Questions to Ask Your Interviewer¶
Why This Matters¶
Asking good questions signals: - Genuine interest in the role and company - Preparation - you've done your homework - Critical thinking - you evaluate opportunities, not just accept them - Seniority - senior engineers ask better questions
Always prepare 4-5 questions. Some may get answered during the interview - have backups.
Rule: Never ask about salary, vacation, or benefits in the interview. Save those for the recruiter.
Questions About the Role¶
"What does success look like in this role in the first 90 days?"
→ Shows you're results-oriented, helps you understand expectations
"What's the biggest challenge someone in this role typically faces?"
→ Reveals real pain points, shows you're not naive
"How does this role interact with other teams?"
→ Understand cross-functional dynamics
"What does a typical day/week look like for someone in this position?"
→ Concrete picture of the work
"What are the most important skills for someone to succeed here?"
→ Helps you tailor remaining answers, understand gaps
"Is this a new role or a backfill? If backfill, what happened to the previous person?"
→ Reveals team health, growth vs attrition
Questions About the Team¶
"How long have you been on this team? What's kept you here?"
→ Reveals retention, culture from insider perspective
"How does the team handle disagreements on technical decisions?"
→ Reveals psychological safety, decision-making culture
"What's the team's biggest strength? What's an area you're working to improve?"
→ Honest answer reveals culture; evasive answer is a red flag
"How does the team approach code reviews and technical standards?"
→ Reveals engineering culture, quality bar
"What's the team's on-call rotation like?"
→ Practical - understand operational burden
"How does the team celebrate wins and handle failures?"
→ Reveals culture around recognition and blamelessness
Questions About Engineering Culture¶
"What does your deployment process look like? How often do you ship?"
→ Reveals engineering maturity (CI/CD, release cadence)
"How do you handle technical debt?"
→ Reveals whether they invest in quality or just ship features
"What's your testing philosophy? What's your test coverage like?"
→ Reveals quality culture
"What's the biggest technical challenge the team is facing right now?"
→ Shows you're interested in real problems, not just the job description
"How do you make architectural decisions? Is there an RFC process?"
→ Reveals decision-making maturity
"What does your incident response process look like?"
→ Reveals operational maturity, blameless culture
Questions About Growth¶
"What does the career ladder look like here? What does it take to get promoted?"
→ Understand growth trajectory, avoid surprises
"Can you share an example of someone who joined at this level and grew quickly?"
→ Concrete evidence of growth opportunities
"What learning and development opportunities are available?"
→ Conferences, courses, internal mobility
"How does the company support engineers who want to move into tech lead or management roles?"
→ Long-term career path
"What's the biggest opportunity for impact in this role over the next year?"
→ Understand where you can make a difference
Questions About the Product/Company¶
"What's the team's roadmap for the next 6-12 months?"
→ Understand what you'll be working on
"How does engineering influence product decisions here?"
→ Reveals eng vs PM power balance
"What's the company's approach to experimentation and A/B testing?"
→ Reveals data-driven culture
"How does the company think about technical investment vs feature velocity?"
→ Reveals priorities, technical debt culture
"What's the biggest risk to the company/product right now?"
→ Shows strategic thinking, reveals honest culture
Company-Specific Questions¶
For Google¶
"How does your team embody Googleyness in day-to-day work?"
"What's the most ambiguous problem your team has tackled recently?"
"How does the team balance innovation with reliability?"
For Meta¶
"What's the most impactful project your team shipped in the last year?"
"How does the team decide what to A/B test vs ship directly?"
"How does 'Move Fast' manifest in your team's release process?"
For Amazon¶
"Which Leadership Principles does your team lean on most?"
"Can you share an example of a time the team disagreed and committed?"
"How does the team balance customer obsession with technical excellence?"
For Microsoft¶
"How has the growth mindset culture changed the team's approach to failure?"
"How does your team collaborate with other Microsoft teams?"
"What does 'One Microsoft' mean in practice for your team?"
For Apple¶
"How does the team balance shipping speed with Apple's quality standards?"
"How do you handle the secrecy constraints when collaborating across teams?"
"What's the most detail-oriented decision your team has made recently?"
For Indian Startups (Flipkart, Razorpay, CRED, etc.)¶
"What's the company's path to profitability / next funding milestone?"
"How does the engineering team influence product direction?"
"What's the ESOP vesting schedule and has there been any liquidity event?"
"How does the team handle the pace of a high-growth startup?"
Questions to Ask the Recruiter (Not the Interviewer)¶
"What's the timeline for the hiring decision?"
"What are the next steps in the process?"
"Is there anything about my background I should address or clarify?"
"What's the compensation range for this role?"
"What's the typical onboarding process?"
Questions to Avoid¶
❌ "What does your company do?" (Do your research)
❌ "What's the salary?" (Ask recruiter, not interviewer)
❌ "How many vacation days do I get?" (Too early)
❌ "Can I work from home?" (Ask recruiter)
❌ "When will I get promoted?" (Too presumptuous)
❌ "Do you have any concerns about my candidacy?" (Puts them on the spot awkwardly)
Pro Tips¶
- Listen actively - the best follow-up questions come from what they say
- Take notes - shows you're engaged, helps you compare offers later
- Ask about their experience - "What do YOU enjoy most about working here?"
- One question per topic - don't rapid-fire 10 questions
- Save 2-3 questions - even if some get answered during the interview
- Tailor to the interviewer - ask engineers about tech, managers about culture, PMs about product