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goodrootyesterday at 10:28 PM3 repliesview on HN

Yikes. Good thing you didn't wind up there.

The furthest I've gone in these jazz style culture interviews is asking people what they do outside of work for fun. This was for fully remote async positions. And it was important to know you had other stuff going on because the mental/personal health risk in failing at remote work is massive and life altering.

If, through wherever that discussion went, I wasn't 100% sure that you could stand on your own feet and wouldn't sink into the abyss, it was impossible to move forward. It was a tough line to walk sometimes because you don't want to pry personally. But that doesn't appear to be a universal opinion, it turns out.


Replies

nicbouyesterday at 10:32 PM

That question would not be received well in many places. What candidates do in their private time is none of your business.

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pjsmith404yesterday at 10:39 PM

I think that's the best you can do for culture fit, cause at the end of the day it's just "can they shoot the shit and are they pleasant to be around". You can't really know a person technically or socially until they've been in the job for at least a little bit though.

dnnddidiejtoday at 6:23 AM

Hmmm. Maybe overindexing on anecdata. Did that one guy go a bit crazy once?

I think you gotta trust adults to be adults.