January 19, 2016 at 4:38 am
Yup, that's an interviewer who's just failed the interview (remember it's a 2-way street, you're evaluating them as much as they're evaluating you)
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
January 19, 2016 at 4:42 am
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.
I had the same response in a couple of interviews, so I mentioned it to Paul. He wasn't at all surprised and said the SQL Server community, where people blog, post on forums and attend conferences, is a tiny fraction of the people who actually work with SQL Server. Getting noticed outside of the community takes an inordinate amount of work.
January 19, 2016 at 4:47 am
GilaMonster (1/19/2016)
Yup, that's an interviewer who's just failed the interview (remember it's a 2-way street, you're evaluating them as much as they're evaluating you)
That's true, never thought about at it like that before.
January 19, 2016 at 4:52 am
BrainDonor (1/19/2016)
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.I had the same response in a couple of interviews, so I mentioned it to Paul. He wasn't at all surprised and said the SQL Server community, where people blog, post on forums and attend conferences, is a tiny fraction of the people who actually work with SQL Server. Getting noticed outside of the community takes an inordinate amount of work.
Well, if that was said to me in a face to face ( as opposed to a telephone recruiter interview) SQL interview I would've had a face of a man with a sour gobstopper in my mouth!
January 19, 2016 at 5:05 am
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.
I've had lots of interviews where people say stuff "It says Microsoft MVP at the top of your resume... That's nice.... What's an MVP?"
It's actually not as well known as we all like to think it is. Same thing with names like Paul Randal. For a long time at events, I would ask people, "Who knows the name Adam Machanic/Brent Ozar/Kim Tripp/?" and you get maybe 1/3 of the audience who knows them all and the rest who don't have a clue. I try not to let that lack of knowledge be a deciding factor on my interest in the organization (although, it does influence me).
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 19, 2016 at 5:07 am
Funny someone (all) should mention Paul...
Currently in the process of helping with interviewing for senior DBA role with team leadership skills. A few have mentioned Paul, which is nice. Since the first interview is via phone we were thinking of having a second check list for community members / blogs / sites that the candidates mention.
I have to say all of them have ticked at least one of the people / sites we know and use. Which is good.
One even said the immortal phrase "Paul Randall, he wrote DBCC"... Which took me back to taking the IE courses with SQL Skills 🙂
Can't say I enjoy being on this side of the fence for interviews though.
Rodders...
January 19, 2016 at 5:08 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (1/19/2016)
I'm here in the UK, flew over last night.At least it's not raining.
Steeeeeeeeeeeve!
Welcome back!
Enjoy the ice and maybe snow while you are here.
Say hi to the gang at Red Gate central.
Rodders...
January 19, 2016 at 5:26 am
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.
Ha! I think I can top that. I have also had a phone conversation with an interviewer who had no clue what the MVP award is - but in my case, the interviewer was a Microsoft HR employee, interviewing for a position in Microsoft...
January 19, 2016 at 5:26 am
Grant Fritchey (1/19/2016)
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.I've had lots of interviews where people say stuff "It says Microsoft MVP at the top of your resume... That's nice.... What's an MVP?"
It's actually not as well known as we all like to think it is. Same thing with names like Paul Randal. For a long time at events, I would ask people, "Who knows the name Adam Machanic/Brent Ozar/Kim Tripp/?" and you get maybe 1/3 of the audience who knows them all and the rest who don't have a clue. I try not to let that lack of knowledge be a deciding factor on my interest in the organization (although, it does influence me).
True true.
Sometimes when I arrive at a new client they tell me they googled/binged my name. "Wow, you write blog posts apparently"
Most of the time I'm surprised if people know me (or other community members) in advance.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
January 19, 2016 at 5:32 am
RIP Glenn Frey, co-founder of the Eagles. Only 67 years old, left this world much too soon.
Did Ramsey play last night?
January 19, 2016 at 5:34 am
rodjkidd (1/19/2016)
Can't say I enjoy being on this side of the fence for interviews though.
Just learn to enjoy the bumpy ride, and try to keep confident that eventually you will find someone who fits the bill.
