I am now a Mr Manager Person, so I have a different but related set of questions:
1. What is the demographic breakdown of the engineering team? And, what does the company affirmatively do to foster diversity?
2. What resources do the founders have available — investors, board, mentors, for instance — to help them as the company grows?
3. What is the near term vision for the company? 1yr/5yr?
4. What resources are available for professional development for managers/directors?
5. At $CURRENT_COMPANY, the company is serious about reviews upwards — as a manager, my direct reports are consulted in a formal process at review time. Is there a similar process at $POTENTIAL_EMPLOYER?
Demographic diversity, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of experience. Monocultures are actively destructive of successful outcomes, and lead to miserable working environments. The question is asked open-ended in that fashion because I want to discover what a potential employer thinks is important.
1. What is the demographic breakdown of the engineering team? And, what does the company affirmatively do to foster diversity?
2. What resources do the founders have available — investors, board, mentors, for instance — to help them as the company grows?
3. What is the near term vision for the company? 1yr/5yr?
4. What resources are available for professional development for managers/directors?
5. At $CURRENT_COMPANY, the company is serious about reviews upwards — as a manager, my direct reports are consulted in a formal process at review time. Is there a similar process at $POTENTIAL_EMPLOYER?
6. What is the cadence and process for reviews?