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When in an interview there are lots of things to make sure a company will suport you with the things you want to achieve.
I want to thank Amy Newton for the wonderful questions and thought process about them. a lot of the content you seel below came from a wonderful talk she did.
Please note: This is not an exhaustive list and you wil probably not want to ask all these questions: This document is here to help provide help, ideas and the analytical thought process to ask the questions to help you work out if a company is the right fit for you.
This is a great one to ask, the interviewer has spent time learning as much as they can about you. No one will have better knowledge of what skills they are looking for and what the company needs.
This will allow you to take that knowledge and learn more relevent things (both for the business and general skills) from it.
This should cover the main procedures for flexible working but as with a lot of questions the important thing is to dive into the answer a little:
It is important to ask specifically about the team you will be working in because some companies will have flexible working but the team may view a single outlier working flexibly as being diffacult.
This could be in the form of dedicated training available or a training fund. This can vary massively depending on the company. Larger companies tend to have things like pluralsite or other video training resources.
Some companies will pay for team members to attend relevent conferences. Some will let you attend as part of "work time" but you might have to pay for some or all of the trip.
As with flexible working hours, if not everyone has self development provisions or doesnt use them it may be viewed badly when you do.
What provisions are there for developmental feedback? Almost all companies will have a yearly feedback cycle but lots of managers will supplement this with additional "1 to 1" sessions.
How often is feedback provided? Ad-hoc feedback is fine but it can often be used as an easy justification for never really providing any feedback. A more useful aproach is to have some time (maybe once a month, or quarter) set aside for conversations to supplement the ad-hoc feedback.
What are the company values? does the team exemplify the values of the company or is it viewed as corporate box checking?
Does the team have a colloborative approach to work through paring and TDD or more through individuals working and contributing on their own?
Its always useful to know how your managers style will affect your day to day working environment. some value being given space and oppertunity to flourish, others handle closer management better
How does the team spend time together? After work events wil suit some but this may not work well with others, or is unable to attend often. It might make them feel somewhat excluded from the social events
It is important to ask specifically about the last few events, some places may have social events but not very often. If this is something you are interested in knowing how often it happens will help you decide if the company/team is a fit for you.
Is it a friday drink after work? bowling? comedy night? Go karting? Lunches sat together?
Does the team/company have someone who organises events? can anyone organise an event?