Criticizing your former employer in an interview [closed]

Question

I'm a very junior developer fresh out of college, and in my first programming job. I'm pretty unhappy with my current company-the software engineering standards here are pretty shoddy-the code base is full of uncommented, undocumented source code, with whoppers like 664 line methods (with about 40 lines of commented out code) in our production code. I mentioned it to the boss and he doesn't care, and honestly at this point I don't either-I'm looking for a new job.

When I interview next, how much should I mention this to a prospective employer? That my former (current?) company has shoddy engineering standards, coded by people who seemingly got their CS degrees mail order (well, I'd be a bit more diplomatic about it). I don't think that maintaining code with 10,000+ lines of zero comments or documentation is a good way to start a career and develop good habits. The question is, how do I tell this to future prospective employers?

EDIT: I should mention that I have other, totally innocent reasons I can mentioned why I left/am looking for a new job, but don't know how much of the shoddy engineering I should mention.

Answer 1

If you will publicly diss your current employer, then the interviewer will know that you will do the same to them when you leave. That usually makes you a no hire.

Answer 2

Never say something bad about your previous employer. That will only turn out bad for you. Much like in "letters of references", you can tell the truth without saying something negative at all (at least in the European culture).

Say something like:

"I am looking for a professional work environment with new challenges."

That should suffice. It's basically clear to every HR expert then, that your former work place could not be considered professional in your eyes and they won't give you minus points for this.

If they retort this answer with a question like: "Do you consider your current workplace professional?", you can answer something like "Mostly".

Answer 3

Most employers don't care that much about your previous employer -- happy employees don't generally leave without a reason.

Simply say you are looking for more challenging work.

Your prospective future employers are more concerned with how you can help them.

Another problem with bringing this up is you have no idea if your interviewer shares your concerns. Since, as others have noted, this is not an uncommon scenario, you might want to ask about coding standards and specific practices in your interview.

Answer 4

Try and avoid ripping into previous companies, it can leave a negative tone throughout the interview. If you get asked why you're leaving explain the reasons, and also say you were unhappy with the quality of the code you were working on, but don't turn it into essentially a flame of your previous company.

Answer 5

Don't!

Nagging about your previous employer is a red flag for most managers.

You will give the impression of someone who immediately gets frustrated when things aren't perfect and that you will quit this job too when something is not to your liking.

Answer 6

Criticizing former employers in an interview is not a good idea. In fact, saying anything negative at all in an interview is not a good idea. Even though you are unhappy with your job, there are still probably some positives you can take out of it. On the off-chance that you are asked about your current job in an interview, think on the positives and say something like, "Well, my company is [insert something positive here], but I'm looking for a change, etc.". It's more professional and doesn't leave a negative vibe in the room.