6 ms·

Here are the five things I look out for when evaluating a new position: 1. Is the salary enough to pay my rent, feed me, and allow me to save a little bit ever

Here are the five things I look out for when evaluating a new position: 1. Is the salary enough to pay my rent, feed me, and allow me to save a little bit every month? (This one is obvious. Don't take a job that will put you in debt!!!) 2. Do I trust that my direct manager will protect me from bullshit? (This is a REALLY important one for me, and is the reason I've rejected offers. If your future manager is an asshole or treats you like shit during the interview, don't take the job. A good manager exists to make sure you do the best work you can possibly do for the company, and gives you any resources you might need for that. A good manager is your leader, not your enemy.) 3. Will I be able to learn and grow in this role? (A good manager will help immensely with this one.) 4. Do I like the people I will be working with? (If you don't at least tolerate the people you work with on a daily basis, you're going to be miserable). 5. Is my commute within reason?

NikolaNovak 10y ago
Re #2, couldn't agree more. I was 10 years into my career before I understood the value and purpose of manager as "Enabler", protecting me from unnecessary BS and giving me the tools/opportunity to do my job; majority of my colleagues still only see managers as either productive "team leads / designers", or useless - giving them no other value outside of their technical contributions.
amitparikh 10y ago
I'm really happy to see commute time in your list (among the other points). I'm a big believer in increasing quality of life by decreasing commute time, something which is increasingly difficult in the largest metropolitan job centers of America.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
hkmurakami 10y ago
This would basically be my list as well, with a strong emphasis on #2. I go further on #2 and ask myself, "Do I want to work for this person?" (in terms of character, trust, will he/she have my back, do they care about my growth, etc.) and "Will I learn a lot from this person?" (skills, experience, industry knowledge, etc.)
bgribble 10y ago
(I'm a programmer so my personal rules reflect that) I like these guidelines. For salary, my rule is "does the offered salary meet local norms for the position and the company's situation, and does it show respect for me and for the role I will be playing?" I wouldn't be applying for the job if "norms" for the job would not meet my needs (and, as another replier points out, leave more than a little after expenses to plan for the future). Also, I look hard at the working conditions and environment. I don't really start talking about this stuff until after an offer, but I'm watching for signs throughout the process: * Are the hours humane? Overworking programmers is a sign of disrespect for the role. * Is it friendly to women? An engineering team with no women is a huge red flag of bad management and culture, for teams of more than about 5 people. For smaller teams, is there a sense that hiring women is important? * Does the company try to dominate the employee's non-working life? Regular "happy hours", catered dinner at night (RED FLAG), bar/keggerator in the office... all bad signs to me * Is there flexibility about when and where the work gets done, or is it ass-in-a-seat-9-to-7? * Do people stick around? Has my manager pulled in people he/she has worked with in the past (big plus)?
- baconomatic 10y ago
  > Does the company try to dominate the employee's non-working life? Regular "happy hours", catered dinner at night (RED FLAG), bar/keggerator in the office... all bad signs to me. That's one of the biggest red flags for me, both for work-life balance and what the company is spending money on. If they have all sorts of fancy toys around the office I'm not sure I can trust that they are spending their money wisely.
  - Declanomous 10y ago
    When I graduated from college and was applying for literally everything, I started a list of companies who had pictures of ping-pong tables in their job postings. They always appeared to be included as proof that the company was 'fun'. Call me cynical, but I think those "perks" exist purely for marketing purposes. The greatest expense of a ping-pong table is almost certainly the space it takes up in the office, and overall I'd say it's a relatively inexpensive marketing tactic, and it's definitely a cheap line item when it comes to employee perks as well. The biggest issue with ping pong, and similar games (bubble hockey, foosball, bags), is that if you need a break, you will need to find someone else to take it with you. Furthermore, you are basically broadcasting to the entire workplace that you aren't working at the moment, which is disruptive even if they break is well-deserved. I worked at a place that had something like that, and I literally never saw anyone playing it.
walshemj 10y ago
Just save a "little" bit? you should be aiming for 1k savings per month
- falsedan 10y ago
  What about for positions not in the Bay Area bubble?
  - fwefwwfe 10y ago
    Does that not apply to all major metropolitan areas?
    - falsedan 10y ago
      No, not every major city pays devs living expenses + $1,000/month.
      - walshemj 10y ago
        Well I was managing about £1500k/month into my ISA last year central London.
        falsedan 10y ago
        That's grand pal.
  - walshemj 10y ago
    Obviously this is relative to your location
    - falsedan 10y ago
      I think "save 10%" is the rule-of-thumb and a more inclusive way to state it.
aparvinash 10y ago
I like these (I am 2 years out of college, so my experience might be completely different) On 2,3 and 4. Some companies have anonymous interview procedures where your manager or team mates might not be the people interviewing you (more so if you are straight out of college). My addition for new grads: I would incline towards companies with tough interviews(comparatively), probability of smarter colleagues and high expectations. I might be totally wrong, after all I have been in the industry for only two years.
mvpu 10y ago
This is a great way to look at it. Few things I'd add: 6. Does the CEO have a strong vision and character? Roughly, are they more like Elon Musk (engineering driven, moves quickly), Jeff Bezos (long term thinker, experiments a lot), Mark Beinoff (business savvy, sales driven) or Travis Kalanick (win at all costs). No matter what companies say, their culture is determined by the CEO - their values, motivations, personality. This is important for startups. 7. What excites the people working there? (the people you interviewed with). Is it passion for company mission? Great colleagues? Big investors / lots of money raised (red flag)? Frat culture? (specific schools or groups) (red flag).

