4 ms·

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 figuri

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?

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?