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  3. What one question should candidates ask prospective employers?

What one question should candidates ask prospective employers?

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  • D Offline
    D Offline
    Duncan Edwards Jones
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

    L D G A M 11 Replies Last reply
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    • D Duncan Edwards Jones

      As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

      L Offline
      L Offline
      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Will you still love me tomorrow?

      Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

      D Sander RosselS 2 Replies Last reply
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      • L Lost User

        Will you still love me tomorrow?

        Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

        D Offline
        D Offline
        Duncan Edwards Jones
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I'm not entirely sure what sort of "employment" you are thinking of here :-)

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • D Duncan Edwards Jones

          As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

          D Offline
          D Offline
          devenv exe
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Do you block access to codeproject.com & stackoverflow.com during working hours?

          "Coming soon"

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • D Duncan Edwards Jones

            As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

            L Offline
            L Offline
            Lost User
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Where is my coffee? I'd also recommend doing the 12 point Joel-test. (Is there source control, do you do daily builds etc.)

            Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • D Duncan Edwards Jones

              As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

              G Offline
              G Offline
              Gary R Wheeler
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              For me, it's the same question I ask candidates: "Are you a jerk?"

              Software Zen: delete this;

              S 1 Reply Last reply
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              • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                A Offline
                A Offline
                Amarnath S
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Two here: - Which subset of the parent company's products does this particular office location contribute to; and how important is this subset in the overall product portfolio? - What are your plans to further strengthen the unique strengths of this particular office location as against other office locations (with reference to domain expertise, special skill sets, etc.)? Answers to these questions are not likely to be on the company's website, and these questions may need to be posed diplomatically; I've just given the raw questions here.

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • L Lost User

                  Will you still love me tomorrow?

                  Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

                  Sander RosselS Offline
                  Sander RosselS Offline
                  Sander Rossel
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Well let me sleep on it, baby baby let me sleep on it... :D

                  Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

                  Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

                  Regards, Sander

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                    As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                    M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Marc Clifton
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Duncan Edwards Jones wrote:

                    What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                    There are a few "how's the weather?" questions I asked (sorry, not just one): 1. Do you use source control (you'd be surprised how many companies in this day and age say no, or if they say yes, don't really use it except as a backup system.) 2. What development methodologies do you use? If they answer "Agile", my response, besides laughing hysterically, is "everyone claims to use Agile, but do you really know how to use it?" 3. Who are your investors / are you profitable yet? As a followup to "no, not profitable yet", I ask to see their business plan. I kid you not. It's quite fun watching people squirm. ;) 4. What's your work remote policy? (This is usually the clincher for me.) Marc

                    Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

                    C P 2 Replies Last reply
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                    • M Marc Clifton

                      Duncan Edwards Jones wrote:

                      What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                      There are a few "how's the weather?" questions I asked (sorry, not just one): 1. Do you use source control (you'd be surprised how many companies in this day and age say no, or if they say yes, don't really use it except as a backup system.) 2. What development methodologies do you use? If they answer "Agile", my response, besides laughing hysterically, is "everyone claims to use Agile, but do you really know how to use it?" 3. Who are your investors / are you profitable yet? As a followup to "no, not profitable yet", I ask to see their business plan. I kid you not. It's quite fun watching people squirm. ;) 4. What's your work remote policy? (This is usually the clincher for me.) Marc

                      Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

                      C Offline
                      C Offline
                      Colin Mullikin
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Marc Clifton wrote:

                      What development methodologies do you use? If they answer "Agile", my response, besides laughing hysterically, is "everyone claims to use Agile, but do you really know how to use it?"

                      I think this could produce some rather funny responses at my company. :laugh:

                      The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

                      S 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                        As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                        N Offline
                        N Offline
                        Nueman
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        What are your strengths/weaknesses? Where will you be 5 years from now?[^] What goes around comes around.

                        What we got here is a failure to communicate

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                          As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                          9 Offline
                          9 Offline
                          9082365
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Questions should not be asked in interviews at all. Answers are so prejudicial to the interviewer's opinion!

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                            As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            Mycroft Holmes
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            I would be dependant on the type of position, see Marc's reply for a permanent but a contractor will be focussed on completely different priorities. Does you development environment conform to my standards! This then leads into number of screens, office type, source control, VS version, admin rights and internet access.

                            Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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                            • G Gary R Wheeler

                              For me, it's the same question I ask candidates: "Are you a jerk?"

                              Software Zen: delete this;

                              S Offline
                              S Offline
                              Super Lloyd
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Who answers yes to that question?!

                              All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!

                              G 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                                As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                                K Offline
                                K Offline
                                Kirk 10389821
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Would it be better if I moved to a third world country, and lived below poverty so you could pay me less? :)

                                1 Reply Last reply
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                                • C Colin Mullikin

                                  Marc Clifton wrote:

                                  What development methodologies do you use? If they answer "Agile", my response, besides laughing hysterically, is "everyone claims to use Agile, but do you really know how to use it?"

                                  I think this could produce some rather funny responses at my company. :laugh:

                                  The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

                                  S Offline
                                  S Offline
                                  SeattleC
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  OK, this one gets my vote. Because you're right. Everyone says "agile". It launches you into a discussion of the whole process as practiced. It lets you find out how they treat schedule slips, how they deal with variation in skill and work completion rates, and a whole bunch of workplace issues.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                                    As a follow on to this Insider News post[^] on the one question to ask candidates, I was wondering what you'd suggest for the reverse. What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                                    O Offline
                                    O Offline
                                    ormonds
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Tell me why you deserve me.

                                    F 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • M Marc Clifton

                                      Duncan Edwards Jones wrote:

                                      What do / should you ask in the interview as the candidate?

                                      There are a few "how's the weather?" questions I asked (sorry, not just one): 1. Do you use source control (you'd be surprised how many companies in this day and age say no, or if they say yes, don't really use it except as a backup system.) 2. What development methodologies do you use? If they answer "Agile", my response, besides laughing hysterically, is "everyone claims to use Agile, but do you really know how to use it?" 3. Who are your investors / are you profitable yet? As a followup to "no, not profitable yet", I ask to see their business plan. I kid you not. It's quite fun watching people squirm. ;) 4. What's your work remote policy? (This is usually the clincher for me.) Marc

                                      Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

                                      P Offline
                                      P Offline
                                      piyush_singh
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Marc Clifton wrote:

                                      Do you use source control

                                      This one's a must. When I joined a reputed firm some times back I took source control for granted. But after I joined, they informed me that the client on whose project I'll be working was not paying for the source control hence there's no code backing mechanism (forget the versioning)!! :confused: So then how did they take backups? They usually put there codes on other peoples machine even if they had nothing to do with its development! In that way if tomorrow my machine crashed, I could take the code from any of the other person. (There was no dearth of options :cool:) The end result: There were source codes everywhere. We even put them on the machine of the QA guys. We stored the zip files in the QA server of the client (as the devs didn't had access to the prod servers :) ). If anybody feels like avoiding this sort of situation, please ensure they have source control for your project.

                                      Piyush K Singh

                                      M 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • O ormonds

                                        Tell me why you deserve me.

                                        F Offline
                                        F Offline
                                        FreeAsInBeer
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Have you ever used this line? I could very easily see this coming off as conceited or condescending.

                                        O 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • S Super Lloyd

                                          Who answers yes to that question?!

                                          All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          Gary R Wheeler
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          Obviously, that's not the precise question I ask. That is the question in my mind throughout an interview, though.

                                          Software Zen: delete this;

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