Back-interviewing
You’re looking for a job. You’ve interviewed at 12+ companies (you overachiever!) and have 2–3 you’re ‘serious’ about. So you need to make a decision. You have a Friday deadline. Which do you pick?
There are a lot of different criteria you can use. Find ones that work for you. And then think if they really matter — my guess is they don’t. Research shows a few variables lead to greatest happiness at work:
- Your manager. Is she your advocate? Your coach? Does she have your best interests in mind? Will she push you? Will she give you autonomy? Will she know which of those you need, when?
- Your team. Do you get along? Will you learn from them? Do they hold each other accountable and to high standards? Are they a High Performing Team? What value do you immediately bring them?
And then I add my own 3rd one:
3. Growth (scope/team/company). Are things changing quickly? Is there waaay more work to be done than people to do it? This is the biggest variable in how much autonomy (“ownership”) you can get in a short period of time.
Think back on those 3 companies you interviewed at. You may have gotten enough data about #3. But can you really distinguish the opportunities using criteria #1 and #2? If not, why not?
Most likely you didn’t meet the manager or the entire team. If you did, most likely it was in an interview scenario — they got a read on you, but you didn’t get a read on them. How can we fix this?
This is the Back Interview. Engineers don’t realize it exists. We’re fortunate to live in a time when we’re in high demand — and that means we can’t be pressured to make decisions. That Friday deadline? Bollocks. Tell the recruiter you really like the opportunity but that you want to “back interview” the company. That you need 1:1 time with the manager and time with the team to really understand the fit.
How much should you invest? Assuming 2 years at the company and 2000 hours/year, you’ve got 4000 hours to live with the decision you make. Even if all 3 companies are awesome it’s likely one will have a better fit — say, you get “20% more out of every hour”. That’s 800 hours of learning/fun/whatever incremental gain you could have (IMO it’s actually much higher — like 50–100% more!). That puts things in perspective: spending 8–16 hours figuring out which team gets you the most has 50–100x return!
When I joined TellApart, Inc. I spent 4 hours back interviewing Wade Chambers and another 3–4 hours with the senior engineers. I even sneaked into their All Hands where Josh McFarland was discussing the most recent Board Presentation (financial numbers and all!). Seeing the culture up-front and hearing the good, the bad, and the ugly increased my confidence interval dramatically. My choice was not a random toss :)
Recruiters, managers, or teams may be unfamiliar with this. That’s OK: it’s in their best interest too (even if they don’t have a process for it!). It’s a terrible feeling to hire someone and realize you’re not the best manager/team for that person. Just be clear about what you want to get out of it and why. And let’s make Back Interview a standard thing :)
