CSE403 Software EngineeringAutumn 2001

Interview Questions(A bit Off Topic but Hopefully Informative)

Gary Kimura

Lecture #14

October 31, 2001

This probably isn’t what you think from the title

• Not questions the interviewer will ask you.• But instead questions you might ask an

interviewer.• Often job interviews end with the interviewer

asking if you have any questions.• So, rather than bone up on what you might be

asked about (which I find impossible to try and narrow down), be sure to come prepared with a good set of questions for the interviewers.

Your questions

• Spend the next few minutes right now in groups of three or four and come up with a few general questions that you might ask an interviewer

• Some topics raised in class are:– Continuing education– Group vision and goals– What do they think of the company– Do you like working here– How do they feel about the people they work with– How much direction and say will I have– How long have you worked here

Typical questions

• Some typical questions that get asked are, • “Do you like working here?”• “What would I be doing?” • However generally when you ask questions with

obvious answers you’re going to get an obvious reply.

Probing questions

• Some of my suggestions for questions that go beyond the usual realm are:

• What is your groups mission and vision, and how does it fit in with the rest of the company?

• Who is your main competition?• How are you going to compete in this arena?• What is your current market share now and how

much do you expect to have in three years? Five year?

More probing questions

• What is the anticipated size of this market? Or in other words, who is your customer?

• (For the msft interview) How has Bill Gates demonstrated support for your work?

• What is your schedule today and what was it last week? Are you tracking on schedule and why if you aren't?

• What will make you cancel this project?• What is the projected growth of this project team?

More probing questions

• How high or low has your turnover been? And why?

• Does the group go out to lunch together often? Does it socialize after work?

Finally

• You don't have to ask all of these to one person, but keep them in the back of you mind when they ask you if you have any questions.

• Don't ask them as if to put the person on the defense, but ask because you really want to know what you're getting into.

• Some of these questions are more appropriate for the senior level VP level and some for the worker bees.