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Sep 9, 2011 at 7:45 comment added poolie @Fishtoaster (yum), yeah, I would find it a bit weird if someone just hit me with all the Joel questions one after the other (even though we actually score pretty well.) It would sound a bit autistic, in a bad way.
Sep 9, 2011 at 7:38 history edited poolie CC BY-SA 3.0
some harder questions
Jan 30, 2011 at 12:58 comment added Baelnorn @sglantz: The reason why I'd ask such questions is to avoid getting stuck at a company that is too cheap to shell out e.g. 200$ for a specific editor and forces you to waste your hours with a badly-designed or buggy free/cheap replacement (disclaimer: this is no bash against OSS :P). Or a company that makes you work on an outdated computer where a build takes 5 minutes instead of 20 seconds. Considering how much hardware/tools cost and how much your working time costs, there's absolutely no reason to not buy the best equipment/tools for the job.
Jan 28, 2011 at 15:44 comment added sglantz @Baelnorn, I would be careful saying a company uses a tool that is inferior to another. The interviewer could potentially agree with you, but I think it is just as likely that they had a hand in choosing the tool which you just insulted.
Jan 28, 2011 at 12:13 history made wiki Post Made Community Wiki
Nov 3, 2010 at 10:55 comment added Baelnorn @brian_d: I think you can instead ask questions along the lines of "What tools do you use and why?" and follow ups like "Why are you using tool X instead of tool Y which (does something better | has a better usability | offers more features | ...)?" If you then get answers like "Because it's (free | cheap)" instead of a good technical reason you can mark it down as a big "NO!" on your list.
Nov 3, 2010 at 5:46 comment added Fishtoaster Yeah, the Joel Test ones are meant to be things you should find out in general about a company, but they aren't all translatable to actual questions you can ask.
Nov 3, 2010 at 5:03 comment added brian_d I like some of these questions. Others would be interesting to know but fairly impractical to ask. ie) 'Do you use the best tools money can buy'
Nov 3, 2010 at 4:44 history answered Fishtoaster CC BY-SA 2.5