Researching a company when looking at your next Software Engineering role
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Last week I shared a post on applying for your first role in software engineering, and it got me thinking that researching a company you are interviewing at can be complex, so it deserves its own post. This research is so important because even in the current market climate, finding a role that aligns with your interests and beliefs is essential.
This research can be split into two areas, what the company does and what it is like to work there, so I will focus on these two areas.
Researching what the company does
Conducting thorough research on the company is crucial before attending a job interview. It is common for interviewers to inquire about your knowledge of the company. This question serves two purposes: assessing your understanding of the company’s operations and identifying areas where you may require further information.
Researching can be straightforward for large companies as you may already know their products or services. Additionally, Wikipedia and other sources may provide in-depth information about the company’s history and further relevant details.
However, researching smaller companies can be more challenging. For example, when I interviewed at McCormack & Morrison, I faced this difficulty as the company’s website offered limited information. Therefore, I resorted to Companies House to gain insight into the business. Although the information was not comprehensive, it gave me a better understanding of the company’s operations.
Researching what it is like to work at a company
When I was looking for my first software engineering role the advice I was always given was to throughly research any company I was interviewing with.This meant the majority of the research I did about a company was arround what a business did and it didn't really give me an insight into what it was like to work at the company.
This means the focus of any research should shift into understanding what it is like to work at the business. There are a number of sites that will help you with this:
