My Interview Questions for Potential Employers

I'm a contractor so long term questions are irrelevant to me, but my standard questions are the following:<p>Will i have the freedom to use whatever OS and software i want?<p>If the answer to this is anything other than Yes, i dont take the gig. Give me the tools to do my job and trust me to do it, i'll even bring my own tools, i like a mac and sublime. I once had a potential employer tell me that i was only allowed to use windows, only allowed to use eclipse and i'd be issued an MSDN license even though they admitted it wasnt relevant to me, because that was standard IT policy. Sorry, no thanks.<p>Is the office a relaxed environment?<p>I can usually answer this myself if i'm doing a face to face just by looking at how people are dressed and such, but a lot of the time i have a phone interview first, and then i ask this. I absolutely will not work anywhere where i cant wear jeans and a t-shirt and if i walk in at 9.08am and you're going to moan at me for it, no thanks. I've also seen places where they dont allow employees to leave the building except at pre-defined lunch and break times, again, no deal.<p>While these might seem petty to some people, to me they're indicative of an overall culture of not trusting employees and excessive micromanagement and i have the luxury of totally avoiding places like that, so i'm going to.

If during an interview the question gets asked "What's your greatest weakness?" I try to answer as best I can and then I make a mental note to ask this later:<p>"Since you asked me what my greatest weakness was, I think it's fair to ask: <i>What's the worst thing about working here?"</i><p>I've only been able to ask it once, and didn't really get a good answer, but I think it has the potential to elicit some thoughtful (or telling) responses.

How about the standard questions:<p>* How much money is in the bank, i.e. how long can they go until the next investment round?<p>* Where does the company see itself in five years?<p>* What opportunities are there for employee development?<p>And please, please stop with the cultural fit! Some people do not want to have to go for beers every other night or play Xbox tournaments all Friday!

Here is a fun one.<p><i>Why and when did the last 3 people who left your group, leave?</i><p>The answer tells you volumes of useful information. It gets at what organizational turnover is, what people are unhappy about, and something about how much blame there is. Furthermore the question is so specific and unexpected that you sometimes get startlingly honest answers.

Three of the four questions are closed.<p>Try instead:<p>What was the last thing Potential Co. did to invest in your professional development?<p>What would you most like to improve about the team's process and workflow?<p>What was the last thing you did together as a team outside of work?<p>A couple of others that usually yield interesting results:<p>What's the most challenging thing about working at Potential Co?<p>If you could reverse a single technical decision affecting your product, what would it be?

Trick question: "If you paid for employee's training and he quits, would you keep investing in training of other employees?"<p>------ Source:<p>"The only worse thing to training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them". -- Zig Ziglar

Questions I have learned to ask (the hard way):<p>-Do you do performance evaluations / raises?<p>-Do you block any part of the internet?<p>-Do you allow working remotely?<p>-Do you have a sane sick day policy?<p>-What kind of basic hours per week do you expect?

These are all very good questions and underscore the need to come to an interview prepared to do no less.<p>As a manager who frequently interviews developers nothing is more deflating than an applicant who, when asked if they have any questions, fumbles an awkward "no, not really" and the interview comes to an abrupt end.

&#62;&#62; "Does Potential Co. value the professional development of its employees?"<p>This is a good question, but I'd avoid yes/no questions and ask for examples instead. "What are some things you do to encourage employee learning and growth?"<p>It's easy to say "yes", even if they're not doing much.

"Describe a time you chose principle over immediate short-term interests."<p>This question can be asked of a prospective boss, a co-worker, or adapted to the company as a whole.

I learned to take asking questions of the interviewer really serious since the few times I was so enamored by the company, I didn't ask the right questions. A few months later, I was miserable.<p>The three main questions I ask are:<p>What do you do that separates yourself from your competition?<p>Who do you see as your biggest competitors?<p>How much have you been working with (insert some cutting edge technology - lately for me, it's been stuff like Backbone.Js or Parallax Scrolling)?<p>In terms of barometer, it gives me a solid idea of where the company is going, and how they view possible new technologies. These also tend to get, "Wow, that's a great question" from whomever is interviewing me.

"Do you have any questions for me?" is usually asked by the potential employer in order to politely signal the end the interview and not because he's interested in your questions.

I'm a hiring manager. Almost by definition, I expect a good candidate to be someone who is asking me as many questions as I am asking them.

&#62;&#62; "What's the most interesting thing you've worked on since you started at Potential Co.?"<p>This is my new go-to question. Plus, it works both ways, great to ask interviewees and interviewers. It really opens up the conversation and immediately gets to the core of the company/applicant.

I really liked this article for two reasons; one as an interviewer I feel better about a candidate when they ask me questions, and second because knowing that a place isn't right for you really helps with deciding if you want the job or not.<p>As an employer and an employee what I want is <i>engagement</i> not "headcount" that shows up to the milking barn on schedule, gets drained, and kicked back out into the field.

I like to ask "What's the worst thing about working here at Potential Co?" In addition to (potentially) learning what the group's pain points are, it also allows the interviewer to blow off steam a bit (being on the other side of the table can be stressful too!) And if they dissemble or try to say that there are no downsides, well that's useful knowledge too.

Sorry, but to be honest I find all the comments in here a lot more useful than your pretentious questions. Just be natural at job interviews, that is much more convincing than feigning interest in how well the team is doing, bla bla bla. Any interviewer who is worth anything will introduce the company's history to you anyway.

I just mention my blog. Not on my CV because of HR walls, but in interviews, I mention its existence. If they still want to talk to me, then they're probably forward-thinking people.<p>If they don't look it up and are surprised that a certain level of talent inevitably comes with a certain level of anti-authoritarianism, it's not my fault. They were warned.

Another article about the tech-industry entitlement culture.<p>[edit] It's quite fascinating that I get heavily down-voted every time I mention the entitlement-culture phenomenon. It really makes me cringe to read things like this, when less fortunate (but equally skillful) professionals have a hard time just getting an interview. The pendulum will swing back sooner or later, and we'll look back on this as the golden era of being a Software Engineer.