Phone Interview Questions
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I interview quite a few developers for senior level positions and in all honesty, few of them can touch most of those questions if asked. A lot of this stems from DBA's zealously (and you decide correctly or incorrectly) guard the db and so it ends up being mostly a black box, drives them to write dynamic sql rather than deal with having to get a proc change processed.
In my opinion most of the questions exceed what I expect of a junior - by an definition, and wouldn't expect most mid level developers to get all of them. Should seniors know them? Think it depends on your philosphy. Lots of developers think of the DB as a data store rather than a platform. If you're a data store person the gee whiz stuff doesn't appeal to you much.
There's an article coming up in the March issue of SQL Server Standard by one of the guys that works with me and the knowledge he gained from about a year of being assigned as a junior dba - not a position Im fond of, but it would put him in a position to answer almost all of your questions.
To open a larger can of worms, I think the reason they don't know this stuff is that A, there is LOT to learn when you're starting out and this isn't stuff that they immediately use, and B, most companies don't make the investment in teaching them.
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Thank you everyone for your help on this issue. I was concerned that many of the people I talked with on the phone whose resume stated they had at least 3-5 years of experience with databases could not answer half of these question. For a Jr person I was not expecting them to be able to answer all of the questions especially the BCP,SQL Profiler, and trouble shooting a slow running server. But I do expect that if a person did miss a question on the phone interview (and I would let them know which questions they needed to review), when I brought them in for an in house interview they would be able to show they reviewed the information. (At least this is what I have done in the past if I was the one being interviewed)
I appreciate everyone's input and I plan to modify some of the questions with the suggestion you have give.
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Well if you told them to review and brought them in for another interview then at that point I would assume they really don't care and probably don't have a great work ethic in regards to followup.
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Where I have found a lot of interviewees have fallen down is when the don't know the answer to a question that they don't even provide an idea as to where they would go to get the solution.
"BCP, I'm not sure of the syntax, but I could get it from books online." I can accept, as they are at least showing a little initiative to try and come up with a way to work through what they don't know rather than just say, "I don't know".
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"I think the reason they don't know this stuff is that A, there is LOT to learn when you're starting out and this isn't stuff that they immediately use, and B, most companies don't make the investment in teaching them."
Amen, Andy! If only we can bring ourselves to remember how it was when we started out. I think the key phrase being, "...immediately use". All I can say is, "Thank God for http://www.sqlservercentral.com!"
Good luck to you, katmeadows!
Hey, by the way, I also received another book last night (thanks to the Amazon gift certificate from http://www.sqlservercentral.com). I took a quick look and am SOOOOOO happy I bought it! It's by Brian Knight and it's called "SQL Server 2000 for Experienced DBAs". I just love having books like this in my reference library bag of tricks. It's actually printed by McGraw Hill/Osborne which is the same as the book I mentioned before on SQL Server 2005. They look great side by side. Anyway, check it out. You can get it used for ~$15.
I also ordered the online version of the Start to Finish Guide to SQL Performance Monitoring and downloaded it last week. It's by Brian Kelley with Brian Knight, Andy Warren, and Steve Jones as Technical Editors. Very, very nice. I've already used it for some suggestions concerning our clients in my new job. Take a look:
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Hey you know the opportunity to order these books takes me back to the second part of Andy's comments, "and B, most companies don't make the investment in teaching them." This was so true in my last company. I don't even want to got there!
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Hey, exactly the opposite here.
My boss said, I should get some training this year. Last time was about 3 years ago. So, now it's high time for some. Well, I committed myself to go for the MCDBA this year and get teaching in Java. Fortunately I could convince him, that PL1 isn't our way to go. Strange, strange, how this would fit into the job profile for an Asset Manager, but who cares anyway.
And for teaching in general: I only need to say, I need this or that. The rest is then no problem.
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
You are very lucky, Frank! Be happy your company promotes training.
In my old job, my only form of training for SQL Server 2000 was allowing me to read through all of Books Online. That was it! So now you know why it took me a bit longer to learn and am still learning.
They were cheap jerks full of greed but please don't get me started. They didn't even want me to get online and post questions to the sqlservercentral forums. Can we say idiots taking advantage of a lousy economy and job outlook?Anyway, I am very happy in my new job and looking forward to working with nice and good people again.
Yippee!!!!!!!!
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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How were you supposed to debug yourself if you couldn't go online to do searches?
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Dale, do you mean the job we talked last time offline or is this now something different?
Well, my company has finally realized, that in times of worse economy it isn't that easy to get instantly adequate replacement for someone who does his job for several years. It isn't actually that easy get someone qualified at all. Few people here are willing to leave and face the usual risks that go along with it. So, they started to invested in the personell that is already on board and train them for the future. And this concept pays. While almost every other insurance company is having problems *not* to lay off people, we are looking for new employees and have one record profit year afdter the other.
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
Remi, one day I will write a book called, "How to be the biggest marketing jerks in the world and still manage to survive!"
I went onto sqlservercentral.com when the boss was out 'cause I was also the network administrator. Believe me, it was tough but there were no other jobs to be had in this county for YEARS. I was the only developer/administrator at this job. Prior to this job, I had been a manager so I didn't expect the ridiculousness. I was expected to learn SQL Server 2000 by myself while I was working on my masters (which I financed), migrate the DB from Access to SQL, develop the new interface, and was expected to do all my own testing. Whenever anything screwed up, I was yelled at or given the silent treatment. Literally! I think I was yelled at or glared at ever day that I worked there by a very incompetent manager (a former delivery truck driver made general manager by his buddy).
Believe me, after 3 1/2 years of that, my nerves were shot so I quit after putting together a nice stockpile of cash. Now, I have found peace with a software company that markets a "real" product for once. It's for "Meals on Wheels", a service program which delivers food to senior citizens in need. Nice ending to a terrible 4 years.
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Oh, and by the way, I doubt myself every day because of working in that kind of environment. If it wasn't for sqlservercentral.com, I don't know if I could have ever kept on going. That's for real.
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Slightly off topic, but perhaps worthy of mentioning here considering the references to training (does it count that I mentioned it earlier?) - how many of you (or your employers) make a sizable investment in books and magazines?
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Purchasing books and mag. subscriptions are easier to obtain than training classes where I am currently working. Cost is always a concern when you are dealing with Tax payer's money.
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Never had the chance to get training and no help with the purchase of books or mags either unfortunately.
Be lost without this place that's for sure.
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