tech-interview-handbook/non-technical/questions-to-ask.md

Questions to Ask
==

Here are some good questions to ask at the end of the interview, extracted from various sources. The ones in **bold** are the ones that I like 😄.

## General

- How do your clients and customers define success?
- What would you change around here if you could?
- What are some weaknesses of the organization?
- What does a typical day look like for you?
- **What are you most proud about in your career so far?**
- What do you think the company can improve at?
- What is the most important/valuable thing you have learnt from working here?
- How would you see yourself growing at this company in the next few years?
- What do you wish you were told about the company before you joined?

## Culture

- What was your best moment so far at the company?
- What do you like most about working here?
- **What is the most frustrating part about working here?**
- **How will the work I will be doing contribute to the organization's mission?**
- How are you improving diversity?
- When you were last interviewing, what were some of your other options, and what made you choose this company?
- What is something you wish were different about your job?
- How often have you moved teams? What made you join the team you’re on right now? If you wanted to move teams, what would need to happen?
- (If the company is a startup) When's the last time you interacted with a founder? What was it regarding? Generally how involved are the founders in the day-to-day?
- Does the company culture encourage entrepreneurship? Could you give me any specific examples?
- What was something you wish someone would have told you before you joined?
- What is unique about working at this company that you have not experienced elsewhere?
- What does the company do to nurture and train its employees?

## Technical

- How would you describe your engineering culture?
- **What are the engineering challenges that the company/team is facing?**
- How has your role changed since joining the company?
- What is your stack? What is the rationale for/story behind this specific stack?
- Do you tend to roll your own solutions more often or rely on third party tools? What’s the rationale in a specific case?
- **What has been the worst technical blunder that has happened in the recent past? How did you guys deal with it? What changes were implemented afterwards to make sure it didn't happen again?**
- **What is the most costly technical decision made early on that the company is living with now?**
- How does the engineering team balance resources between feature requests and engineering maintenance?
- **What is the most fulfilling/exciting/technically complex project that you've worked on here so far?**
- **How do you train/ramp up engineers who are new to the team?**

## Behavioral

- Was there a time where you messed up and how was it handled?
- How would you see yourself growing at this company in the next few years?

## HR

- What concerns/reservations do you have about me for this position?
- What can I help to clarify that would make hiring me an easy decision?
- **How do you see this position evolving in the next three years?**
- **Who is your ideal candidate and how can I make myself more like them?**
- How does the management team deal with mistakes?
- If you could hire anyone to join your team, who would that be and why?

## Attrition

- How long does the average engineer stay at the company?
- Why have the last few people left?
- Have you ever thought about leaving? If you were to leave, where would you go?

#### References

- [Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.sg/impressive-job-interview-questions-2015-3/)
- [Lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/ask-this-question-to-end-your-job-interview-on-a-good-n-1787624433)
- [Fastcompany](https://www.fastcompany.com/40406730/7-questions-recruiters-at-amazon-spotify-and-more-want-you-to-ask)
- [Questions I'm asking in interviews](http://jvns.ca/blog/2013/12/30/questions-im-asking-in-interviews/)
- [How to interview your interviewers](http://blog.alinelerner.com/how-to-interview-your-interviewers/)
- [How to Break Into the Tech Industry—a Guide to Job Hunting and Tech Interviews](https://haseebq.com/how-to-break-into-tech-job-hunting-and-interviews/)
-												Squash commit

											
										
										
											7 years ago
+								Questions to Ask
 								==
 								Here are some good questions to ask at the end of the interview, extracted from various sources. The ones in **bold** are the ones that I like 😄.
 								## General
 								- How do your clients and customers define success?
 								- What would you change around here if you could?
 								- What are some weaknesses of the organization?
 								- What does a typical day look like for you?
 								- **What are you most proud about in your career so far?**
 								- What do you think the company can improve at?
 								- What is the most important/valuable thing you have learnt from working here?
 								- How would you see yourself growing at this company in the next few years?
 								- What do you wish you were told about the company before you joined?
 								## Culture
 								- What was your best moment so far at the company?
 								- What do you like most about working here?
 								- **What is the most frustrating part about working here?**
 								- **How will the work I will be doing contribute to the organization's mission?**
 								- How are you improving diversity?
 								- When you were last interviewing, what were some of your other options, and what made you choose this company?
 								- What is something you wish were different about your job?
 								- How often have you moved teams? What made you join the team you’re on right now? If you wanted to move teams, what would need to happen?
 								- (If the company is a startup) When's the last time you interacted with a founder? What was it regarding? Generally how involved are the founders in the day-to-day?
 								- Does the company culture encourage entrepreneurship? Could you give me any specific examples?
 								- What was something you wish someone would have told you before you joined?
 								- What is unique about working at this company that you have not experienced elsewhere?
 								- What does the company do to nurture and train its employees?
 								## Technical
 								- How would you describe your engineering culture?
 								- **What are the engineering challenges that the company/team is facing?**
 								- How has your role changed since joining the company?
 								- What is your stack? What is the rationale for/story behind this specific stack?
 								- Do you tend to roll your own solutions more often or rely on third party tools? What’s the rationale in a specific case?
 								- **What has been the worst technical blunder that has happened in the recent past? How did you guys deal with it? What changes were implemented afterwards to make sure it didn't happen again?**
 								- **What is the most costly technical decision made early on that the company is living with now?**
 								- How does the engineering team balance resources between feature requests and engineering maintenance?
 								- **What is the most fulfilling/exciting/technically complex project that you've worked on here so far?**
 								- **How do you train/ramp up engineers who are new to the team?**
 								## Behavioral
 								- Was there a time where you messed up and how was it handled?
 								- How would you see yourself growing at this company in the next few years?
 								## HR
 								- What concerns/reservations do you have about me for this position?
 								- What can I help to clarify that would make hiring me an easy decision?
 								- **How do you see this position evolving in the next three years?**
 								- **Who is your ideal candidate and how can I make myself more like them?**
 								- How does the management team deal with mistakes?
 								- If you could hire anyone to join your team, who would that be and why?
 								## Attrition
 								- How long does the average engineer stay at the company?
 								- Why have the last few people left?
 								- Have you ever thought about leaving? If you were to leave, where would you go?
 								#### References
 								- [Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.sg/impressive-job-interview-questions-2015-3/)
 								- [Lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/ask-this-question-to-end-your-job-interview-on-a-good-n-1787624433)
 								- [Fastcompany](https://www.fastcompany.com/40406730/7-questions-recruiters-at-amazon-spotify-and-more-want-you-to-ask)
 								- [Questions I'm asking in interviews](http://jvns.ca/blog/2013/12/30/questions-im-asking-in-interviews/)
 								- [How to interview your interviewers](http://blog.alinelerner.com/how-to-interview-your-interviewers/)
 								- [How to Break Into the Tech Industry—a Guide to Job Hunting and Tech Interviews](https://haseebq.com/how-to-break-into-tech-job-hunting-and-interviews/)