Saturday, November 20, 2004

Body language of the Oraganization - My Interpretations : Part 2

I shall try to answer few more questions on what I will look for in a company during an interview. I could not write the blog very regular for last few months, because now I am working on most challenging project of my career.

Lets look at some of the questions.

  1. How much time you have to wait in Lobby ?
  2. How much time you have to wait to hear the written test result ?
  3. How much time you have to wait for interview to start ?
    Actually these two questions are related. In way, it tells you how much company values your time. If the Company don't value your time at the first instance, then the chances are it won't value your time after joining either. Probably you will be working 12 hrs day, probably also on weekends. Most of the projects, in this company, will miss the deadlines.

  4. What are the questions asked in interview ? Is interviewer judging your knowledge of arcane language syntax, your memory for API names etc. ? Did they ask you to write code ?
    I will be very uncomfortable if a team member in my team uses arcane language syntax regularly in his code. It means his code won't be readable and maintainable by the other team members. In the long run, it is bad for the project and for the company. But
    if the company doesn't understand this , then you will get blamed for delays.

    Understanding the concepts is more important that remembering API names. If you have worked in multiple technologies and languages and libraries then remembering API trivia is difficult and totally unnecessary. Usually now all the libraries have searchable help files. If you understood concept and design of the library, you can easily find out the function again.

  5. How was the furniture in waiting room ? (e.g. Fancy, comfortable, utilitarian, etc)
  6. If the furniture the waiting room is not comfortable, it is unlikely that your cubicles will be any better than that. Preferably ask them if you can see the work area.