Asking for a Linux (or non-Windows) laptop during a job interview?

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?

Discover5164,

i asked for Linux, they said sure… and gave me a windows laptop.

i asked thecnical support “we only supply windows laptop”

seatime13,

Every company I have been in lets me wipe it and start from scratch.

SpaceNoodle,

It’s not a weird thing to ask during the interview. It would be a weird thing to request, but not to enquire about.

BautAufWasEuchAufbaut,
@BautAufWasEuchAufbaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

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.

SpaceNoodle,

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.

BautAufWasEuchAufbaut,
@BautAufWasEuchAufbaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Obviously? Who would just give you stuff when you’re not even employed 😂😂

FuglyDuck,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

Recruiter swag happens.

Nobody’s given me a laptop though.

bjoern_tantau,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

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.

bionicjoey,

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.

possiblylinux127,

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.

bionicjoey,

Relevant username ^

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

They said “we’ll get you a laptop” and I said “it’s gotta be macOS or Linux, I have no idea how to use windows”

pete,

What if you aren’t flexible? I never couch, I just say in use Linux for my workflow, can you accommodate that?

possiblylinux127,

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

FuglyDuck,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

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.

folkrav,

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

PowerCrazy,

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.

moon_matter,
@moon_matter@kbin.social avatar

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.

olafurp,

I develop C# dotnet on Linux. It’s fine but normal “I’m the only Linux user” issues apply such as case-sensitive filenames.

iamtherealwalrus,

I develop C# on Linux, but I run the full VS inside of a Windows 10 VM.

olafurp,

Rider works pretty well also if you’re allowed to put add Linux support to projects. The Edit and Continue is not as nice though, even though support for it on Linux got merged into dotnet 8.

OsrsNeedsF2P,

Last 3 jobs I’ve worked at, I made it sure they understood I needed a Linux laptop to work. They all offered MacBooks (and I made the mistake of taking the MacBook once), but as long as it’s a good company (i.e. no removed IT department) they’ll allow it

catloaf,

What is a removed IT department? Like contracted out?

ikidd,
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

Lemmy.ml treats their users like children and naughty words get redacted inbound and out.

flubba86,

What was the removed word there? Something like “outsourced”?.

lightnegative,

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

gudu,

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.

aksdb,

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.

mac,
@mac@infosec.pub avatar

Those differences between Dev and prod are usually mitigated by containers to be fair.

flubba86,

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?!”.

erwan,

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.

ilinamorato,

This is the right answer, especially if you can’t afford to not take the job.

SecretPancake, (edited )

I don’t ask for, I demand a Mac.

Edit: I’m sorry that I’m privileged enough to be able to do that.

Edit2: Didn’t realize I’m in the linux sub, of course there will be outrage. If it helps you sleep better, Linux would be my second choice.

RIPandTERROR,
@RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works avatar

Your IT dept tells jokes about you regularly

SecretPancake,

Fine by me if that’s true. We Mac users are also the only ones at the company who don’t have managed computers and can do whatever we want with it.

It’s shit to work with Windows as a web developer. I did that for too many years and hated every second.

alphafalcon,

Ah, you “work” in “marketing”?

SecretPancake,

Web developer :) I’m doing pretty good and if a job doesn’t offer Macs I can find another one. So why should I accept Windows?

ilinamorato,

I’m a software engineer. My entire team develops on Mac because we have to develop for Mac.

flubba86,

We found the graphics designer.

Cosmicomical,

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.

utopiah,

It is absolutely not weird and I would argue it’s even important. The whole point of the interview is that BOTH parties evaluate each other according to THEIR criteria. Maybe for them it is not important but for you it’s a requirement, maybe you discover through that the culture is not aligned. It’s great for both to understand this NOW rather than 3 months down the line, as you started to settle, they teach you everything about their specific infrastructure and… it doesn’t work, now both needs to redo the process again.

So yes IMHO it doesn’t matter how “silly” it might sound to you, now during the interview process, is the time to insure that it’s going to be an actual fit.

You have to also be aware that they might say no, or that the question itself might lead to a rejection. They might just not want this due to internal policy, security, culture, belief system, etc. This might feel like a loss but again, better know now and look for a place that match your needs that later on.

I also don’t conduct many interviews, especially not right now, but when I did anything that could help me understand what made the candidate tick, what got them genuinely excited or angry, was super important. Sure I wanted to insure the technical capability but beyond that I was looking for any clue to see if we were compatible beyond just task in, result out, because in the long run that’s what would make us both happy.

TL;DR: yes, ask for whatever YOU want.

Presi300,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

I KNOW I’m gonna get A LOT of hate for typing this, but if a MacBook is cheaper than the laptop you want, you should get a MacBook…

OsrsNeedsF2P,

Nah linuxreviews.org/Macs_%26_MacOS:_Greener_Grass%3F

possiblylinux127,

What does that even mean?

explore_broaden,

The Apple M_ processors are great for performance to power usage ratio (and peak performance in general), so a MacBook is a good choice of laptop (even to run Linux on it).

herrvogel,

Linux is currently not available on Apple silicon as anything other than a half baked alpha build with a ton of essential stuff missing. Not even remotely ready to be used as the primary OS. And that’s on the M1. It’s even worse on the more recent chips.

explore_broaden,

I run Asahi Linux on the M1, and it’s been working great for the last six months or so.

Edit: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying one to run Linux at the moment, for one thing they’re overpriced, but I was clarifying why the original comment would have suggested an M1.

lightnegative,

No way. Even if you try to run Linux on it, the keyboard is a mac mangled keyboard.

You’re better off leaving it on MacOS, which is still better than Windows but not by much

fruitycoder,

If the laptop I want is more expensive that a MacBook its because it has some serious hardware or very specialized feature set. If you want an average spec machine save the money and just get it instead of MacBook

danielfgom,
@danielfgom@lemmy.world avatar

As an IT Technician/Sysadmin who is responsible for ordering the laptop, my recommendation is DEFINITELY ASK because this is info the IT guy needs to know!

CoopaLoopa,

Yup. Our RMM tools work best on Windows machines. Honestly, Linux is fine too, but MacOS is the worst to manage.

If anything needs to be modified/deployed on MacOS, I have to create a new PPPC and deploy it through Intune/Jamf/Addigy, otherwise you can guarantee the end user won’t accept the correct security prompts and things won’t work.

rawn,

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?

flakpanzer,

Yes that’s good advice. Thanks.

delirious_owl,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

Yeah focus on how much more productive and secure using Linux will make you.

pete,

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

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