interviewing: The Land of the Rising Fig

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > interviewing: The Land of the Rising Fig

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Captain Foo posted:

post the interview questions that were in the op of the other thread or this one is worthless

i don't remember who posted them originally, but here they are, and they're great:

quote:

- who do you work with on a daily basis / describe the day to day role

translation : are you working with a well-defined team that puts out consistent work or is this place a clusterfuck with people coming and going on a weekly basis because management is incompetent

- how are decisions made / how will [team] be asked to accomplish things / who makes those decisions

translation: are the people making decisions that impact your work accountable to you / your team and do you have the ability to influence them or are they dictated from on high or even worse forced upon you by a hostile entity

- what are the company's primary values? what characteristics are you looking for in a candidate in relation to those primary values?

translation: if they say 'uhhhhhhhhhh' here it's a red flag. if they throw gibberish at you it's not a red flag but it's not a good look either. this should get a human bean answer

- what would be expected of me for the first / three / six months? What will success look like in this position, how will it be measured?

translation: same as the last one.

- what sort of training/mentoring/career dev things are here

translation: they should also be able to answer this without thinking. if they hesitate or bullshit you it's a red flag

- what's the most impressive thing you've seen out of someone else you've interviewed recently

translation: what qualities are people here impressed with. what caliber of candidates are you also considering.

- What do you see as the most challenging aspect of this job?

translation: every job has some bullshit aspect to it. this is their chance to lay it on softly and your chance to decide if it's a particular brand of bullshit you can put up with

- how do you set milestones/deliverables for projects and how does your team react when it's clear they won't be met

translation: are you going to work me like a slave when we don't hit the deadline we never agreed to

- when was the last time you took pto / how much did you take / what did you do

translation: without fail lovely interviewers for lovely companies will try to deflect this one. if they try to say 'oh no don't worry about that' or respond with their actual pto policy just reiterate that they didn't answer your question. when was the last time YOU took pto

# ¿ Jan 12, 2018 02:25

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 18:19

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

meatpotato posted:

ask them for a start date beginning sometime after you�ve left your current job. if you�re in the US remember that if you leave at the beginning of the month your health insurance is still good for the entire month.

this is definitely not true in all circumstances. i've kept in touch with a few people who left my current company, and apparently here, you lose it the day you leave.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2018 14:05

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Pollyanna posted:

how much stock should i put in glassdoor reviews e.g. https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/athenahealth-Reviews-E18207.htm it seems like theyre biased towards people unhappy with the company? but then again they have good information in them like that one review where the company called african american employees "AMFAMs" which is kinda weird

check ur pms

# ¿ Feb 22, 2018 19:39

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

qhat posted:

- QA overwhelmed because developers actively refuse to write unit tests, and then QA being blamed as a bottleneck in the release cycle.

"but unit tests just slow down development because 1) you have to spend time to write them, then 2) you have to change them when the code behavior changes!" - my (thankfully former) architect and multiple team leads

# ¿ Feb 24, 2018 01:03

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Notorious b.s.d. posted:

springtime is also post-bonus season, so it is the peak moment for people to leave their jobs

lol we lost >5% of the office in the month after bonus payouts this year

# ¿ Apr 7, 2018 18:00

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

got a take home test after a successful phone interview, but it looks fairly substantial and has no expected amount of time given and somewhat ambiguous requirements. how long do you feel is reasonable to spend on a take home assignment for an interview?

# ¿ Apr 13, 2018 22:38

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

So I've been interviewing with a couple of companies, and they're going pretty well. I'm worried that if/when the time comes for salary talk, I'll end up underpaid because I've been a bit underpaid in the past and don't really know what to ask for. Are there any reasonable guides out there? I've heard some iffy things about the Robert Half salary report and Glassdoor numbers, but I'm not sure what else there is to go on.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2018 13:51

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

toiletbrush posted:

Are you looking to change role? Like mid-level to -> senior or something? I'm sure you've got a figure in mind but yeah it's really hard being assertive about it because you're not usually arguing from a position of authority.

probably not really changing levels, but changing cities. i'm also going on the fact that my manager mentioned that i was kind of underpaid at my last performance review (and isn't helping me to do anything about it, hence my interviewing elsewhere).

# ¿ Apr 18, 2018 03:45

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

getting flown out for an interview in a few weeks. good sign for them wanting me, hopefully i don�t see any red flags and they offer enough figgies.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2018 22:31

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Space Whale posted:

Apparently my mindset of always anticipating poo poo going pear shaped and picking things apart to test them, and then always testing the whole regression, is a very marketable skill. And my constant triage in life is good for looking at what can blow up in a big system.

