Risky to ask about tech stack and responsibilities before software internship interview?

Question

I'll be having my first HackerRank virtual interview ever with Foursquare in a few weeks. This is for a software engineering internship.

I wasn't very confident of the resume I sent and the invitation came as a surprise to me. I've already accepted the invitation.

Nevertheless, I would like to know more about what I will be asked to work on during the internship.

The specific online job posting I applied to has been removed. Hence, I don't know what the details of the responsibilities are as I cannot remember. I do remember the job posting said something like "Experience in any of Java, Scala ... JavaScript, Python".

The questions I would like to ask the recruiter are:

1. What tech stack will I need to use?
2. What specific products will I be working on?

I've read online that as an intern I should be satisfied with whatever experience I'm getting. Some others have said that it shows lack of interest to not care what I'll be working on.

Would I look inexperienced or be a turn-off if I asked any of the above questions? Would it be too much to ask both?

If you think it's ok to ask, do you have tips for how to ask them without coming off as inexperienced?

Thanks,

EDIT: I wrote the content of this post with the goal of asking the above questions or the above tips to a recruiter over email in the run-up to the interview. That was not made clear enough in the post. There are some nuanced and insightful answers below; my guess is that these are difficult to send over email and are more for the actual interview itself.

Answer 1

Would I look inexperienced or be a turn-off if I asked any of the above questions?

No, these are perfectly reasonable questions. I am interviewing senior developers frequently and these types of questions come up a lot. They don't show inexperience but that you care about the job and the product and not just getting an internship to check off a box.

Would it be too much to ask both?

If you really want to know, you should ask them both; an interview is meant to go both ways. If you are worried, you can ask the first question and wait for the interviewer to ask you if you have any more questions.

If your interview consists of multiple stages, you can also ask the in different parts of the interview. Tech stack questions make sense in the technical interview, which is usually done by fellow developers, while product questions are more likely to be answered by the hiring manager who has more knowledge about your exact placement and intern allocation.

Overall I wouldn't worry too much about that part. You seem genuinely interested in the position and if you just ask what is on your mind, the interviewers will see and it is a plus.

Answer 2

Hence, I don't know what the details of the responsibilities are as I cannot remember

That's a good reminder: learn how to take proper notes. Whenever you apply for a position, copy down the posting and create a new document that captures all interactions (submissions, phone calls, e-mails, interviews, etc), names of people, research you have done, how you stack up against the requirements, general thoughts and open questions, etc. For example: Foursquare uses apparently an SDK called pilgrim. Read up on it and then ask an intelligent question about this as a lead in. "I'm really curious about your Pilgrim SDK, would I be working with that? If not, what other tech stacks or apps would I be working on"

Would I look inexperienced or be a turn-off if I asked any of the above questions? Would it be too much to ask both?

Not if you ask it correctly. Do some research up front and make sure that you mention some of it. Don't ask anything that's readily available on their web site or through a simple Google search.

If you think it's ok to ask, do you have tips for how to ask them without coming off as inexperienced?

Do your homework first and ask questions that are connected to what you have learned. You do NOT want to come across as "I forgot to save the job posting and I'm too lazy to read your website or google your tech"

Answer 3

The recruiter is just a gatekeeper. They qualify you and make sure you are not Charles Manson and that's about it. The hiring manager makes the decision.

When you deal with the recruiter, just be a boy scout and act cooperative. There is no need to be asking questions. Save any substantive questions for the hiring manager. Even then I would be cautious about asking questions. If you are some genius from MIT with multiple papers in the Journal of the ACM, then you can be picky, but most interns I have interviewed were one bad question away from a reject recommendation. You don't want to give the impression of being a prima donna or self-centered. When companies hire low level employees, like interns, they want you to be following orders, not asking a lot of questions.