1:9 - Snippet - How do You Uncover a Company's Real Culture?

You are listening to diverse software engineers podcast, which inspires engineers to serve clients better, break glass ceilings and enjoy lucrative work. Your hosts are Eric Lau, Chief consultant at Brainy Butlers Solutions and Fatima Agheli, up and coming engineer, we focus on the soft essential skills which engineers, managers and clients need to upgrade their software projects.

To all the Fatima fans out there, she's not feeling well today. So it's just me. First of all, I want to say that I am thrilled to see that every episode we're getting more and more viewers, we are getting amazing feedback on how much people love this podcast. We love them, keep them coming. And I would like to play one of these feedback for you.

Hi, Eric and Fatima! Love the diverse background of your guests. My friends, and I all subscribe and listen whenever we can. The guests really open our eyes about the industry. Thanks. I recently graduated and I'm looking for work as a software developer. While I am confident about my career prospects, I am afraid I may end up working for a horrible boss like person s. My question is, how do you uncover a company's real culture?

Thank you so much for submitting that question. companies know that culture matters. So we simply asked what's your company culture like recruiters and interviewers will often tell you what you want to hear some even the skies and present a false image of their culture. How do you find out our potential employers will culture? One way you can do this before you even go to the interview is to read the employee reviews Glassdoor, I would take the reviews there have a grain of salt. I have seen for some companies, they're either have really bad reviews, but they don't seem genuine. They were manufactured or made up. That goes the other way around to where there are some really glowing reviews, but they don't have a lot of substance to them. What I suggest is that you really want to remove the outliers, you don't want to consider the really extreme complete gushing about how amazing the company is. You als wanted to remove the reall awful, but without anything t substantiate it. In general, th more detailed and the longer i is, the more likely that thos are real. Another way is to simply ask your networks, LinkedIn is a great way to do it. If you see that company, there's a number of people on LinkedIn. And you find out that maybe a couple of them you need to know that colleague, ex colleague, whatnot, or it's someone that you may be able to reach through one of your contacts or second level contacts. Those are great, because you want to find out from not just people who currently work at that company, but also people who used to work at that company. In some ways, you actually get more of an honest assessment from an ex employee than a current one, an ex employee is less likely to sugarcoat the situation, if they leave on good terms and many of the leave on good terms, then is a good sign. Another thing that I think could really help is for interview you always show up early. You want to show up late half an hour or 45 minutes early. You don't want to be too early. But you always want to aim for at least 10 to 15 minutes. You show up early, get to the building, look around. You chat with the receptionist, look at what other things on the wall. If they have things that they hung on their wall, some sort of award or business article, definitely look at that. See what's there. You definitely want to observe tone of the office as loud as a quiet. Are people running around frantically? Or is there a measured approach? During the interview, ask questions. You definitely want to take advantage of the period at the end of interview where you get to ask questions, you definitely want to ask questions at the end of the interview. Some of the questions I've already touched on in previous episodes. But there are a few others that I think are easier to ask and may not be as for at the ones that I've suggested in the past. So one really nice one is what was the last achievement that was celebrated? How was it celebrated? That's a really good question because it allows them to talk about their successes? How many successes have they had? Do they celebrate successes? What do they do? All those things tell you a fairly concrete idea of what is it they do? They were being vague about the answer. That's also sign that it's not celebrated. A second question will be what was the department's biggest challenge last year? And what did you learn from it? smooth seas don't make great sailors. Only food challenge and adversity? Do you find out what the company really is about? values and mission statements are easy to write, they are much harder to adhere to, when facing challenges, how they answer that question will certainly give you a lot of insight. How did they work together? Do they band together? Or do they start pointing fingers? Those things can tell you a lot. Question number three, what do people on the team that I'll be joining do for lunch every day? This is a pretty innocuous question. But I think it speaks to how people socialize? Do people in a company like to socialize? Do they value that camaraderie? Or is it more of a doggy dog kind of mentality? This question also delves into, what's the likelihood that you can go to an art department how cross team collaboration is encouraged or maybe discouraged? Question number four, how do you measure success? And over what timeframe? How are those metrics determined? that really gets into the heart of how realistic are the expectations they have for you? That's a huge part of culture. And it's directly impact what you're going to do and how well you're going to succeed at that company. There are a few things are worse than having a manager who gives you unattainable expectations, or worse, no idea, no measurable success, no empirical or the fine means of measurement. One question and I will usually save this for the last interview is simply would you be willing to show me around the office? definitely pay attention when you go around the office. Look at the mentality the vibe of the place? Do you sense tension? Do you sense stress? Do you sense people cheering have a good time, or the exact opposite? Although walls and colors gray doll or on a vibrant and colorful? The lighting isn't a good lighting, quiet office? Or is it dank and noisy? All these things matter. It shows a level of care. And it also shows a level of comfort. The important thing here is that you should be asking some of these questions. You don't need to ask all of them and if you have all of your ratio from other places, such as your network or employee views, he may not even need to ask too much of these. You want to be able to answer the question What is this culture like? And if you can get a good idea of it then it gives you a very good idea router. This position is right for you and router you will have a fulfilling career. You should know what you're getting though. Because when you're discussing salary and whatnot, cultures should definitely be be a significant factor. I wish you the best all you listeners out there best looking forward best getting your promotion and getting that fulfilling work. Take care, stay safe. Thank you for listening.

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