Curiously I think that I might have put bugs in the ear of the interview to use himself even if I'm not hired lol.

https://boyter.org/2016/07/chaos-testing-engineering/ Also "Chaos Engineering" immediately struck me as what I was born for. How do I become a code monkey who makes monkeys?

i know someone who took a job a while back at Indeed doing that. haven't talked to them in a while, but that's at least one company that does it.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2018 23:37

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

got a positive response from an interview last week so I�m hoping to hear some figgies soon. a little worried they won�t be enough to make the move worthwhile, but they seemed to really like me so I�m hopeful

# ¿ May 9, 2018 23:51

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

i saw a twitter post a little while back about questions to ask at startups for people who have only worked at large companies. i'm talking to a company that's much smaller than anywhere that i've worked so far and was wondering if anyone had opinions on these questions or anything else they would make sure to ask. source below, but copied and pasted because twitter sucks for this kind of thing.

https://mobile.twitter.com/jensenharris/status/988967889330819072

tl;dr version:

quote:

1) How much money does the company have in the bank?
2) Tell me about a time the founders disagreed. What happened?
3) What is the role of the company�s board of directors?
4) Tell me about the changes you�ve experienced at the company over the last year.

quote:

When you're leaving a big company to interview at a startup, there are some hidden questions you might not know to ask.

Not all startup jobs are created equal; without the right info, you could make a bad choice.

Here are 4 questions you should ask in a startup interview loop:

1) How much money does the company have in the bank?

OK, yes: this sounds super crass... an embarrassingly direct question. But it is also incredibly crucial, because without this info, you have no idea what kind of situation you are potentially walking into.
You would never ask this question at a megacorp because, well, the answer is usually "infinite money." The cash position of a public company is also usually freely available. Besides, you probably wouldn't be talking to someone who could give you a direct answer anyway! 🤑
But at a startup, everything is impacted by money. For example:

* How free is the company to build towards its vision?
* How likely is the leadership to make desperate/rash decisions?
* Will you have access to the resources you need to do a good job?
There are lots of less-gosh ways to ask this question, like: "how strong is the company's financial position?"

And be prepared, the answer might sound more like "here's what % of our Series B is still in the bank" or "here's how many more months of runway we have." These are ok!
But by not asking, you have no idea what you are signing up for.

And if a founder/senior member of the team isn't willing to give you *some sort of answer here*, that is a big red flag. They may be hiding something you won't find out about until you start work.

2) Tell me about a time the founders disagreed. What happened?

In any startup with multiple founders (most of them!) the founder working relationship can make or break the company. If it is wonderful, the company may thrive whereas if it is toxic, nothing can save it.
Notice the phrasing of the question. As a candidate, just like as an interviewer, you must practice behavioral interviewing.

Don't ask "how do the founders handle disagreement?" Any smart person can answer that well: �They talk, hear each other's perspectives, and work it out!�
Instead ask the question the behavioral way: "Tell me about a time..." This forces the answer to be specific and real.

Founders always have some disagreement; if they own that and show they know how to handle it, it is a powerful positive signal about the company.
Note: Be especially wary if you are interviewing with a founder and they repeatedly answer your specific questions about this by taking the topic back into the abstract.

This could show that they are not transparent, not self-aware, deceitful, or all three.

3) What is the role of the company�s board of directors?

I'll be honest. During the 16 years I worked at Microsoft, I am not sure I could have named anyone on the board. Bill Gates? The Netflix guy? 🤷🏼‍♂️

It just wasn't in any way germane to the day-to-day of working there.
In a startup, however, the company's relationship with its board could have a huge impact on whether you want to work there.

If you are talking to a founder or senior exec, look for words of alignment and respect. Not snark or 🙄 or "ugh, the board, don't get me started.�
If interviewing with a more junior employee, a great answer might well be "No idea, I�ve only seen them in the office once.�

A board that is out of the way operationally, helping behind-the-scenes but not interfering, is a good sign that there's a healthy relationship there.
Fun story: I once interviewed for a senior job at a tech startup. I went with the CEO to meet the board for a last round of interviews.

The first board member got me into a room and started with: "Hi! FYI. you can't tell him, but we are firing the CEO." AWKWARD. Um, kthxbye. 🛫

4) Tell me about the changes you�ve experienced at the company over the last year.

A big company is pretty much the same year after year. Working there in 2017 is the same as working there in 2018.

The best startups, on the other hand, are growing, changing, strengthening.
The single best way to predict the future is by analyzing the past.

And so by asking your interviewer not "where do you expect to be in a year" but "what have you experienced in the last year", you get a window into what the actual the pace of growth is at the company.
A great, thoughtful answer about the ways the company is growing is a huge plus. A positive is often: "wow, I can't believe how much we've done/grown/changed/built when I think about it."

A worrisome answer is "honestly, it's about the same." When startups stagnate, they die.
Hear the stories about what the last 12 months were like, and use that to gauge whether it would be an exciting place to spend your next few years.

