ADMIN / SRE / DEVOPS - QUESTIONS FOR THE EMPLOYER

Created: 2021-01-03 | This text is also available in polish on my BITBUCKET

I assume that the interview is not only for the potential employer to assess the candidate's suitability in his company but also for the candidate to find out if he or she wants to work there. It is no longer the 1980s or 1990s where the employee was at the mercy of employers. We live in a time when work is a bundled transaction. We work, we give value to the company, and the company respects us and pays for our work.

I have created this document to help the employee verify that the company they are applying for, will suit them. I assume you're an intelligent person and you know where you apply. You will not find here questions that are not serious, e.g. "what your company does." Please do not ask all the questions, read them all before the interview, and choose only those that match the position you are applying for. Skip the questions that you can answer yourself (friends, internet, employer's website, or HR). Overall questions about the company

• What is the organizational structure in the company? Please place the team in which I will work in the structure?
• How many managers are there from my position to the CEO (flat structure vs. very complicated)?
• What is the role of the Polish branch of the company (ticketing shop, manufacturing, equal rights, making key decisions)?
• Where are key decisions made in the company and do I have/do we have any influence on them?
• What does everyday soft entity problem-solving looks like: accesses, equipment, contact with HR (tickets / telephone / e-mails / f2f)?
• How communication in the company looks like (slack, jabber, e-mails, telephone, 13 messengers, IRC)?
• Do you use a dress code in practice?
• What is the real path of promotion, employee evaluation, bonusing?
• What is the real deal with training and development?
• Are people in the company open to ideas, hackathons, sports, activities beyond work?
• The primary operating system used in the company, why Windows and can Linux be installed?
• What equipment do we use at work (laptop, pc, business phone)?
• Working from home or office?
• What hours do we work and are they on-call?
• The company's approach to OpenSource / FreeSoftware / EnterYourPrice?
• Can you change teams and how is this resolved?

The Team

• What are a typical day and work organization, task division, accountability?
• What is the team's influence on the reality in the company (are we decision-making, respected, take our opinion into account)?
• How many people are there in my future team + cross-section: junior, regular, senior?
• The 3 most popular tools the team uses?
• Are there teams in other divisions that are doing the same?
• Are we working with people in other time zones?
• How often and how long are team meetings?
• If I say that I want to install an open-source tool that solves a problem, I will be laughed at because it's not EnterYourPrice?

Me in the company

• Key responsibilities + technology stack?
• How do I influence reality in the company?
• Will my work be repetitive, boring, monotonous, ticketed?
• Specify in % how much time it takes technical vs non-technical work (hr, paperwork, consulting, deleting stupid e-mails)
• What do you mean by saying technical work (console, coding, excel, PowerPoint, meetings)?
• Will I have root on servers?
• When I will actually start writing code/scripts/patches?
• How much time will I spend in meetings, conversations, crap vs actual work?
• Will I have admin privileges on my desktop machine?
• Will I be able to install software on my work machine?
• Will I have to travel abroad and how often?
• How long is my trial and evaluation process?

XKCD - good old technology

Created: 19.09.2017

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