The Ultimate Guide to Landing Your First Software Engineering Job at a Tech Startup: 3 Questions to Ask During the Interview
Asking these 3 questions during your interview will help understand the company’s culture while increasing your chances of being hired.
The interview is not a quiz; it’s a conversation.
One misconception about interviews is that they are structured so the interviewer asks questions and the candidate answers. This is only partially true. During an interview, asking questions is as important as answering them.
Asking the right questions during an interview can help the interviewer understand the following things about you:
Interest: startups want interested and interesting people. Companies don’t want people mindlessly sending resumes and hoping to fill an empty spot. They want people who want to work in the company and believe in it.
Curiosity: during the interview, you will hear several concepts you might not know, and asking for clarifications will show your curiosity.
Software engineers are not executors.
You are not paid to do what someone told you to do. Your creativity and problem-solving ability are your most significant values as a software engineer. Questioning is crucial.
Companies looking for executors are companies where leaders believe they can do everything independently.
They don’t look for minds; they look for more hands. You don’t want to work in a company where your opinions and questions are not valued.
That is why asking these three questions shows that you are not just an executor and care about the companies you work with.
1. What is the mission?
The mission is the reason why the product/service was born.
You don’t create a product or a service to make money; you do that to solve a problem; that’s your mission.
If you read my previous post about interview preparation, you should know where to find the answer to this question. Even if you found this information on the company’s website, it is still important to ask it for two main reasons:
You want them to know you want to join a company with a mission you believe in.
You want them to explain their mission to you.
Also, if you already know the mission, it is essential to let them know.
You can rephrase the question to something like this:
I found on your website that your mission is to save the planet from aliens. Can you explain that?
This way, you will show that you came prepared for the interview, which is always appreciated.
2. Do you have any industry experts in the company?
Every industry has its rules.
Before you can solve a problem in a specific industry, you need to know it. For example, you must know how the wine industry works to create a website where people can buy and sell wine. You must also understand the laws regulating your sector and the possible competitors in the market.
This is also valid when the company grows.
While your company evolves, you will add new features to solve smaller problems. How do you choose what to prioritize? You need to ask your customers.
That’s why having customers inside the company is vital.
There might be people working in a startup who joined because they believed in the mission and were customers in the past. Those people are the industry experts. They have direct access to the customers’ needs.
Asking this question will show you know the issues startups can encounter during their lives and the importance of understanding the industry and the market.
3. What challenges are you facing?
This question is crucial to understanding the company’s current problems and the approach they choose to address them.
Startups face different challenges throughout their lives. The company’s challenges can tell you a lot about its specific situation. Engineers are problem solvers.
You, as an engineer, will face those challenges every day.
Did you face similar issues in a previous experience? Tell them. Did you study a use case for a similar problem? Let them know.
Do you have no experience in solving that problem?
Tell them you are curious to explore it. Ask for more information. Let them know you are open to new challenges.
Challenges define your job as an engineer.