NikolaNovak 10y ago

Re #2, couldn't agree more. I was 10 years into my career before I understood the value and purpose of manager as "Enabler", protecting me from unnecessary BS and giving me the tools/opportunity to do my job; majority of my colleagues still only see managers as either productive "team leads / designers", or useless - giving them no other value outside of their technical contributions.

amitparikh 10y ago

I'm really happy to see commute time in your list (among the other points). I'm a big believer in increasing quality of life by decreasing commute time, something which is increasingly difficult in the largest metropolitan job centers of America.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

hkmurakami 10y ago

This would basically be my list as well, with a strong emphasis on #2. I go further on #2 and ask myself, "Do I want to work for this person?" (in terms of character, trust, will he/she have my back, do they care about my growth, etc.) and "Will I learn a lot from this person?" (skills, experience, industry knowledge, etc.)

bgribble 10y ago

(I'm a programmer so my personal rules reflect that) I like these guidelines. For salary, my rule is "does the offered salary meet local norms for the position and the company's situation, and does it show respect for me and for the role I will be playing?" I wouldn't be applying for the job if "norms" for the job would not meet my needs (and, as another replier points out, leave more than a little after expenses to plan for the future). Also, I look hard at the working conditions and environment. I don't really start talking about this stuff until after an offer, but I'm watching for signs throughout the process: * Are the hours humane? Overworking programmers is a sign of disrespect for the role. * Is it friendly to women? An engineering team with no women is a huge red flag of bad management and culture, for teams of more than about 5 people. For smaller teams, is there a sense that hiring women is important? * Does the company try to dominate the employee's non-working life? Regular "happy hours", catered dinner at night (RED FLAG), bar/keggerator in the office... all bad signs to me * Is there flexibility about when and where the work gets done, or is it ass-in-a-seat-9-to-7? * Do people stick around? Has my manager pulled in people he/she has worked with in the past (big plus)?

baconomatic 10y ago
> Does the company try to dominate the employee's non-working life? Regular "happy hours", catered dinner at night (RED FLAG), bar/keggerator in the office... all bad signs to me. That's one of the biggest red flags for me, both for work-life balance and what the company is spending money on. If they have all sorts of fancy toys around the office I'm not sure I can trust that they are spending their money wisely.
- Declanomous 10y ago
  When I graduated from college and was applying for literally everything, I started a list of companies who had pictures of ping-pong tables in their job postings. They always appeared to be included as proof that the company was 'fun'. Call me cynical, but I think those "perks" exist purely for marketing purposes. The greatest expense of a ping-pong table is almost certainly the space it takes up in the office, and overall I'd say it's a relatively inexpensive marketing tactic, and it's definitely a cheap line item when it comes to employee perks as well. The biggest issue with ping pong, and similar games (bubble hockey, foosball, bags), is that if you need a break, you will need to find someone else to take it with you. Furthermore, you are basically broadcasting to the entire workplace that you aren't working at the moment, which is disruptive even if they break is well-deserved. I worked at a place that had something like that, and I literally never saw anyone playing it.

walshemj 10y ago

Just save a "little" bit? you should be aiming for 1k savings per month

falsedan 10y ago
What about for positions not in the Bay Area bubble?
- fwefwwfe 10y ago
  Does that not apply to all major metropolitan areas?
  - falsedan 10y ago
    No, not every major city pays devs living expenses + $1,000/month.
    - walshemj 10y ago
      Well I was managing about £1500k/month into my ISA last year central London.
      - falsedan 10y ago
        That's grand pal.
- walshemj 10y ago
  Obviously this is relative to your location
  - falsedan 10y ago
    I think "save 10%" is the rule-of-thumb and a more inclusive way to state it.

aparvinash 10y ago

I like these (I am 2 years out of college, so my experience might be completely different) On 2,3 and 4. Some companies have anonymous interview procedures where your manager or team mates might not be the people interviewing you (more so if you are straight out of college). My addition for new grads: I would incline towards companies with tough interviews(comparatively), probability of smarter colleagues and high expectations. I might be totally wrong, after all I have been in the industry for only two years.

mvpu 10y ago

This is a great way to look at it. Few things I'd add: 6. Does the CEO have a strong vision and character? Roughly, are they more like Elon Musk (engineering driven, moves quickly), Jeff Bezos (long term thinker, experiments a lot), Mark Beinoff (business savvy, sales driven) or Travis Kalanick (win at all costs). No matter what companies say, their culture is determined by the CEO - their values, motivations, personality. This is important for startups. 7. What excites the people working there? (the people you interviewed with). Is it passion for company mission? Great colleagues? Big investors / lots of money raised (red flag)? Frat culture? (specific schools or groups) (red flag).