15 Questions to Ask Someone Interviewing You

I’ve been both interviewing for new positions and conducting mock interviews for students on the search for their first dev job over the last few months. I’ve learned quite a bit in the process. The job search is exhausting regardless if you are working a full time job or if you’re just job searching. The job search itself is a full time job.

A not so fantastic experience at a company a few years ago taught me a few things about the interview process. It seems like common sense, but sometimes people need a reminder: you’re interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you.

You should absolutely meet some members of the team you’ll be joining (if offered the position of course). Even if the company doesn’t offer this, you should seek this out. It’s crucial when trying to understand what culture and work environment you’ll be joining.

Additionally, the What Questions Do You Have for Me? section of any interview should never feel like a burden. You shouldn’t feel like you need to ask questions. Use this as an opportunity to learn more about the team you’ll be potentially joining. And if you run out of time, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask follow up questions in an email or another phone call. The company is investing in you and you are are investing in the company. Do everything in your power to feel confident in your decision to join a company.

Here are a few questions I use to determine whether a company is a good fit for me. Keep in mind, these questions are based on what I value so these all might not make sense to you!

What does feedback look like for team members and at the organization in general?

This question allows me to gain insight into how the team views feedback. Do they limit themselves to feedback on Github via PR’s? Are they actively seeking and giving feedback on working together outside of specific pieces of code? Does the organization at a higher level value feedback? Feedback is something I highly value. How do I know how I’m doing without feedback? How can I give team members feedback if there isn’t a culture of feedback? Oh and Harvard Business Review agrees that feedback is important too.

What’s your team’s biggest challenge?

If the interviewer has a billion challenges to choose from, this probably isn’t a great sign. This is a chance for the interviewer to be transparent about a challenge the team is currently facing. If they can’t think of anything, probably not a good sign either. Challenges are reality. In a perfect world, the challenge they share is something I’d enjoy helping solve.

What’s the organization’s biggest challenge?

It’s interesting to hear about the organization at a higher level and how that relates to the specific team. If the organization is going to double in the next year, and you’re looking to join a small, tight-knit team, then you probably want to know this. It’s important for me to know what to expect at an organizational level.

What work are you most proud of thus far at the organization?

In my experience, people love answering this question. It allows them to share an accomplishment and people generally enjoy this (because we’re human). This question is typically telling of how much the organization or the person has grown thus far and what they value.

Where do you see the team in 2–3 years?

Are they growing rapidly? What’s the team’s main focus? Are they developing an existing product or are the expanding and building new products? It’s important that the team’s goals (in general) match up with my professional goals. Note: this question might not be appropriate for someone who just joined the team.

What is the career trajectory of someone starting in this position? Do others in this position typically focus on specific areas of growth?

I’m a huge fan of expectation setting. I like to know how to grow my skills both technically and professionally. I also like knowing that an organization has put some thought into employee growth. What role does the organization play in developing their employees? I suggest even probing further to ask about professional development. Does the organization send their employees to conferences and/or trainings? Have they thought about professional development in the context of this specific role?

What are three non-negotiable characteristics the next person joining your team will have?

I love hearing interviewers prioritize what they’re looking for in someone joining their team. This question is typically indicates whether or not my values/skills match up with the interview’s values/skills. If the interviewer prioritizes skills that don’t match up with yours, that’s okay. You typically don’t want to join a team that’s looking to fill the position with someone vastly different from yourself.

Does your team do regular retro’s? If so, what specifically do your retro’s consist of?

Along the lines of feedback, reflection is important to me. It’s hard to know what to improve if you don’t reflect on what went well and what needs improvement. An organization that values retro’s and places some structure around reflecting on what went well and what could be better next time is one that most likely values team members’ opinions (in my opinion).

Why did you join the organization?

This question tells you more about the specific person interviewing me, but it could also stand true for other people in the organization as well. Do the employees care about the mission/values of the organization? Do they see an opportunity for growth? Are they just working to work? I typically like to ask this question to as many people a I can at the organization.

How do team members know what to work on each day?

This indicates to me how organized a team is. Personally, I value organization and thoroughly enjoy when organization helps increase my effectiveness and efficiency. I genuinely dislike being bored or having ambiguous tasks to complete. I do appreciate some room for creativity, but expectations need to be clear. Also, the answer to this question typically reveals if team member’s are constantly triaging bugs and fixing broken code or if they are more often working on implementing new features.

If I join the team, how will I know I’m doing a sufficient job and fulfilling my responsibilities?

Similar to the feedback question. Team members should know how they’re doing on a continual basis. It’s silly to me to wait until an annual performance review to tell someone that they are close to being let go because they haven’t been arriving on time to work (or for some other reason). Continual feedback and positive reinforcement leads to more effective teams. Also, a Harvard Business Review study shows “top performing teams give each other more than five positive comments for every criticism.” We all should give each other more positive reinforcement!

If I were to join the team and my first day was tomorrow, what does the day look like?

In my experience, organizations are not fantastic when it comes to bringing on new talent. Either there’s too many moving pieces from recruitment to paperwork to HR to onboarding or there’s far too few. Even if the organization isn’t as organized as you’d hoped, you’ll at least be expecting it (if you ask this question of course).

What’s the onboarding process consist of?

Onboarding is hard. I haven’t come across too many organizations who do this well, but it’s nice to know that the organization is thinking about it and aware. If they aren’t, that tells me they aren’t interested in setting up new employees for success. It once took me six months to figure out how to sign up for a 401K (this was definitely partly my fault of course).

What collaboration tools does the team use?

Collaboration leads to more frequent and consistent success in my opinion. Are there tools in place to facilitate this collaboration? Does everyone push to master whenever they feel like it? Are team member’s stepping on each others’ toes by working on similar features? I love working with others and collaborating, but I don’t enjoy it as much when the collaboration component is unclear.

When was the last time you helped advance someone else’s career?

The answer to this question tells me if the culture is cut throat or if everyone is helping each other climb the ladder together. Are team members focused on their individual growth or the growth of the team? Are team members willing and able to take 5, 10, 15 minutes to help someone else out? If the interviewer is your future manager, the answer will also reveal what they do to help their employees grow and accomplish their goals.

Note: I’ve left out questions regarding culture because typically interviewers mention this before I get the chance to ask. But if they don’t, I ask something along the lines of “What characteristics do you look for when you’re evaluating whether a person will add to your team culture?”. I like to think that I’m adding to a team’s culture rather than simply integrating into something that already exists.

If you have questions you’d like to share, feel free to add a comment! Thanks for reading and good luck if you’re job searching 😃