I’m interviewing for a software dev job currently (it’s in the initial stages). If things work out, I’d absolutely prefer a work laptop with Linux installed (I personally use PopOS but any distro will do), a Mac will be second choice, but I absolutely cannot tolerate Windows, I abhor it, I hate it… (If all computers left on earth have Windows I’d either quit this field or just quit Earth).
Sometimes it’s possible to tell if they use Windows or not, for example, jobs with dotnet/C# are most likely using windows, but not in my case.
Anyways, is it too weird to ask what kind of laptop they provide to their employees? And to also specifically ask for a Linux (or anything but windows) work laptop?
A job interview isn’t just for the company to find out if you are a good hire for them. It’s also for you to find out if the company is a good employer for you.
So yes, ask away. And if they cannot meet your criteria you just don’t start working there.
Much like with dating, showing you have some standards and aren’t just desperate for the first thing that comes along makes you a lot more attractive. If I was interviewing candidates and one of them respectfully voiced a preference for a certain OS laptop during the interview, I would probably look more favourably on them than someone who didn’t voice a preference, all else being equal.
Honestly its best if you say “I prefer Linux but I can be flexible with environments” although in a interview you probably have more important things to show.
Relevant username ^
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What if you aren’t flexible? I never couch, I just say in use Linux for my workflow, can you accommodate that?
Then you may need to find another job. At the end of the day they pay you
Your Linux skills may be better served in in a Linux based company
That’s something that’s usually outside the HR/hiring manager’s purview. (And there’s some good reasons for that. Namely maintaining the integrity of their confidential data.)
If they’re not already using Linux environments; and to be blunt, they’re probably not unless you’re specifically being hired for dev in Linux-world… then you just disqualified yourself.
Even if they do allow it, there’s probably going to be times they really need you in windows, and they’re now going to have to weigh how common that will be and if they want to tolerate it.
So, you need to ask: are you willing to hold out for that one company; for that one job, that may never come. Are you willing to take a potential pay cut?
I get having standards, but, they also get to have those standards and they might just pass because you sound annoying.
You can always decline an offer, you can’t accept an offer that’s never made.
Exactly this. There are some things I usually ask about every interview that kind of shows my hand about what I’m looking for, but also forces them to either answer me, or eliminate themselves as candidates in my mind.
However it’s important to note that this only holds true when you’re an in demand sector, where you aren’t an easily replaceable token. Otherwise they can just skip over you as too much potential trouble lol
It’s not a weird thing to ask during the interview. It would be a weird thing to request, but not to enquire about.
I don’t know about that. During my job interview, I requested that (with the necessary politeness) and it wasn’t weird. I accepted the offer and now work daily on a GNU+Linux machine. It’s nice.
I’d enquire during the interview and request when accepting the offer (or during onboarding). Don’t ask me for a laptop while I’m still interviewing. It’s an interview. I’m not giving you shit.
Obviously? Who would just give you stuff when you’re not even employed 😂😂
Recruiter swag happens.
Nobody’s given me a laptop though.
It’s a normal thing to ask in an interview, I ask the same every time, so far I’ve always gotten one, after all most things I work with require Windows machine to have WSL anyways, so might as well cut one layer.
That being said it all comes down to how you ask it and how valuable you are, if a junior said “I only work with Linux, either you give me a Linux box or I won’t take the job” you might be cut from the race by HR before any person who even understands what you’re asking gets to see you because you’re being inflexible. If on the other hand you’re a senior and go through the interview and at the end when you get to the questions ask what’s the policy for OS on work machines, you’re much more likely to get the answer you’re looking for. That is unless you’re working for a Windows specific program, which obviously will need a Windows box, and not many companies are willing to give you two PCs.
But dont count 2 pcs out of the race, in most cases your salary is way more expensive than the nicest laptop they offer.
Yeah, but companies always skimp on IT, be it infra or something as basic as laptops.
For sure, in fact I do have a Windows box besides my main Linux laptop from the company I work for. But this is because I work most of the time with Linux but there’s one specific thing that needs to be done on a Windows box. Luckily for me they have been very accommodating in that regard, but I could see a different company saying I would only get a Windows machine since it can do all of the flows.
I agree it’s more about who, when and how you ask than the ask itself.
Honestly run if you can run a bunch of VMs on a Linux host. That way you can be very flexible and have multiple test environments.
