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Ask HN: View Company's source code in a job interview?

8 points by kat ↗ HN
Since its acceptable to ask a candidate for code, is it acceptable to ask your interviewer for code? I suspect some companies would refuse to show potential hires their code due to legal worries, but I am wondering if one or two files is really a big deal? Has any one seen company code during an interview?

9 comments

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fecak
I know I've had at least a couple clients (recruiter) show some actual production code during the interview process, and there have been stories here on HN about companies giving candidates real (not scenarios) issues to address during an interview process.

Asking to see their code is obviously a bit different than being offered to use it in some interview coding demonstration.

benched
I once interviewed with a game company, and 5 minutes before the interview they sprung an NDA on me and severely rushed me through signing it. I had time to notice that it said they had rights to any work I might do in the future that was "based on" anything they showed me in the interview. Since I do a lot of private development of my own game technology, I then had to specifically get them to assure me they would not show me anything proprietary in the interview.
hga
Wow, that's such a horrible move I would have walked on the spot. NEVER sign something under duress like that, although the fact it was at least somewhat under duress would likely help you in court.

The only time I ever interviewed with a company that wanted me to sign an NDA first they faxed or emailed me a copy at least a day ahead of the interview.

alok-g
This has happened to me several times, for company names that you most likely have heard of. They don't even bother to tell you ahead of time.

In one case where they told me about it ahead of time, I refused to accept it, and they refused to interview me.

In one case, facing this last-minute NDA, I wrote on it just above my signatures something like "it is understood that nothing confidential and proprietary will be shared with me and so this agreement is effectively void". The receptionist had no issues with it (she didn't even read).

In another case, the NDA was offered on an electronic display with a signature pad (so I could not make any edits). I decided to proceed in that specific case.

These same agreements often say that you'll not disclose anything confidential and proprietary to them. Yet they openly ask those questions. Some often even expect your previous code samples should be publicly available on Github. (I am looking for a chance to ask them if their IP contract allows employees to put their code on Github.)

The root-cause of this problem: It is not the companies or the lawyers, it is the most of us who sign these agreements without reading. The latter tilts the equilibrium for the contracts in the favor of the companies.

kyanite
This makes me worry. I have signed an NDA in a heated interview scenario before. It was many pages long too.

WTF did I just sign?

hga
Well, as I note enforcing it could be quite difficult. And more than 1 or 2 pages is a really bad sign.

The real danger probably isn't that they'll try to enforce it per se, but that they could make you "radioactive" by the threat of it, or an enforcement action, even if ultimately unsuccessful. Hopefully no or few potential future employees will ask about them, and if this happened in California and you're still they (it gets more complicated if you're only now in the state), any non-compete provisions are unenforceable as such.

hga
One or two files could be cherry picked, although even then they might tell you enough...; I'd prefer something like "Could I please glance at your code base?" ... but only after I got enough experience to recognize tells at roughly a glance.

Even then I'm not sure it would have saved me from the worse code base I ever worked with, the only one I flat out decided had to be replaced (after spending a month fixing some bugs and learning it took days to determine how to safely fix one, the code was so tangled).

In reference to the NDA comments, if a company is too paranoid about that sort of thing without clearly having "special sauce" worth protecting---unfortunately, future products or product directions can also both be worth protecting and necessary to disclose to you---that's a strong sign to avoid them.

kat
"A glance" is a good way to express it. I don't really care what I see, I would just like a quick gauge of how well-kept their code is. I think looking at the small things like frequency of comments, variable naming, parameter checking, etc would be a good basic indication of their style.
hga
"I don't really care what I see"

And while I don't have a good way to express it yet, if they demur you can point out the above, and that quite to the contrary of whatever they're worrying about, they'll have to pay you good money to seriously examine their code (and then work on it) ^_^.