An excerpt from RenderATL's Culture & Code podcast Episode #5: Mental Health and the Job Search with Angel (@Aliofonzy43):

Ashley:
So going into you mentioned obviously, you went through that horrific interview experience that was obviously 10 times longer than it should've been, so with that, what are some things that you feel like you're looking out for now or tactics that you try to apply while interacting with companies to prevent that exploitation from happening again?

Angel:
That's a good question. I have to think about that for a moment. The way I've been approaching the things is I have a checklist, questions I ask the company because the thing that I like is how there's a two-way conversation, where as they ask you questions, you ask them questions.

And usually I ask them, "Do they have a culture of blameless analysis? What is the structure? Is their documentation? How is the onboarding process like? Do they have support for not only entry level, but do they have support for their mid level and senior levels?" And there's just a lot of things that as I'm in an interview and as I'm talking to companies, I wait to find the right certain words that they say or find the right keywords that I'm looking for, like the green flags, and they're not generic words.

I don't like to usually say the words I look for out loud, so it's not too known, but there's certain things they ask and word it in a certain way that based on how they answer, I will know, do I find myself a good fit for the company or not? And it's something that I've been finding each time I've been going to each interview, but every time that I've done it, I've usually got hit right on the nail on, yeah, this company may be a good fit, or this company may not be a good fit, or this one is just... It's absolutely perfect, but they just showed a huge, critical flaw that may make it hard for me to work with if I was onboarded.

This was an excerpt from Culture & Code, a podcast brought to you by RenderATL that is focused on leveling up your tech career and exploring new technologies.

You can listen to the full episode and read the complete transcript on our website here.