Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing?
Here&#x27;s an interview question I always ask that has worked pretty well:<p>&quot;If you could wave a wand and instantly change one thing about this company&#x2F;job&#x2F;team, what would it be?&quot;<p>This is similar to &quot;what is wrong&quot; but frames it in a positive light, so people are more open and creative.<p>If the answer is anything about people &quot;I wish communication was better&quot;, &quot;It would help if more people were on board for this project&quot;, &quot;A change in management wouldn&#x27;t hurt, haha j&#x2F;k&quot; etc. That&#x27;s a red flag.<p>If it&#x27;s about non-people &quot;I wish we didn&#x27;t have so much legacy code&quot;, &quot;I would love it if we could get our testing setup better&quot;, &quot;There are no good places to get coffee around&quot; that&#x27;s a good sign that aren&#x27;t major people problems.<p>If they can&#x27;t think of one, that&#x27;s a real cause for concern!<p>This is one of my favorite questions in general because what people wish for tells a lot in many ways about the major problems, but without people begin guarded. They&#x27;re fantasizing not venting.