the organization give bonuses, if so what is the criteria?
- How does one move up in the organization?
- Do you use source control, git, subversion, or other? Hosted on GitHub or self-hosted/other?
- Can you make and deploy a build in one step?
- Do you do monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or continuous builds?
- Do you have a issue/bug tracker?
- Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
- Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
- Do you have specs?
- Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
- Do you provide developers with the tools that make them most productive, and can developers choose their own favorite tools?
- Do you have a dedicated QA team?
- Do new candidates write code during their interview?
- Do you do hallway usability testing?
- Do features typically have an established future release date?
- Do you use an Agile process?
- What metric do you use to estimate scope? (Time, T-shirt sizing, Story points)
- Do teams often, sometimes or never prototype a feature before implementing it?
- How does your team reduce technical debt?
- What development environment is used?
- What software tools and hardware will be provided?
- Do you have a coding standards policy?
- Do you have processes to encourage code reviews?
- Do you have an automated testing process?
- What is your documentation philosophy?
- What is your philosophy on using open-source software?
- Does the organization regularly contribute to open-source software?
- Do you incentivize or encourage contributions to open-source software?
- Describe how a feature is built from concept to deployment:
- Who typically comes up with feature ideas?
- Who makes the final say if a feature is in or out?
- How are features prioritized, and who prioritizes them?
- Is there feedback and collaboration on to refine feature requests prior to development?
- Who writes specs?
- Is there a process for developers to provide feedback on specs?
- How is implementation verified, and by whom?
- Are features designed, built and deployed by different people or are team members responsible for all aspects of a feature?
- Intellectual Property
- How do you manage patents?
- Who writes your patents?
- Is there a dress code?
- Is listening to music OK?
- Describe the equipment I'll be provided
- Desk / common table, etc
- Will I be free to use alternate seating or a standing desk?
- What are the core daily work hours, is it flexible?
- Is there flexibility to work remotely?
- Do you participate in Social/outreach programs?
Later in the interview process, before the interviewee is required to make a decision to accept any potential offer, these questions will be invaluable.
- Is there a sign-in/clock-in system
- Do you require employees to sign an NDA?
- Do you require employees to sign a Non-disparagement agreement?
- Do you require employees to sign a Noncompete agreement?
- Do you use cameras or surveillance systems to monitor employees?
- Do do you allow off-hours freelance or open-source project work?
- Do the organization censor or monitor the internet, phone or email?
- Do you require potential hires to provide login/password information for social media?
- Do you provide stock options, stock purchase, equity or other corporate investment program?
- PTO / Sick / Holidays
- How many paid holidays per year?
- How many sick days per year?
- How does vacation time accrue?
- If there is an unlimited vacation policy, what restrictions or
requirements/deadlines/metrics/quotas must be met prior to taking
PTO?
- Does the organization enforce a maximum?
- Does the organization enforce a minimum?
- Who authorizes PTO?
- Do you have a 401k program, and if so, please describe the matching or vesting schedule.
- Do you provide lifestyle benefits such as a gym memberships, fitness, meal or laundry?
- Do you provide commuter, parking or public transportation reimbursements?