October 4, 2009 at 5:44 am
ItalianOlgi (10/3/2009)
Yes, I looking for a list of interview questions!
No amount of memorising questions is going to get you past a good interviewer. You need to understand the material, not exaggerate your abilities and be comfortable in saying 'I don't know'.
No, they not going to blow me out of the water if I study long enough!
Sure they will. It's trivially easy to tell, in an interview, someone who's gone and memorised answers from someone who actually understands the material. I've done enough interviewing and had enough people who were fine on rote answers, but when asked for reasons or details couldn't say a thing or made up garbage.
If you're trying to look like an expert when you aren't one, you're wasting your time and other people's time. Rather devote the time to actually becoming an expert.
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
October 4, 2009 at 6:26 am
training kits maybe useful for you too
October 4, 2009 at 9:10 am
Marcin Gol [SQL Server MVP] (10/4/2009)
training kits maybe useful for you too
Only if you actually practice what they teach. Otherwise, you're just memorizing which won't get you anywhere on an interview. 😉
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 4, 2009 at 10:39 am
ItalianOlgi (10/3/2009)
Jeff Moden (10/3/2009)
ItalianOlgi (10/3/2009)
Thank you for very good advice but maybe someone has the list I was asking about?Also, I am looking for information like "if they ask about X, first answer about X but also talk about A, B, C".
Or, if they ask not questions like "what is this" or "what is that" but questions like "If you are a DBA and database is slow, what steps do you take to find out why and solve the problem?" -Need to learn LONG answer and say it confidently! What speech I give?
It sounds to me like you're asking for a list of interview questions. If you haven't actually done the things they ask, they will blow you out of the water during an interview. And, if you are looking to become a DBA by simple memorization, then I'm all done with this thread... we don't need yet another DBA in this world who can't actually spell "DBA".
Hopefully, I'm just taking your line of questions the wrong way but I don't believe so.
Yes, I looking for a list of interview questions!
Jeff, if you done with this thread,it's not the end of the world. I will still do what I decided to No, they not going to blow me out of the water if I study long enough!
Usually, when someone crosses the line, I just walk away. This time, I've got to say something. There's no way you can interview for a senior level position unless you get lucky enough to find someone who doesn't know the job either. They are out there, but if you get someone with a bit knowledge, they're going to blow you & the memorized answers, out of the water.
Best of luck. I'm out of here.
"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
October 4, 2009 at 11:48 am
Grant Fritchey (10/4/2009)
Usually, when someone crosses the line, I just walk away. This time, I've got to say something. There's no way you can interview for a senior level position unless you get lucky enough to find someone who doesn't know the job either. They are out there, but if you get someone with a bit knowledge, they're going to blow you & the memorized answers, out of the water.Best of luck. I'm out of here.
Right on Grant! I think the poster's belief that if he studies long enough he can snow somebody. If he studied long enough and actually did the work he might ACTUALLY be an expert. But Grant is on the right track, you might have the answers to questions, but when I was doing interviews I always asked some deeper questions that you have to understand the material to answer. The only right answer is a valid answer, "I don't know" or a crap answer will almost certainly be a disqualification for anything other than a junior or training position. Even in the cases where we were looking for a more junior DBA a crap answer was also a problem, because I couldn't trust you to admit you didn't know and instead would try to snow me. Unfortunately I experienced far too many of these people when I was doing interviews. The really bad ones I had long discussions with their recruiter or account rep (I dealt with a lot of recruiting and contract firms).
We had a case where we knew in the first 2 minutes of a phone interview that the person was WAY out of their league. We went ahead and did a full 5 minutes just to be nice.. But that person was out with no questions.
CEWII
October 4, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Elliott W (10/4/2009)
The only right answer is a valid answer, "I don't know" or a crap answer will almost certainly be a disqualification for anything other than a junior or training position.
I disagree here. No one knows everything about SQL Server. I'd much rather hear "I don't know" or "I'd have to look that up" or similar than a made-up, junk answer. For me, the latter is an almost immediate fail. The former, providing it's just for a couple questions and it's not for very basic fundamentals, is OK.
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
October 4, 2009 at 3:54 pm
GilaMonster (10/4/2009)
Elliott W (10/4/2009)
The only right answer is a valid answer, "I don't know" or a crap answer will almost certainly be a disqualification for anything other than a junior or training position.I disagree here. No one knows everything about SQL Server. I'd much rather hear "I don't know" or "I'd have to look that up" or similar than a made-up, junk answer. For me, the latter is an almost immediate fail. The former, providing it's just for a couple questions and it's not for very basic fundamentals, is OK.
I don't expect them to know everything, but without exception, the people who *I* view as senior (and that is a whole nother discussion that we have had here before..) have an understanding that is deeper than simple pat answers. I love to use those DBA interview questions and them go deeper on some of the ones that they should know more about.. Say.. How would you configure differential backups with a maintenance plan..
