<story><title>My Interview Questions for Potential Employers</title><url>http://www.runtime-era.com/2013/03/my-interview-questions-for-potential.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>TamDenholm</author><text>I&apos;m a contractor so long term questions are irrelevant to me, but my standard questions are the following:&lt;p&gt;Will i have the freedom to use whatever OS and software i want?&lt;p&gt;If the answer to this is anything other than Yes, i dont take the gig. Give me the tools to do my job and trust me to do it, i&apos;ll even bring my own tools, i like a mac and sublime. I once had a potential employer tell me that i was only allowed to use windows, only allowed to use eclipse and i&apos;d be issued an MSDN license even though they admitted it wasnt relevant to me, because that was standard IT policy. Sorry, no thanks.&lt;p&gt;Is the office a relaxed environment?&lt;p&gt;I can usually answer this myself if i&apos;m doing a face to face just by looking at how people are dressed and such, but a lot of the time i have a phone interview first, and then i ask this. I absolutely will not work anywhere where i cant wear jeans and a t-shirt and if i walk in at 9.08am and you&apos;re going to moan at me for it, no thanks. I&apos;ve also seen places where they dont allow employees to leave the building except at pre-defined lunch and break times, again, no deal.&lt;p&gt;While these might seem petty to some people, to me they&apos;re indicative of an overall culture of not trusting employees and excessive micromanagement and i have the luxury of totally avoiding places like that, so i&apos;m going to.</text></comment>
<story><title>My Interview Questions for Potential Employers</title><url>http://www.runtime-era.com/2013/03/my-interview-questions-for-potential.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>simonsarris</author><text>If during an interview the question gets asked &quot;What&apos;s your greatest weakness?&quot; I try to answer as best I can and then I make a mental note to ask this later:&lt;p&gt;&quot;Since you asked me what my greatest weakness was, I think it&apos;s fair to ask: &lt;i&gt;What&apos;s the worst thing about working here?&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&apos;ve only been able to ask it once, and didn&apos;t really get a good answer, but I think it has the potential to elicit some thoughtful (or telling) responses.</text></comment>