Things to enquire before joining a startup/company
As a software engineer considering joining a startup or company, what are the essential questions you recommend asking HR or the CEO to gain insights into the company culture, growth opportunities, and overall work environment? And whether to join there or not. Please share your experiences or any red flag you noticed, would be very helpful for our community. Thanks in advance
BiryaniEnthu
Stealth
5 months ago
They won't talk, or talk over written chat
Ya have a call. I have done this before. One mistake I made was not calling someone from the team I was suppose to join. Culture/tech stack is team specific
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The best people to gather information from are ex-employees of a company. They are not bound to say sugar coated answers.
I do it all the time, I reach out to ex employees if I have an offer and similarly I have been reached out by some people to know about my previous company
Bhai tujhe kya lagta hai HR honest answers dega? Joining se pehle bolenge we’re the fastest growing company/startup and are soon to close $10M round/ARR. Joining ke baad bolenge bohot problems hain, salary nhi de payenge/appraisal nahi kar payenge market is tough/funding winter hai.
Teri wajah se funding nhi mil pa rahi/loss ho raha hai kyuki tu saturday sunday available nahi hota falana dhimka.
The fact is that with startups there is no way of knowing what is the truth. Particularly, the runway that they have is something they wouldn't share with a prospect.
Best is to reach out to employees who had left the organisation recently. Track the lowest rated reviews on Glassdoor and look for employees who had previously left this organisation. This helps more often than not.
Present employees lie as they feel obliged to their present employer. This is also because they feel that there is a face chance that the person who is asking for reviews will join them shortly, creating complications for them in the workplace later.
Qwerty2398
Stealth
5 months ago
is the company profitable? The most important question.
Current employees, HR, and recruiters will lie to your face. I would second @naankhatai 's opinion, ex-employees would have more to say about what matters.
Hope you find this useful,I had saved this link long back.
https://wellfound.com/blog/30-questions-to-ask-before-joining-a-startup
Below may not be answered faithfully by the CEO or the HR but the current/ex employees may better provide the insights. Below are the few red flags noted
- Micro management
- Trust in past experience
- Is there a free hand in discussion or we must commit to whatever is asked from us, demitting our past experience
Pvykey
Stealth
5 months ago
Know the decided salary is credited or not. If not raise this to HR and try to solve it within a week. I was told it will be credited in next month along with next month's salary but finally I got cheated over 50000. At the last even if you ask, they will say due to poor performance we cut the salary.
Don't gossip about the company to any of the peers. You don't know who's spy.
Understand from the environment and decide when to leave the company.
Don't do extra hours often.
OnADietCoke
Stealth
5 months ago
Like many others said, reaching out to ex employees is the best way to learn more about the culture there.
One thing that I would like to add is that before reaching out to ex employees, ask the HR/CEO for a meeting with a potential colleague of the team that you will be working in. Their response to this should be a good litmus test because if they deny it or try to talk you out of it by steering towards the company's work culture and values, then it would be a huge red flag. Alternatively if you do get a meeting, then it would be a good chance to understand what they expect out of you in the team and whether that is something that you would prefer doing, which is an essential context that most possibly ex employees can't provide.
OnADietCoke
Stealth
5 months ago
Basically you would be asking them to meet with a potential teammate to see what your work and day to day responsibilities look like. More often than not, they would be happy to set up a telephone call or a video chat for this as long as you aren't rude about it i.e. if you come across as condescending and basically demand it, then most likely you might risk losing the job.
Obviously the chances of this working in mid size to large scale companies, especially service based companies won't work due to the nature of the industry. But for a startup or a product based MNC this is more than a valid ask and quite frankly seen as a sign of interest in joining.
FunkySaint
Stealth
5 months ago
Don't join. Lol
Talk with employees u will get real talk .. ceo n hr while hiring will hardly ever give u the real picture
Brutallyhonest
Stealth
5 months ago
Runway or runaway
How are they making revenue currently.
What is their expectations from this role and how was this done before you being hired.
They will share what you want to hear as a candidate some of it might not be true. Best source would be ask people who have left that company recently
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