Companies that are thoughtfully growing employ people with a strong growth mindset, creating an amazing place to learn and build.
Last thing: Don't be afraid to ask these things. 💪🏼 You have the right to ask direct questions in your interview. As a founder, I relish being able to share info about our company.

If you get vague answers/hostility, especially from senior people, this is a bad sign. Run away!
Startup interviews require you to probe differently than megacorp interviews. This is a good thing! What you learn will help you find the place that's a strong match for you.

Be prepared to ask the right questions, and you'll be one step closer to landing your dream startup job.

# ¿ May 13, 2018 14:18

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

got an offer, but it's for a pretty significant drop in total comp and a higher cost of living city. not really feeling too confident about negotiating this one to the point where it would be a raise even without taking into account col differences. i'm really sick of the job hunting process, but i don't know that i can bring myself to take this one.

# ¿ May 15, 2018 13:58

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

thanks thread for being a sounding board and talking through these interviewing issues that clearly all of us run into in some form or another. most of my friends aren't in the tech world and i'm not exactly going to coworkers for advice about offers from other companies, so it helps a lot to see how other people have handled things and how they've worked out.

# ¿ May 16, 2018 13:39

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

turned down an offer, but i've got another in-person interview coming up. hope this one offers more than i'm making now!

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 13:35

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

apparently the interview i went on earlier this week went well, and i'm supposed to talk to a couple of teams to learn specifics about their work and choose between them if they sound good to me. hopefully the offer kicks rear end and gives me a nice bump in cash, because this is sounding pretty good.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2018 01:09

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

so i got an offer from a company/team that seemed pretty good, and it's somewhat significantly more than what i expected. obviously, this is a good problem to have, but i'm not really sure how to go about negotiating here, since the number i had in mind to negotiate UP to was a good deal smaller. anyone else gotten positively surprised by an offer? how did you handle it?

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 00:33

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

bob dobbs is dead posted:

if you didn't tell them your expectations, then it is time to take their offer, crank it up 15-20%, and ask for that

so i did this and got an extra 10 gs. not bad for an email and a phone call

# ¿ Jul 4, 2018 00:24

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Arcsech posted:

I got a new job!

Thanks for the advice to always ask for more , thread. I took the offer from getting a 33% raise to getting a 45% raise + bigger signing bonus. on top of way fuckin better benefits and working at a (non-faang) well-known company that will look fantastic on my resume

i feel some vicarious excitement for this post because I�m in almost the same boat, and actually kind of looking forward to the new job.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2018 02:00

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Fiedler posted:

give us an example answer to "what are you looking for in your job search" that shows the candidate has drive, please.

minimum effort, maximum reward

# ¿ Jul 26, 2018 22:05

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Gazpacho posted:

What is your favourite song? Perform it for us now. (Living Social)

oh will you be providing the theremin, or should i bring one from home?

# ¿ Sep 13, 2018 00:24

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

big scary monsters posted:

"the most evil thing a company can do is be expensive for other companies to work with" is such a stunningly blinkered view even for the yospos techlord job thread that i don't even know where to start with it

yeah, like i get that oracle is evil, but b2b evil seems less problematic to me than being evil to the public at large

# ¿ Feb 16, 2019 00:11

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

i sort of remember seeing an article on to how to value stock options as part of an offer - does anyone have a guide or something that they like? i've only ever worked for places that gave cash or RSUs so i'm not exactly sure how to value the options part of an offer that's coming my way soon (lol it's pre-ipo, so value them at 0)

# ¿ Dec 18, 2020 16:00

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

rotor posted:

theres a lot of reasons a company might go link dead on you during an interview but the most common one would probably be "company is operating at 99.8% of absolute maximum capacity at all times and any slight issue pushes everything, including hiring, down the priority list."

agreed that this is the most common, but occasionally weird stuff happens. in my last job search, i went through a couple of rounds with a company, got good feedback, then radio silence from the (internal) recruiter. i followed up, and it turned out that his wife went into labor right after we last spoke, and he'd been on paternity since. i actually ended up taking that job, so i'm glad that i checked back in with them rather than just letting it go.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2023 23:33

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

yay: passed on-site interviews, scheduling meetings with teams to see if one is a match
boo: down-leveled, with no specifics on the range for the new title. based on levels.fyi, it could range from just fine on the higher end to "that's the increase from the last 3 job change/promotions gone"

# ¿ Nov 21, 2023 18:36

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 18:19

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

lord fifth posted:

ive heard of cases of small increases at this one, like a $1 or $2 per hour increase lol. but yeah the leverage just isn't there

important to note is that full time offer is about the same at both companies except one has a reliable stock performance, 401k matching, better work, and isn't web scale. if i can live comfortably and max my roth over the summer then the pay is sufficient imo

am I understanding right that an internship a) has a 401k available, b) matches contributions, and c) doesn't require a year+ for vesting on the match? that's better than probably half of the places i've worked, haha.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2024 03:23

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