[F_J_H]

I've hired a lot of people over the course of my career, and questions like this would be a major red flag. I'd pass on the candidate.

Completely fine to ask how performance is measured and/or how performance reviews are handled, but the nature of these questions is off-putting. Is a candidate trying to figure out how they can get away with being a low performer? How would their poor judgment in asking questions like this show up elsewhere? Likely a high-maintenance individual.

And, the caveats at the end of the comment indicate the author knows these questions would not make you look good to the hiring team. If the company hired you anyway, probably wouldn't be a good place to work.

[raffraffraff]

Agree. I would simply ask about team growth and turnover (also ask about engineering department in general). That's a totally legitimate question and it might even get you the answer you want without bluntly asking when they last fired someone. That's like being asked if you took a shit that morning. Like, yeah... and everybody does it, but it's not ok to ask someone about it.

[paulcole]

Different strokes I guess. I've hired a lot of people and would love it if somebody asked me these questions. Would make me excited to work with them.

> Is a candidate trying to figure out how they can get away with being a low performer?

If you're wondering this, just ask them.