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
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
It is better to ask currently working employees than HR & CEO.
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.