And as a second point, the one thing I hate about both giving and receiving technical interviews is interviewer bias. I can give a perfect technical answer, but if the interviewer is looking for a different answer I'm wrong, even though I was right.. And there is very little I can do about that.
But if you try to BS me, it is not going to help you.
CEWII
October 8, 2009 at 12:30 am
Small company with no full-time DBA currently. Interview by VP of IT and one lady from India who knows SQL Server but only asked general questions like "have you worked with triggers?", SQL language question, "what is the largest size database you worked with?", "why do you like to work with database?"
*It IS possible!*
October 8, 2009 at 1:23 am
It may be possible to bluff your way through an interview, but you will be thrown out the door when a server crashes and burns and its pretty obvious you don't have a clue about what to do.
I could get a fake F1 racing licence but it wouldn't make me a world class driver.
My company has a policy of 2 Week probation period. If you dont cut it in the real world then youre out.
October 8, 2009 at 2:33 am
ItalianOlgi (10/8/2009)
Small company with no full-time DBA currently. Interview by VP of IT and one lady from India who knows SQL Server but only asked general questions like "have you worked with triggers?", SQL language question, "what is the largest size database you worked with?", "why do you like to work with database?"*It IS possible!*
Yes it is possible, however if you did bluff your way into a role you are not skilled enough to do, who is the bigger fool, you ar the poor company that employs you.
If that is your attitude, being a dba is not for you. being a dba is a position of immense trust and responsibility, if you make a mistake you can bring the company to its knees.
And the one things that you are not taking into account using your example. if you go into a company where there is no other dba, you need to know your skills inside out. you will have noone to talk to and noone to bounce ideas off and your lack of experience will show very easily if you have to deal with an emergency.
can you even answer and expand on the questions you have mentioned as examples. even after 5 or 10 or 15 years as a dba, you will have gaps in your knowledge. it is too big a product not to. even the senior people on this forums admit to not knowing everything.
Is your example real. did you actually apply for this job and get it?
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October 8, 2009 at 2:42 am
Just pray that your employer doesn't come across this thread.
Good luck.
BTW, I will remember your name and never help you in these forums, because I don't think that this is a good behaviour.
-- Gianluca Sartori
October 8, 2009 at 2:52 am
ItalianOlgi (10/8/2009)
*It IS possible!*
Yes, if the company has no DBA staff to do the interview and/or the interviewer was incompetent. Question is, can you do what you claimed to be able to do?
I'm dealing with a company at the moment that has a DBA who 'exaggerated' their skills (basically they lied their way through the interview). They called me in because of persistent performance problems. The rest of their problems were easy to see.
I suspect said DBA will be short a job relatively soon...
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
October 8, 2009 at 8:30 am
Silverfox (10/8/2009)
being a dba is a position of immense trust and responsibility, if you make a mistake you can bring the company to its knees.
Truer words never spoken. Even if the mistakes made are trivial, starting a new career based on deceit violates the very principle of trust and if the DBA cannot be trusted, there is no DBA.
The really bad part about this thread with this obvious troll is that he might just pull off his charade. I pity the poor company that makes the sorry mistake of hiring him for anything.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 8, 2009 at 8:42 am
ItalianOlgi (10/8/2009)
Small company with no full-time DBA currently. Interview by VP of IT and one lady from India who knows SQL Server but only asked general questions like "have you worked with triggers?", SQL language question, "what is the largest size database you worked with?", "why do you like to work with database?"*It IS possible!*
Just keep in mind that the company may be in a position to sue you or prosecute you for fraud if you cause them to lose money because of skills you don't actually have, but that you pretended you did.
I understand that a total lack of ethics is being portrayed as a good thing in much of modern entertainment, but there are consequences in the real world.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
October 8, 2009 at 8:56 am
GilaMonster (10/4/2009)
Elliott W (10/4/2009)
The only right answer is a valid answer, "I don't know" or a crap answer will almost certainly be a disqualification for anything other than a junior or training position.I disagree here. No one knows everything about SQL Server. I'd much rather hear "I don't know" or "I'd have to look that up" or similar than a made-up, junk answer. For me, the latter is an almost immediate fail. The former, providing it's just for a couple questions and it's not for very basic fundamentals, is OK.
I agree with the intent here, Gail, but I'd rather not hear "I don't know". I'd rather hear a description of how they'd find out.
If I were to ask, "How would you set up a smart, standard index defragmentation plan on a SQL 2005 server?", and the only answer given were "I don't know", I'd consider that a serious negative in an interview.
On the other hand, I'd consider it a positive if it started with, "I haven't had to do that, so I'm not sure, but what I'd start with is going to MSDN and SSC and looking to see what others have done and what recommended practices are. Might involve hitting Google if I don't find anything on one of the standard sites. It might involve a standard option in a maintenance plan, but if it doesn't, I'm sure I can find and then customize a script that can be turned into an effective SQL Agent job."
It's true that nobody knows all there is about SQL Server. But there's a big difference between "I don't know", and a detailed description of how to find out.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
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