At my current client I am the only one with SQL experience, so my holidays are awkward. For my first holiday my boss tried to find a temporary replacement, and asked me to do the technical part of the interview. Question 1: "A database goes down and you need to restore from the backup. What is the very first thing you do". No amount of coaching took him even near the correct answer, and when I explicitly mentioned the phrase "tail-log backup", he had no clue what I was talking about. As far as I was concerned, the interview was over at that time. (Though I still had good fun doing the rest of the questions with him. I especially liked his elaborate answer to "In SQL Server 2012, when would you recommend using a hash index" - and before anyone gets weird ideas about me, that was the only trick question I had)
(Note that we later found out that he had a strong Oracle background, had barely started to got his toes wet in SQL Server, and was working with an agency that had a quite liberal attitude towards dressing up their candidates' resumees)
January 19, 2016 at 5:43 am
Koen Verbeeck (1/19/2016)
Grant Fritchey (1/19/2016)
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.I've had lots of interviews where people say stuff "It says Microsoft MVP at the top of your resume... That's nice.... What's an MVP?"
It's actually not as well known as we all like to think it is. Same thing with names like Paul Randal. For a long time at events, I would ask people, "Who knows the name Adam Machanic/Brent Ozar/Kim Tripp/?" and you get maybe 1/3 of the audience who knows them all and the rest who don't have a clue. I try not to let that lack of knowledge be a deciding factor on my interest in the organization (although, it does influence me).
True true.
Sometimes when I arrive at a new client they tell me they googled/binged my name. "Wow, you write blog posts apparently"
Most of the time I'm surprised if people know me (or other community members) in advance.
Then there was the guy who had me come to the interview just because he wanted to play "Stump the Chump." He proceeded to ask a million detailed syntax questions and object limits. The interview ended with "Well, I expected more from an MVP." The job was crap anyway.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 19, 2016 at 5:44 am
Hugo Kornelis (1/19/2016)
rodjkidd (1/19/2016)
Can't say I enjoy being on this side of the fence for interviews though.Just learn to enjoy the bumpy ride, and try to keep confident that eventually you will find someone who fits the bill.
At my current client I am the only one with SQL experience, so my holidays are awkward. For my first holiday my boss tried to find a temporary replacement, and asked me to do the technical part of the interview. Question 1: "A database goes down and you need to restore from the backup. What is the very first thing you do". No amount of coaching took him even near the correct answer, and when I explicitly mentioned the phrase "tail-log backup", he had no clue what I was talking about. As far as I was concerned, the interview was over at that time. (Though I still had good fun doing the rest of the questions with him. I especially liked his elaborate answer to "In SQL Server 2012, when would you recommend using a hash index" - and before anyone gets weird ideas about me, that was the only trick question I had)
(Note that we later found out that he had a strong Oracle background, had barely started to got his toes wet in SQL Server, and was working with an agency that had a quite liberal attitude towards dressing up their candidates' resumees)
We've hit that wall a few times, the "throw everyone at the job, one might stick" approach from agencies.
Had two who would fit, etc. but I think one had a better offer and the other decided in the end it wasn't the right time to move jobs. Certainly 1 or 2 were more Oracle than SQL Server, and we put that down to the agency.
Rodders...
January 19, 2016 at 5:45 am
Talking about dressing up a CV, the last time I used an agency (well over 10 years ago), they sent me to an interview. At the time I was a web developer who dabbled in SQL and my CV bore that out (plus some MS Access skills),
I can't remember what the interviewer asked, but it was nothing related to web development. After a couple questions that I couldn't even begin to answer, I asked the interviewer what position this interview was for. Project Manager/Business Analyst. Thinking maybe the agency had mixed up the location, I stammered an apology and explained I was a web developer.
"But your CV claims 5 years of project management experience", replies the interviewer, angry, and handed me the CV which the agency had sent him.
My details, my work experience, with modified projects and responsibilities, and a completely fictional skill matrix.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
January 19, 2016 at 5:46 am
Koen Verbeeck (1/19/2016)
Grant Fritchey (1/19/2016)
BL0B_EATER (1/19/2016)
Oh sorry forgot to mention they also asked me who Paul Randal is / what a MVP is? ( Only because I put down my mentoring / training relationship with him) .... FACEPALM.I've had lots of interviews where people say stuff "It says Microsoft MVP at the top of your resume... That's nice.... What's an MVP?"
It's actually not as well known as we all like to think it is. Same thing with names like Paul Randal. For a long time at events, I would ask people, "Who knows the name Adam Machanic/Brent Ozar/Kim Tripp/?" and you get maybe 1/3 of the audience who knows them all and the rest who don't have a clue. I try not to let that lack of knowledge be a deciding factor on my interest in the organization (although, it does influence me).
True true.
Sometimes when I arrive at a new client they tell me they googled/binged my name. "Wow, you write blog posts apparently"
Most of the time I'm surprised if people know me (or other community members) in advance.
if only you could turn up the interview wearing a T-shirt, I'd have one with all the community "Names" I know, met, own a book by, read blog by, got drunk with, etc...
:w00t:
Rodders...
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