You should ask this, but maybe hold back on the “I abhor it” stuff.
While for some places it may even be a good sign you want Linux, serious rejection for other platforms may look like a lack of flexibility. Who’s to say you don’t have the same strong feelings about other stuff?
Yes that’s good advice. Thanks.
Yeah focus on how much more productive and secure using Linux will make you.
It’s not weird, but be ready to be turned down for the job if they’re a Windows shop.
IMO generally be a positive about Linux rather than negative about Windows. Asking about what systems they support is reasonable though. Just know that you may be passing up jobs if this is your hill to die on.
It’s not weird, you can ask the recruiter or even the developer doing the interview what is the work environment (i.e. at the end, “do you have any question for me”). It’s a perfectly valid question.
You don’t have to go into details and go into a flamewar about Windows, at most just mention that it’s not your preference.
I think it’s better to avoid talking about how you “absolutely cannot tolerate”, “hate” a given platform because that in itself could be a red flag to some interviewers. If you feel this way about Windows, maybe you’ll feel this way about frameworks/libraries that has already been picked and be a pain to work with.
This is the right answer, especially if you can’t afford to not take the job.
I personally got hired recently, and did ask this in one of the interviews, and luckily we can choose which OS we get to run on the machines. However only those with Windows get IT support if needed. Which I guess is fair… Hope you get your wishes fulfilled!
I’ve always asked when talking to the person in charge (not HR, they don’t know jack): “Which OS do you use and are you open to Linux?”
Had to turn down multiple jobs that were Windows/Mac only. They deployed web apps to the cloud aka linux and refused to develop on linux 🤷
Last I remember, according to the stackoverflow dev survey 40% of devs used Linux at work. Don’t be afraid to ask.
At my company this is known as a green flag to the recruiter. ;)
I usually ask after the interview and after i’ve received the offer. At that point it doesn’t impact the selection process and you are still in time to reject if you want.
I’m not a software developer, but I absolutely do coding and one of the standard questions I ask is what OS they run on official company approved laptops. Other then a shitty bank I worked at for a few years (bad idea, but at least I got a pension out of it), all of them allow windows, osx, and at least one flavor of linux. If they don’t allow that stuff, you should just turn down the offer anyway.
You should use whatever the majority of the team is using. If you want to use Linux then you need to make it a priority to find a team that has at least a few people using it. You don’t want to be the only person having issues setting up their local dev environment.
No, it is not weird. Ask them
I ask before I take the interview. Location, salary range, linux laptop are prerequisites to me working for anyone. If they punt on the laptop question it means no and they are hoping you’ll want the job even without. I can promise you I won’t, and if you view that as a red flag I can promise I don’t want to work there so I don’t care.
If its a hard requirement for you just say that and say that’s for workflow and you don’t want to waste anyone’s time
In my experience most non-Microsoft organisations use Mac’s for development but deploy to Linux in production.
It’s rather insane because this of course creates lots of subtle differences between Dev and prod, although not as many as if dev was a Windows box.
To answer your question though - just ask in the interview what the deal is so you know what you’re in for.
If you deviate from the norm (i.e request a Linux box when everyone else is using MacOS) you’re always going to be the guy with issues that nobody else has.
If the company has any kind of standard mobile device management - it probably won’t work on Linux.
This will trigger the security team and probably the IT team because there’s always this outlier device that can’t run the standard VPN client or can’t have DNS config pushed to it or the Linux version of some app has bugs that don’t surface on the Mac version
Im Linux all the way, but saying the difference from Windows to prod is bigger does not take wsl into account. It is way more near linux production environments than Mac.
Thanks for saying that. I have no idea why that gets overlooked so often.
As much as I like to shit on Windows, WSL is ingenious and many dev tools integrate it nicely.
I really don’t get why Apple doesn’t offer anything in that direction, where devs are a big target audience for them and they already ride the POSIX train.
Those differences between Dev and prod are usually mitigated by containers to be fair.
We use containers in our work whenever possible, to reduce the problems caused by different development environments and deployment environments. And as a Linux user I embrace the idea (Linux dev containers for every project!) but it has unfortunately made things harder for our Windows developers. Docker on windows is a difficult to get right. Throw Docker-Desktop and WSL2 in the mix, you have a nightmare. They all come to me with “why isn’t my Docker environment working?!”.
