I recently switched jobs after just shy of 5 years. Over those past 4+ years I have interviewed dozens of people for a job and learned a lot about the process.

The 2 way street

For starters, it helped me be relaxed during the interview process. I always tried to make sure it was a 2 way street. If a candidate doesn’t feel comfortable with me, it probably wouldn’t be a good fit. Therefore I liked to structure interviews as a conversation. The candidate would get to ask questions as they have them instead of just firing them off at the end. With my past experience, I was able to maintain that sort of things while I was being interviewed for a position.

Keeping with that idea, I had one interview where I knew it wasn’t going to be a good fit. We were already 2 or 3 in, so they bring in another member of the team to talk with and it just sort of died there. I am certainly grateful I was employed and didn’t have to take the first offer, otherwise if it came with this company, I imagine I wouldn’t be happy.

Sharing your test on Github…

You know who knows my Github username? My employer. If they see these random repositories popping up at night that are quite specific, it’s probably safe to assume they understand I am interviewing elsewhere. Now I don’t know if my employer at the time visited my Github to see what I was up to, but it definitely made me think of what I should name the repos.

What I believe is a better approach would be to keep them private and invite the interviewer or their team to review it. Github does have private repositories now.

$ Cha-Ching

The money aspect is always the weirdest. I told my wife on a few occasions that I didn’t know if I want to proceed with the ‘test’ because there was no salary range listed. If I spent 4+ hours on this test and what I need was outside what they were willing to pay it was a huge waste of time. In one instance, I knew I was talking to one of the guys at the top so I mentioned my concern before doing the test. If you are a negotiator, the downside here is you may have to throw out the number first.

While I didn’t make the job postings at my former job, it did instill in me just how frustrating it is for candidates not to know the salary range before hand.

My favorite question

If there is one thing you could change, what would it be?

Some people will give you really good answers. Sometimes it’s awkward if their boss is on the phone. My favorite time was when both the guy interviewing me answered and his boss separately answered. I really look for 2 different things when hearing the answers. I try to hear if it’s a genuine answer vs a b.s. answer and what it is. A fellow developer might be roadblocked by some process, whereas the CTO/COO wants to change a bigger picture thing.

This question also tends to lead the interviewers into rambling about their company culture. Often not trying to backpedal on their answer but just talking, and thinking about the different things they have experienced.

While I looked on and off for a while, Monday I start the new gig and I think it will be a great one. The personalities of the owners remind me of my last job where we got along quite well. While I am no longer working at a SaaS, the new company sells stuff that I needed. On Tuesday it arrives as I placed an order as a regular customer without my dev goggles on and I don’t think the fulfillment team knows who I am. It’s like Undercover Boss without the boss part.