37 tips for interviewing a tech company · Welcome to my blog
1. Avoid companies that are obsessed with a specific technology stack (unless you are as well)
Let’s face it, technology stacks are a means to an end. Focusing on the technology instead of the solution is a recipe for disaster. Specific technology stacks are not guarantees for success and therefore should not be obsessed over.
2. Avoid companies with excessive technical debt
This must be balanced with what is mentioned above. If the company allows their employees total freedom in adding to the technical stack, you should steer clear. A company’s Bus Factor is very important. No one wants to spend a weekend learning some arcane system, because the person that maintained it has left the company and a new critical bug was just discovered.
3. Avoid companies where the people who are conducting the interview look overworked
If the employees look overworked, if you join you will be overworked as well.
4. Avoid companies that will not be able to tell you what your initial workload will look like
When you join a company, the company should have a somewhat accurate estimate of what your initial workload should look like (at least for the first 3-6 months). Avoid places that don’t.
5. Avoid companies that seriously affect your quality of life
Your quality of life is important, and you should be assertive in ensuring that your new job won’t have a detrimental effect on it. I can guarantee that a company doesn’t care how many all nighters you pull to get the job done. All they care about is how to effectively make use of their human capital and will squeeze you for all your worth. Your job requires your full mental capacity, which requires that you maintain a certain quality of life.
6. If you are offered a higher salary in exchange for less equity, take the higher salary.
Equity rarely amounts to anything significant. Many times it is used to pacify overworked employees. Take the extra cash today. This only applies if you cannot sell the equity on an exchange.
7. Avoid companies that do not have an official ramp-up process
Every employee, no matter how senior, must learn how things work at every company they join. Your initial days will require a lot of “hand holding” and help. This is normal. Avoid places that throw you into the lion’s den with a dull knife.
8. Avoid companies that have even one brogrammer
Remember, even one bad employee can ruin the environment for everyone.
9. Avoid companies with immature and childish employees
You want to work in a place where people are respectful and mature. Otherwise, office drama will play a serious part of your work day.
10. Avoid companies with conceited people
No one wants to be around conceited people, let alone work with them.
11. Avoid companies that shun diversity
You want to work at places that embrace diversity. Remember, everyone will feel welcome in a place that embraces diversity.
12. Avoid places that don’t respect you or your property
This can be interpreted in many ways and I will leave this up to the reader’s intuition. However, I will provide one example. If your company expects you to use your cellphone as a part of your job, they should at least pay some if not your entire cellphone bill (in addition to your current salary) or provide you with a company cellphone.
13. Avoid companies that lack a systematic processes
Processes and policies allow companies to scale. A lack of some form of standardization will lead to all sorts of technical and logistical debt.
14. Avoid companies with no office culture
Every company, big and small should have some form of office culture. You want to work in a friendly environment and be on good terms with your co-workers. Many of these relationships can be fostered at company events. A company that lacks culture, lacks harmony.
15. Avoid companies that have unwelcome surprises during the interview
If you experience an unwelcome surprise during the interview, imagine how many “surprises” you will experience during your employment.
16. Avoid companies that ask useless interview questions
If you are asked questions that are not relevant to the job you are interviewing for, decline to answer them. Here is an example of a useless interview question.
- How many traffic lights are there in New York City?
17. Avoid companies that ask you to contribute to their code base during the interview process
You are being interviewed and have not been hired. You should not be working on the company’s code base during your interview.
18. Avoid companies that ask you to take a large amount of time off of work to interview without compensating you
A company should respect the time that the interview candidates takes to come in to interview. If they ask you to take a day or two off to interview, it should compensate you monetarily.
19. Avoid companies that do not have a code of ethics
A code of ethics is very important and every company should possess one. Avoid places that don’t.
20. Avoid companies with an unlimited paid vacation policy
This is a nice way of saying “The company vacation policy is subject to our discretion on a case by case basis”. Knowing how much paid vacation you are entitled to allows you to plan your vacation and not have to worry if you’re asking for too much.
21. Avoid companies with questionable business practices
If the company you are interviewing by may be breaking the law or doing something you deem unethical, walk away.
22. Avoid companies with individual ownership requirements
All new and current systems should be owned by the engineering team. You don’t want to be the only one on call for everything you build. It leads to a culture where people are afraid to innovate in fear of losing their nights and weekends.
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