Preparing final questions to ask

Something you can always count on to happen at the end of your Software Engineer interview - both technical and non-technical rounds - is for the interviewer to ask you if you "have any final questions?".

This question actually isn't a real question at all - candidates are generally expected to ask questions. As an interviewer myself, candidates who don't have any questions might come off as less interested in the role.

Besides that, the questions you ask reveal what you care about. If asked well, this can be a very predictable opportunity for you to leave a good impression while also knowing more about the role (including uncovering potential red flags).

Here, I present questions to ask at the end of your software engineer interviews, for every purpose. The ones in bold are the ones that tend to make the interviewer go "That's a good question" and pause and think for a bit.

Best questions to ask for knowing more about technical work

• What are the engineering challenges that the company/team is facing?
• What has been the worst technical blunder that has happened in the recent past? How did you guys deal with it? What changes were implemented afterwards to make sure it didn't happen again?
• What is the most costly technical decision made early on that the company is living with now?
• What is the most fulfilling/exciting/technically complex project that you've worked on here so far?
• I do/don't have experience in domain X. How important is this for me to be able to succeed?
• How do you evaluate new technologies? Who makes the final decisions?
• How do you know what to work on each day?
• How would you describe your engineering culture?
• How has your role changed since joining the company?
• What is your stack? What is the rationale for/story behind this specific stack?
• Do you tend to roll your own solutions more often or rely on third party tools? What's the rationale in a specific case?
• How does the engineering team balance resources between feature requests and engineering maintenance?
• What do you measure? What are your most important product metrics?
• How often have you moved teams? What made you join the team you're on right now? If you wanted to move teams, what would need to happen?
• What resources does the company have for new hires to study its product and processes? Are there specifications, requirements, documentation?
• How do you think my expertise would be relevant to this team? What unique value can I add?

Best questions to ask for knowing more about the role

• What qualities do you look out for when hiring for this role?
• What would be the most important problem you would want me to solve if I joined your team?
• What does a typical day look like in this role?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current team? What is being done to improve upon the weaknesses?
• What resources does the company have for new hires to study its product and processes? Are there specifications, requirements, documentation?
• What would I work on if I joined this team and who would I work most closely with?

Best questions to ask for knowing more culture and welfare

• What is the most frustrating part about working here?
• What is unique about working at this company that you have not experienced elsewhere?
• What is something you wish were different about your job?
• How is individual performance measured?
• What do you like about working here?
• What is your policy on working from home/remotely?
• What does the company do to nurture and train its employees?
• Does the company culture encourage entrepreneurship and creativity? Could you give me any specific examples?

Best questions to ask to know more about team leadership or management

These questions are suitable for asking Engineering Managers or senior level management, such as CEO, CTO, VPs and are especially useful for the Team Matching phase of Google interviews or post-offer calls that your recruiters set up with the various team managers.

• How do you train/ramp up engineers who are new to the team?
• What does success look like for your team/project?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current team? What is being done to improve upon the weaknesses?
• Can you tell me about a time you resolved an interpersonal conflict?
• How did you become a manager?
• How do your engineers know what to work on each day?
• What is your team's biggest challenge right now?
• How do you measure individual performance?
• How often are 1:1s conducted?
• What is the current team composition like?
• What opportunities are available to switch roles? How does this work?
• Two senior team members disagree over a technical issue. How do you handle it?
• Have you managed a poor performer at some point in your career before? What did you do and how did it work?
• Where do you spend more of your time, high performers or low performers?
• Sometimes there's a trade-off between what's best for one of your team members and what's best for the team. Give an example of how you handled this and why.
• Give an example of a time you faced a difficult mentoring/coaching challenge. What did you do and why?
• What is your management philosophy?
• What is the role of data and metrics in managing a team like ours?
• What role does the manager play in making technical decisions?
• What is an example of a change you have made in the team that improved the team?
• What would be the most important problem you would want me to solve if I joined your team?
• What opportunities for growth will your team provide?
• What would I work on if I joined this team and who would I work most closely with?

Best questions to ask to know more about company direction

• How does the company decide on what to work on next?
• What assurance do you have that this company will be successful?
• Which companies are your main competitors and what differentiates your company?
• What are your highest priorities right now? For example, new features, new products, solidifying existing code, reducing operations overhead?