11 Frequently Asked Questions During Our Developer Interviews (Updated)

Updated Oct 17, 2023 • 6 min read

Our recruitment process is simple and has no secrets. We’ve written at length about tips & tricks on what does it mean to be a Developer at Netguru and how what to expect at interviews.

But there is one moment during a dev interview that I like the most. After a series of some common developer interview questions from our side, we swap roles. We give the candidate a chance to ask us anything at all. In most cases, you ask us similar questions! So, we decided to gather all answers in one blog post. Hope you find it helpful.

1. How big are the teams you work with?

There are several different types of projects mobile app development teams can be assigned to. They include:

single developer project (the least common one, usually for clients requiring development support),
whole project team (the most common scenario – providing a team with overall project ownership),
whole product development (when clients hand over the entirety of the product decision making process and these are projects we always look to acquire).

We always adjust team size to the needs and requirements of the project. Usually we work in teams of 3 to 8 people consisting of project manager, developers, quality engineers and product designers. Each member of the group has his or her specific role to help keep our workflow clear.

2. What kind of project management methodology do you use?

We work in an Agile methodology. Our sprints are usually one or two week long. The whole team is always involved in the meeting with a client. We also strongly believe in retrospectives, so we evaluate project success and failures, and conduct the project with good communication. We don’t do the “blame game”; we always try to learn how we can work better next time.

3. What does the onboarding process look like?

Checklists. Checklists everywhere. Once you join Netguru, we won’t leave you alone to fend for yourself. We are aware of how difficult it is to be a newbie in the company and adjust to new workflows. That’s why you always start with an experienced mentor and checklist by your side. Your mentor is in charge of introducing you to our processes and helps you to get access to all the tools we use. But that’s not all. Our huge dev team is divided into smaller teams. You’ll be sure to have a helpful leader who coordinates your group activities. If you'd like to know more details about what does online onboarding process look like – check out this article.

4. Can junior developers work remotely?

Yes :) All our employees are welcome to work 100% remotely and within flexible working hours as long as their working conditions enable them to join your meetings (online).

5. How often do you do pair-programming?

We use pair-programming not only to test your coding skills. We believe that it’s one of the best ways to learn more from each other. We do it from time to time, but the answer is that it depends on your arrangement. Sometimes it's twice per week, sometimes it's zero. It will depend on you.

6. Do we write tests?

Yes we do. We work e.g. with Rspec for RoR projects, XCT for iOS projects, and Jest and Cypress in Frontend.

7. What kind of js framework do you use?

In most of our applications we use React, Angular and Vue.js.

8. Do we use the old version of Ruby on Rails?

We try to be as close to the newest stable versions as possible.

9. Will I be recruited for a specific project?

No, we’re looking for long-term cooperation, not gigs. Projects are assigned by our PMO team when you’re onboarded. You usually work on one project at once, and it’s possible to change it after some time if you’ve been assigned to a very long one.

10. How can I develop my skills working at Netguru?

At Netguru, we put strong emphasis on constant learning and improving hard and soft skills, our aim is to have the best developers on board. We do our best to address employee development in quite complex ways. Our developers spend around 5-10% of their time on code review – we believe it is not only a great way on maintaining high quality of code, but above all it is a great way to learn from each other.

You can rely on the regular support of your leader with whom you establish your development goals to combine your individual ambitions with Netguru’s growth and objectives.
As we cooperate with dozens of clients, including enterprises, you have a chance to work with different technologies and specialists from different areas of expertise.
You can also participate in internal projects driven by the Research and Development department.
Support for your growth – an individual book budget and a head/manager’s budget available to every employee.
The Netguru team can participate (as a speaker or an attendee) in internal webinars, conferences, workshops, and other initiatives. Employees can also represent Netguru at open events like Burning Minds, Netguru College or Netguru Disruption events.

11. What kind of tools we use to communicate with our team?

Communication is key, especially when your team is remote. Our core communication tool is Slack. We have a lot of open channels and private groups to chat with clients, team members, project members and so on. Our calls are held on Google Hangouts, so be sure it’s working on your computer before the interview!

That’s all for now. I hope our blogpost helps you to prepare yourself better for the recruitment process. If you're interested in applying for a developer position and would like to see what it's like to work at Netguru, check out our developers' recruitment infopack to learn more about the company!