Questions You Can Ask
Work through every question currently mapped to this canonical topic.
- What do you like about working here?
Open-ended question — no single right answer.
- How does the company promote personal growth?
Open-ended question — no single right answer.
- What is the current level of technical debt you are dealing with?
Answer
Be careful when asking this question - all companies, regardless of size, have some level of tech debt. Phrase the question in the light that all companies have the deal with this, but you want to see the current pain points they are dealing with
This is a great way to figure how managers deal with unplanned work, and how good they are at setting expectations with projects.
- Why I should NOT join you? (or 'what you don't like about working here?')
Open-ended question — no single right answer.
- What was your favorite project you've worked on?
Answer
This can give you insights in some of the cool projects a company is working on, and if you would enjoy working on projects like these. This is also a good way to see if the managers are allowing employees to learn and grow with projects outside of the normal work you'd do.
- If you could change one thing about your day to day, what would it be?
Answer
Similar to the tech debt question, this helps you identify any pain points with the company. Additionally, it can be a great way to show how you'd be an asset to the team.
For Example, if they mention they have problem X, and you've solved that in the past, you can show how you'd be able to mitigate that problem.
- Let's say that we agree and you hire me to this position, after X months, what do you expect that I have achieved?
Answer
Not only this will tell you what is expected from you, it will also provide big hint on the type of work you are going to do in the first months of your job.