RichNinja in 
Mechanical Engineer
How to guage manager during interviews
I am thinking to switch jobs as an ICE in tech and want to make sure that relationship with my new manager is compatible, not super stressful all the time, and a decent work life balance. For me balance is 40-50 hr work week with achievable well-defined expectations.
How to guage a manager during interviews? Its very hard to know someone personally in that team to get an accurate picture.
I want to gauge on:
1. Work life balance - they're just saying it " we have work life balance" or actually there is substance to it.
2. Micro-management/Nitpicking
3. Toxic work culture - bad planning, pushing you in a corner to get things done or accept more responsibility, no freedom of opinion or freedom to speak your mind/network.
Can experienced managers/ICEs, coaches share their advice or resources?
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OlympicMoneyMakerSoftware Engineering Manager
A question I always like getting from candidates is around "What's an urgent issue that had come up unexpectedly and how did the team handle it?" You kind of have to be careful about how you phrase it because it's kind of odd to be asking a manager an interview question like that, but I think it shows a lot about how the team is run and what the response is when things hit the fan. If your hiring manager talks about how they made their team crunch, 12+ hour days for weeks or whatever, then that'll be a pretty good indicator.
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RichNinjaMechanical Engineer
oh thanks for the kind response. But managers would know to never say that in an interview, that "our team crunched 12+ hours...".
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