Asking to see employer's code/database in an interview

Question

I've been asked to write code/design things in an interview. Sometimes even to provide code samples. Very reasonable and very wise (always surprised when this DOESN'T happen)

I had a job a year or so back where the code was so awful that I would not have taken the job, if I'd seen the mess I had to deal with ahead of time. And I can't tell you how many horrendous databases I've had to work with.

Is it out of the question for me to ask them to provide a code sample and to view their database design? Assuming I'd be happy to sign an NDA, part of me feels it would insane to take a job without examining the codebase or database I'd be working with.

Anyone done this?

Update

This would be something I would ask later in the interview process, if things were proceeding well and I felt an offer was forthcoming.

It's also in the context of working in a small shop or small project as my preference is to avoid places that use phrases like "get a developer off the floor"

Answer 1

You can definitely ask. The answer may be "No," but nobody should consider that to be a bad or inappropriate question.

If they won't show you the code, you should definitely take that into account when you decide whether you want to accept an offer. I would take it as a sign that at least one of the following things is true:

• The code is so horrible that they know you'll run away screaming.
• The company has an ultra-secretive trust-nobody culture (which I would hate).
• The company thinks they have such amazing code that just glancing at it would turn you into a superstar competitor. (In other words, they're self-deluded morons.)
• They have glaring security holes that they hope to keep secret.
• The people who are interviewing you don't know how to get the code themselves. (In which case you are not talking to the right people.)