Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • drew.allen - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:28 AM

    JustMarie - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:19 AM

    drew.allen - Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:15 AM

    I applied for a job yesterday, and they sent me a SQL test to take.  I thought all of the questions were poorly worded, but one in particular was very badly worded.  It also used a data type that is invalid in SQL Server (unless they've introduced it in 2016)  INT(2).  In my answer, I included my thoughts about how poorly worded it was.  I wonder if will help or hurt me getting the job.

    Drew

    I've had some poor SQL tests and some really good ones. One of the poor ones wanted all the code to be 'properly formatted'. Um. I'm not going to sit in a conference room and format my code when there's perfectly good free formatters out there (which I couldn't access) to do the job for me. And I explained that later.

    The INT(2) looks like a MySQL data type which could explain why the test was the way it was. They may have needed someone with SOME experience to write up a test and grabbed the guy who kind of knows MySQL.

    So it might help that you were able to explain the reasons why the questions weren't valid. It shows you know SQL.

    I guess they liked my answers, because they called back about my availability for an interview.

    Drew

    Cool, good luck!

    Rodders...

  • drew.allen - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:28 AM

    JustMarie - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:19 AM

    drew.allen - Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:15 AM

    I applied for a job yesterday, and they sent me a SQL test to take.  I thought all of the questions were poorly worded, but one in particular was very badly worded.  It also used a data type that is invalid in SQL Server (unless they've introduced it in 2016)  INT(2).  In my answer, I included my thoughts about how poorly worded it was.  I wonder if will help or hurt me getting the job.

    Drew

    I've had some poor SQL tests and some really good ones. One of the poor ones wanted all the code to be 'properly formatted'. Um. I'm not going to sit in a conference room and format my code when there's perfectly good free formatters out there (which I couldn't access) to do the job for me. And I explained that later.

    The INT(2) looks like a MySQL data type which could explain why the test was the way it was. They may have needed someone with SOME experience to write up a test and grabbed the guy who kind of knows MySQL.

    So it might help that you were able to explain the reasons why the questions weren't valid. It shows you know SQL.

    I guess they liked my answers, because they called back about my availability for an interview.

    Drew

    Awesome

  • rodjkidd - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:35 AM

    drew.allen - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:28 AM

    JustMarie - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:19 AM

    drew.allen - Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:15 AM

    I applied for a job yesterday, and they sent me a SQL test to take.  I thought all of the questions were poorly worded, but one in particular was very badly worded.  It also used a data type that is invalid in SQL Server (unless they've introduced it in 2016)  INT(2).  In my answer, I included my thoughts about how poorly worded it was.  I wonder if will help or hurt me getting the job.

    Drew

    I've had some poor SQL tests and some really good ones. One of the poor ones wanted all the code to be 'properly formatted'. Um. I'm not going to sit in a conference room and format my code when there's perfectly good free formatters out there (which I couldn't access) to do the job for me. And I explained that later.

    The INT(2) looks like a MySQL data type which could explain why the test was the way it was. They may have needed someone with SOME experience to write up a test and grabbed the guy who kind of knows MySQL.

    So it might help that you were able to explain the reasons why the questions weren't valid. It shows you know SQL.

    I guess they liked my answers, because they called back about my availability for an interview.

    Drew

    Cool, good luck!

    Rodders...

    Nothing to do with luck, all to do with quality, good luck by the way
    😎

  • And then there are the questions asking if a certain query will work in a certain way.  Try it, see if it works the way you expect it to work.

  • Need a cancel button when you want to cancel from a reply when you decide not to complete the comment or realize that you misread the post prior to posting a reply.

    Or I am not looking in the right place to cancel out of a post.

  • Lynn Pettis - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:23 AM

    JustMarie - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:20 AM

    Lynn Pettis - Wednesday, March 15, 2017 9:39 AM

    Sorry, I'm not sorry, for the snide remark to Mr. Celko that I just made.

    Link or it didn't happen. 😎

    Does that mean a tree falling makes no sound if no one is there to hear it?

    No but it sure is a LOT harder to find posts like that with the new site. The activity and such seems to be nearly useless on profiles.

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  • Wow this is pretty sad. https://medium.com/@AlmostWhiteHat/samsung-leaking-customer-information-9b7e2dcb006d#.bant4c3oq

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Sean Lange - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:11 AM

    That is bad.

  • Lynn Pettis - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:57 AM

    Need a cancel button when you want to cancel from a reply when you decide not to complete the comment or realize that you misread the post prior to posting a reply.

    Or I am not looking in the right place to cancel out of a post.

    I just hit the browser back button or close out the window.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:32 AM

    Lynn Pettis - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:57 AM

    Need a cancel button when you want to cancel from a reply when you decide not to complete the comment or realize that you misread the post prior to posting a reply.

    Or I am not looking in the right place to cancel out of a post.

    I just hit the browser back button or close out the window.

    Me too.  I've looked, but don't see an alternative and closing the window works fine.

  • Brandie Tarvin - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:32 AM

    Lynn Pettis - Thursday, March 16, 2017 9:57 AM

    Need a cancel button when you want to cancel from a reply when you decide not to complete the comment or realize that you misread the post prior to posting a reply.

    Or I am not looking in the right place to cancel out of a post.

    I just hit the browser back button or close out the window.

    The browser back button is a fail for me (which I don't understand as I think it should), and closing the tab/window is a pain if all I want to do is cancel what I was posting and reread the thread again before posting.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:17 AM

    Sean Lange - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:11 AM

    That is bad.

    In my experience, it's a pretty wide-spread problem with shipping companies/order tracking.
    Often (including in this case) you can also easily view any order you like just by changing the # in the URL (and as we all know, that way SQL Injection lies...).

    Wonder where the legal liability falls here? It's the shipping company that's exposing the data, but Samsung should have at least a moral obligation to ensure partner companies sufficiently protect their customers' data.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:17 AM

    Sean Lange - Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:11 AM

    That is bad.

    Sean, thanks for sharing it.  That is beyond horrible.  The negligence is absurd and the canned responses are inexcusable.  I smell a slew of lawsuits on their horizon.

  • OMG, why does this date not sort to the top of my sub-query when the date is excluded based on the where clause?  How do I get it to sort to the top?

    ARG!!!

  • Lynn Pettis - Thursday, March 16, 2017 11:14 AM

    OMG, why does this date not sort to the top of my sub-query when the date is excluded based on the where clause?  How do I get it to sort to the top?

    ARG!!!

    Hey, while you're in a good mood, I need a query that can sort this table I have based on 8 different fields and it also needs to convert the text representation of some fields to the appropriate numeric values?  And I can't provide any sample data because this is my homework.
    And while you're at it, I'm, ah, going to need you to come in Saturday too, mmm'kay?
    That would be, um, great...
    Yeah.

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