March 11, 2008 at 9:50 am
Nobody had posted the brainbench test yet. I took it and my score was better than I anticipated as I took the test. When I entered the test I selected Advanced as my skill level so I might have done even better if I selected Intermediate.
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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March 11, 2008 at 10:31 am
I believe it's currently free because it's in beta/evaluation mode - the level doesn't make the questions any harder or easier. They ask you for your level so that they can see whether people who think themselves as intermedia (for example) are getting intermediate scores.
March 11, 2008 at 11:06 am
I went ahead and took it. I took some tests a REALLY LONG time ago. Did better than I thought too 4.01. However, I really don't know replication/mirroring/clustering at all. (It was a weak area) and it seemed like there were a whole lot of questions about that. I was also rushed and I should have known better. Hard to take a test without taking off work... In any case. It was fun.
March 11, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Selects - Clustered
Inserts - Non Clustered.
Rational: If your doing a lot of inserts, non clustered will just insert into a page. If clustered, you will probably encounter page splits. If your doing a lot of selects, when you have identified by key page, you won't need to do an extra read to get to the data page.
Actual example: We have a historical price table that is clustered and has the security identifer as the first key field of the clustered index (followed by date). Tuesday thru Friday, approximately 100,000 records would get inserted after the markets closed, taking roughly the same time, i/o etc. Mondays ran about 30% longer. The reason? The table was being rebuilt on the weekends, resulting in the data being more effeciently packed. Come monday, lots of page splits which take a lot longer.
March 11, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Huh? This is a pretty big thread. What are you answering?
Dave Zavasnik (3/11/2008)
Selects - ClusteredInserts - Non Clustered.
....
If you are saying that if your table is primarily insert, then you shouldn't have a clustered index, then I think you are being a little too generic in your opinion.
There are VERY VERY few cases where a table should have no clustered index.
In fact, I could also say that if you do inserts, then no index at all would be best 🙂
March 11, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Bob Fazio (3/11/2008)
Huh? This is a pretty big thread. What are you answering?Dave Zavasnik (3/11/2008)
Selects - ClusteredInserts - Non Clustered.
....
If you are saying that if your table is primarily insert, then you shouldn't have a clustered index, then I think you are being a little too generic in your opinion.
There are VERY VERY few cases where a table should have no clustered index.
In fact, I could also say that if you do inserts, then no index at all would be best 🙂
Bob - it's one of the first questions (one that the OP had trouble with). It's a badly phrased question, IMO. I'm not sure I would have answered it as conveyed by the OP...
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
March 11, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Oh yeah...
Sorry. I agree that was very poorly worded.
My answers would have been.
Select - Whichever one is better for the query. Could be either.
Insert - None. Selects use indexes, not inserts. However, you will have to clairify what you are asking.
March 11, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Jeff, that has got to be the best interview story ever told. I almost lost control of my bodily functions trying to contain the laughter!! You're my hero. 😀
March 11, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Heh... thanks, John... smelled a bit like Ice Cream, too. 😀
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 12, 2008 at 2:55 am
smelled a bit like Ice Cream, too
Way... way... too much information Jeff :sick:
Far away is close at hand in the images of elsewhere.
Anon.
March 12, 2008 at 4:14 am
You know, someone should mention (for the lurkers), that Jeff actually paid attention to the Corporate Culture before "letting loose". He didn't just do it without having some foresight as to what the end result might be.
There are just certain things you shouldn't do in an interview unless you understand the culture (and the interviewers) well enough to know that you can get away with "X" and that it will draw the right kind of attention as opposed to the wrong kind.
Of course, I got a good deal of attention in my last interview (for my current job) by putting my volunteer Online RPG Admin experience on my resume. It's funny the things that will make you stick out in the prospective employers' mind. @=) BTW, that's what we spent a third of my 15 minute interview discussing. @=)
Not quite potty humor... but I still get laughs out of their responses to that particular bit of info.
March 12, 2008 at 7:35 am
Of course, I got a good deal of attention in my last interview (for my current job) by putting my volunteer Online RPG Admin experience on my resume. It's funny the things that will make you stick out in the prospective employers' mind. @=)
That activity makes me think you are a doer, have initiative and can function in a leadership position!! 🙂 Now, if you had put on your resume that you ran a Dwarven Fighter with 1.9M experience points that may have had a less positive reception. 😛
Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service
March 12, 2008 at 7:40 am
TheSQLGuru (3/12/2008)
Of course, I got a good deal of attention in my last interview (for my current job) by putting my volunteer Online RPG Admin experience on my resume. It's funny the things that will make you stick out in the prospective employers' mind. @=)
That activity makes me think you are a doer, have initiative and can function in a leadership position!! 🙂 Now, if you had put on your resume that you ran a Dwarven Fighter with 1.9M experience points that may have had a less positive reception. 😛
What if I show up to the interview dressed as a Dwarven Fighter with 1.9M experience? How does THAT play??? I'll leave the ax at the door...:)
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
March 12, 2008 at 8:07 am
Matt Miller (3/12/2008)
What if I show up to the interview dressed as a Dwarven Fighter with 1.9M experience? How does THAT play??? I'll leave the ax at the door...:)
Ax? Bring it... can be used to make porkchops 😀
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 12, 2008 at 8:13 am
Pork Chops 🙂 Now that will help generate more gas. However, I don't think they will still smell like Ice Cream. :sick:
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