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December 8, 2020 07:48 pm GMT

Here Are 8 Questions You Should Ask Your Employer Before Taking the Job

This article was originally published at https://thewholesome.dev/p/here-are-8-questions-you-should-ask

Working as a developer is a lot of fun you get to solve challenging and complex tasks every day. Oh, and the pay is okay too.

Often, your team consists of smart developers who are eager to solve the tasks as a team. Great teammates are crucial when working on larger projects, and so is the environment you work in.

You dont want to burn out in two weeks ideally, you want to work there for years to fully see the project flourish.

Finding the right developer job can be tricky since there are a lot of crappy jobs out there. A crappy developer job will you make unhappy, depressed, and unfilled Its a rough road you would want to avoid.

Thus, I put together a list of questions you should ask your employer before taking on the job. These questions will give you a rough estimation of how much youll be appreciated by the company.

1. How Often Do You Work Evenings and Weekends?

A simple yet important question this tells you if they respect work-life balance or not. You might have a life outside of work, or you might have a dog, wife, and kids that youre looking forward to being with.

If your employer doesnt respect your work-life balance, you have hot potatoes in your lap.

If youre in your 20s, this might not be as big of a red flag, but the older you get, the more youre going to appreciate this.

Remember, no company is loyal to its employees its a hoax. The company is there to make money. Thats their ultimate goal, and theyll do whatever it takes, including working you to death. You have to fight for your freedom.

If you have the chance, ask another developer on the team this question. The more they beat around the bush, the more overworked they are. If youre not getting honest and forthright answers, assume theyre not telling you the truth.

2. Whats the Average Turnover Rate?

The turnover rate refers to the percentage of employees leaving a company within a certain period of time. Companies keep track of their average tenure its a measurement for them to understand their workforce better.

Firing people is expensive its the last thing a company wants to do. Lets say youre about to work on a massive project, and if there are only two core developers left out of 25, thats a huge red flag.

With limited information, you have to figure out why so many developers left the project.

Does the interviewer provide you with a reasonable explanation of why so many people left in a flurry? If they tell you they dont know the answer, assume they're not being honest, unless its a startup at a really early-stage.

3. Whats a Typical Day Like in This Position?

This question gives the interviewer the opportunity to talk about the best bits of the job and if they dont open up and start talking out of delight, something might be off.

Really, there are no right or wrongs here. I worked for a company where we all watched South Park during lunch breaks. At a different startup, we went swimming near the lake during lunch.

Each company has a different culture, and this question gives you the chance to clear things up and see if youre potentially a good match for the company and vice versa.

4. How Have You Supported Developer Professional Development in the Past?

If youre just starting out, you really want a team that will allow time for a senior dev to mentor you as youre completing your work. This is expected of more experienced developers, and you should try to find a place that values this type of mentorship.

If theyre a company that will just throw you to the wolves for your tasks, its probably best to skip them, unless you thrive in those types of environments.

Every decent company that wants to retain its talent should work very hard on educating its junior ranks while letting the more experienced developers explore different paths.

Traveling for developer conferences, coding courses, guest speakers, and in-house conferences are great ways for developers to share their knowledge and learn new things. A great company will keep its developers by providing new and more challenging tasks.

5. Ask for a Tour Around the Office at the End

Tours are important they show initiative and that youre interested and actually want the gig.

Asking for a tour also gives you an exact image of what your future working environment looks like. If you get off the elevator and see everyone working shoulder to shoulder on pairs of tiny 19" monitors with barely enough room to move their mouse without hitting someone elses keyboard youve got a problematic employer.

During the tour, and even when you first walk into the place, pay attention to the people. Are they happy? Smiling? Conversing? Or are they all miserable and have bags under their eyes? This is really telling of the workplace.

If youre not leaving the office with a big grin on your face the first day, chances are high you might never leave the building with a smile on your face.

6. Whats the Best and Worst Thing About Working Here?

This is my favorite question to ask in any sort of interview since it really turns the tables. It seems obvious, but Ive had multiple recruiters have to stop and think about this one before giving me an answer.

A perfect job doesnt exist every job has its ups and downs. Its your task to find out the good and bad parts and decide for yourself.

I remember asking this question from a chief operating officer (COO) in a medium-sized company, and the answer I got was very, very vague. It almost seemed like he was annoyed with the question, or he was just scared to say anything bad about the company.

You guessed it I didnt take the job.

7. Ask Them to Describe Their Software Development Lifecycle (How Often Do They Release Code?)

If theyre constantly trying to hit deadlines, have limited testing environments, dont have automated tests, dont have multi-tenancy, and have a horrific deployment process, then walk away.

It sucks to work your butt off for six months only to be told, Hey, scratch that, were not going to release the product.

Anger, disappointment, and resentment will follow, and youll start to reject ideas from the management team. After all, you worked nights and days only to be tossed aside. This is a downward spiral into unhappiness, unfulfillment, and probably switching companies.

Ive learned to ask what days they release their software on if the answer is Fridays before the afternoon, you have a problem.

Why would any company that makes money online make such critical changes during the hours when everyone has gone home and forgotten about their jobs?

Most people have left the office already, and if things were to go wrong, theres only a small fleet ready to handle the issue. A sensible company will push a newer version of their software when the people are in or near the office, not when theyre spending time with their families.

8. Ask About the Companys Long Term Vision (What Are Your Plans for the Next Five Years?)

This question gives the interviewer a chance to give you a clear view of the company's vision. Is the vision exciting and clear? Do you agree and align with that vision?

You can usually tell when a company has a great vision. Even if its a startup. Usually, vision is what feeds people. A place with no vision often has a horrible culture and high turnover.

Youre going to spend most of your life in that workplace and environment, and so its critical to be on board and agree as a collective about what you want to achieve.

Its very hard to hide the fact that youre not passionate about the project and vision. So, save yourself the trouble and hassle if youre just not feeling like thats something you would want to do for the longterm.

There are hundreds of thousands of developer jobs pick the one that suits you the most. I would pick the job where I believe in the companys vision over any other job, even one that pays double. Of course, dont let the company take advantage of you. They should still offer competitive pay even if the vision is exciting.

Conclusion
Thanks for reading, I hoped you learned something new. After reading this article, you should be equipped with knowledge on how to find that exciting new job the next time youre in the job market.

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Original Link: https://dev.to/indreklasn/here-are-8-questions-you-should-ask-your-employer-before-taking-the-job-5c9o

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