Participating in a job interview is a two-way street. Learn about a company by asking the right questions during an interview. Most interviewers will give you a chance to ask them questions. The quality of your questions will be a factor, whether subconsciously or consciously, in their decisions. Some questions may come to you during the interview, but you can - and should - prepare questions in advance. Doing research on the company or team may help you with preparing questions.
Best questions I should ask my potential future employer to find out if they are on the up-and-up and worthy of my talent (Ha!).
- How much of your day do you spend coding?
- How many meetings do you have every week?
- What is the ratio of testers to developers to product managers? What is the interaction like? How does project planning happen on the team?
- I noticed that you use technology X. How do you handle problem Y?
- Why did the product choose to use the X protocol over the Y protocol? I know it has benefits like A, B, C, but many companies choose not to use it because of issue D.
- I’m very interested in scalability. Did you come in with a background in this, or what opportunities are there to learn about it?
- I’m not familiar with technology X, but it sounds like a very interesting solution. Could you tell me a bit more about how it works?
- What can you tell me about people I will be working with?
- How do you approach problem-solving?
- What do you see as the ultimate goal of your department or team?
- What do you see ahead for your company in the next five years? How do you see the future for this industry?
- What do you consider to be your firm's most important assets?
- What can you tell me about your new product or plans for growth?
- What happened to the last person who held this job? Why did the last three developers who left your organization leave?
- How have you learned from mistakes made in your previous projects?
- What are some existing difficulties the company/team are facing right now, and the plan/strategy to overcome them?
- Do you regularly have late night sessions to meet deadlines?
- What program do they use for source control? What development tools will I use?
- What are some conscious efforts made to ensure developers are well rested and healthy?
- Do you have a training budget? What are some activities the developers or team carry out to improve their skills, craft?
- What tools do they provide for their programmers? Do they give dual monitors? Good PCs?
- What is your least favorite thing about this job?
- "What do you expect me to have accomplished for Company within the first six months?"
- Can you make a build in one step? Do you make daily builds?
- Do you have a bug database? Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
- Do you use the best tools money can buy?
- Do you have specs or documentation?
- Do you have testers? Is there a dedicated team of testers? Do you do hallway usability testing?
- I would ask contacts if I could have a chat with my (possible) future coworkers :)
- What are the next steps in the interview process?
References
Computer Architecture Questions on Technical Interview
Top 30 questions you should ask the interviewer
Interview Questions for Senior and Mid-Software Engineers
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