Beyond the obvious questions of: am I paid fairly, is the company stable, do I like what I do and the people I work with, there are a number of questions that you need to further ask to easily identify a home.

Are there working managers?
In some companies the manager of application development is not actually a developer and never has been a developer. Most of the times when this is the case the company has no career path for developers beyond senior. Or there may be titles created beyond senior but no path that leads to VP or a C-level position. In those companies that path is reserved exclusively for "managers".

Other companies offer diverging paths for developers, to continue down a purely technical path or to both manage and develop. These companies have what is sometimes called "working managers", where the engineering manager is also a developer that works on coding or infrastructure tasks in addition to managing the teams.

This is important, not only to give developers a clear path to executive roles in the company, but it also says that technology and intimate knowledge of technology are important to that company, so much so that it needs technical people in leadership roles.

If few people beyond your pay range at your company are technical, what does that say about your long term prospects with the company, and about the value they put on technology.

Are you the smartest person in the room?
At first this could be a good thing, as it might translate into quick ascension through the company, but it also might not. Eventually it becomes a bad thing.

If everyone around you is sub-par what does that say about your company, and it's impression of you?

If no one is smarter than you who is there to learn from? In our industry the minute you stop learning you're getting passed by. I'm not just talking technology - I'm talking management skills, business acumen, time management, all of those things contribute to making you a more rounded individual in the business world.

If you are surrounded by brilliant talented developers you will only improve yourself. You'll stand shoulder to shoulder with them and incorporate their own greatness into your skill set. You also know that your company values great talent and will feel satisfied counting yourself among those ranks.

Does the company keep up with the latest technology?
If you are stuck working in classic ASP as your primary technology you're probably fairly frustrated right about now. I remember being frustrated when I was working a version or two behind the current the .Net framework release, or still using SQL Server 2000 when the year is 2007. I would read articles about LINQ and using assemblies in my database and think about how I could really streamline my current project if I could use those things, but it was outside the budget to outfit the entire Application Development department with licenses and Infrastructure hadn't yet vetted the newest framework.

You feel can almost feel your commercial viability atrophying when you don't get a chance to investigate and use new technology. This also ties into my next point:

Are you challenged?
Years ago when I was working at Music Choice I met my first mentor, Stu who is the VP of IT, Engineering and Operations there. My first day there Stu came to me and let me know that part of my responsibilities would be to come up with an implementation for Microsoft DRM, which would encompass working with our Ops department to set up the DRM server, then spend a month writing all the code on the server end to authenticate and distribute licenses, and create an automated work flow to encode, DRM and distribute audio and video assets.

The only snag was that no one there had any experience working with DRM and at the time Microsoft's online documentation for their DRM was pretty sparse. Figuring all that out, getting my head around the key generation and license distribution was a huge amount of fun. Seeing the finished product running every day was a phenomenal feeling.

I was challenged on a regular basis at Music Choice, and it's no coincidence that Music Choice went on to become the first company that I would consider a home, even if I didn't realize it until after I had left.

Challenging positions are important because, first they are fun, but second they make you grow. By wrapping your head around new concepts and overcoming new obstacles you redefine what you are capable of, to yourself and to others.

In part 3 I'll explore why it's important to listen to your instincts and invest your time when you do finally find a home.

Read more from Tom Barker.