3 ms·

Don't work for companies like that. I have a few "red flags" which I look for when I interview for companies to avoid this type of mindset and if I see enough r

Don't work for companies like that. I have a few "red flags" which I look for when I interview for companies to avoid this type of mindset and if I see enough red flags I reject the company. Those places are usually career dead ends anyway, even if you're not bothered about working remotely. Unfortunately, there are many places which only have employers like that which means you either move or you deal with it.

dandandan 10y ago
Can you elaborate on what you're looking for at the interview stage to determine a company has this mindset? I've seen it after a few weeks at an org but figuring that out earlier would be helpful.
- crdoconnor 10y ago
  I have a few questions I ask which often tease out the red flags: * What hours did you and your team work in the last month? (anything that indicates long hours are frequent is a red flag, not because long hours are intrinsically bad (though they are), but because it's usually being used as a proxy for measuring productivity). * What is your policy on remote working? Who do you have remote working currently and under what circumstances? ("no remote working" is ok for me if there's a non-bullshit reason but YMMV). * Who is currently your best or one of your better developers? How did you come to that conclusion? * What characteristics do you look for in clean code vs. technical debt-laden code? How do you handle and plan for paying down technical debt? * Who reads your team's pull requests? (worst answer is "nobody", 2nd worst answer is "the team"). * Have you read any of my code? What did you think? I'm usually not looking for a perfect answer to all of these questions, just avoiding the companies that give an impression of widespread systemic dysfunction in their answers or a manager who is clueless.
  - dasmoth 10y ago
    >>> * Who reads your team's pull requests? (worst answer is "nobody", 2nd worst answer is "the team"). What's the best answer you've heard for this one?
    - crdoconnor 10y ago
      Something involving not only the team reviewing each other's code but somebody with the power to hire/fire (i.e. the answer "I will").
      - dasmoth 10y ago
        Ah, makes sense. Thanks.
  - emilburzo 10y ago
    These are actually quite good. I never thought about teasing the red flags, but it makes more sense than just asking directly. You could publish a list somewhere, I think a lot of people would find these valuable. How did they work for you in practice? Best/worst reactions to them?
tbirrell 10y ago
Echoing dandandan. Would you mind sharing these red flags?

dandandan 10y ago

Can you elaborate on what you're looking for at the interview stage to determine a company has this mindset? I've seen it after a few weeks at an org but figuring that out earlier would be helpful.

crdoconnor 10y ago
I have a few questions I ask which often tease out the red flags: * What hours did you and your team work in the last month? (anything that indicates long hours are frequent is a red flag, not because long hours are intrinsically bad (though they are), but because it's usually being used as a proxy for measuring productivity). * What is your policy on remote working? Who do you have remote working currently and under what circumstances? ("no remote working" is ok for me if there's a non-bullshit reason but YMMV). * Who is currently your best or one of your better developers? How did you come to that conclusion? * What characteristics do you look for in clean code vs. technical debt-laden code? How do you handle and plan for paying down technical debt? * Who reads your team's pull requests? (worst answer is "nobody", 2nd worst answer is "the team"). * Have you read any of my code? What did you think? I'm usually not looking for a perfect answer to all of these questions, just avoiding the companies that give an impression of widespread systemic dysfunction in their answers or a manager who is clueless.
- dasmoth 10y ago
  >>> * Who reads your team's pull requests? (worst answer is "nobody", 2nd worst answer is "the team"). What's the best answer you've heard for this one?
  - crdoconnor 10y ago
    Something involving not only the team reviewing each other's code but somebody with the power to hire/fire (i.e. the answer "I will").
    - dasmoth 10y ago
      Ah, makes sense. Thanks.
- emilburzo 10y ago
  These are actually quite good. I never thought about teasing the red flags, but it makes more sense than just asking directly. You could publish a list somewhere, I think a lot of people would find these valuable. How did they work for you in practice? Best/worst reactions to them?

tbirrell 10y ago

Echoing dandandan. Would you mind sharing these red flags?