During interview when they ask me where do i see myself in 3-5 years. Should i be honest about it and say i want to start my own company and do business and entrepreneur side of tech. Or should i lie in sense that i want to still remain working as an employee?

Depends, if they are looking for someone for a project you can probably be honest but when I have been interviewing candidates, clear indicators that they see us as just a temporary position or step in their ladder was a big red flag.

If we want someone temporary we hire a consultant, not employee.

But that is also a lot due to Swedish employment laws that make it very hard to let people go unless they are the last hired.

So while honesty lasts longer it can block you from positions, especially if they are focused on more long term.

So unless you know more of their goals for the position, I would tone down the moving on intentions ;)

You could say that in a decade you might look at starting your own, but if you then leave after just 3-4 years it can cause bad blood. Better then to not mention it.

@Voxera so lie, got it

"On your chair"

You don't have to lie, and Voxera wasn't saying that you should. You can simply answer in terms of the technologies you want to be involved in and levels of expertise you want to develop - as if the idea of doing anything other than work for the company or organisation you are interviewing for never entered your head. It's absolutely the case that people choose to leave some things unsaid in a very wide range of situations. That's a long way short of lying and is usually both valued and preferred.

@spongegeoff exactly, outright lying is bad, and should they ask if you are thinking about starting your own you should probably be honest that you had thought about it but I said, either do not mention or tone down :)

I do not know how long people stay in one place where you work, if its common to switch or if its expected that you stick around, maybe try to find out if others at the company have been there a long time, if they are on linked in you can often see that.

That can help in judging if they expect people to stay for many years or if they have a high turnover.

@Voxera the only reason i have to work a job is because i need money to invest and experience to gain when starting my own company. I want to learn how the whole company is built, operates and works so i can apply similar knowledge to my own. Everything that im doing at a job is focused only towards my 1 and only end goal: to have my company. I am not here to work for any company for the rest of my life. Not even faang company. By learning more advanced tech is just "on the go" thing for me that i will also use to apply to knowing more precisely who to hire in my companies. So advancing myself by learning more isn't the goal, it became a byproduct on the path towards my goal. I assume no company wants to hear this truth, even though it is absolutely nothing bad, it just doesnt amplify their ego, because the goal is not to make them richer but to make myself escape from this corporate slave world

So yes i will lie and say i want to be a tech lead and be an employee forever

Tech companies are aware that not all their hires will stay for 5 years.

The reason they ask the 3-5 years question is to figure out if you want to move in some direction beyond the regular dev role.

They know tons of devs start out with plans to build their own company, but end up being very happy as employees if they get get a chance to grow.

So by mentioning that your long term goal is to be in your own business and you want to do more with this job than just coding (like learning the business inside out) that can be seen as a positive: perhaps you'd be interested in working closer with the business team, trying out a lead role etc.

As long as you don't say "I'm definitely not staying more than 2 years" it's fine to say your end goal - they might see that as a possibility to convince you to stay longer.

just lie, it's none of their business and they probably won't hire you if you tell the truth

Working in X technologies leading a group of people solving Y type solutions. It doesn't matter where you are working for this kind of vision.

If you do want to learn "how the company is built, operates and works" - don't you actually want to get into some management roles beyond the developer role? Like to get closer to the business side of things?

You can mention that.

@jiraTicket can i? Those arent dev roles. Those are roles for people who graduated economic university

@b2plane Might be entirely different in some companies...but I'm working with devs and designers who've become project managers, product owners or scrum masters

At least the product owner will be involved in meetings with higher ups.