May 20, 2008 at 2:20 am
We are now recruiting freshers with sound technical knowledge and groomimg them. We are providing training programs for them also. I agree we have a chance of losing people (as I already lost few after training) but we found this is a good solution of getting skilled people. Even I had a talk with my boss and he agreed that we should also improve our working environment. I believe if we give them good environment and good career path then people will stick to us.
🙂
May 20, 2008 at 2:40 pm
We also run a test\quiz as part of our interview process. It is about 20 questions or so. The odd part is we wead out plenty before hand. We even had someone who said they worked for NASA and were excited to be purusing a career in SEQUAL server with us as their objective. Needless to say the failed the first quiz question that isn't even on the quiz. We don't work with movies.
May 20, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I'm always amazed how many people are weeded out from a simple test/quiz beforehand. At one point I made sure that I only interviewed people that got 75% or better on the quiz.
Cut my interview load from dozens to 10-15.
May 21, 2008 at 9:48 am
Steve Jones - Editor (5/20/2008)
I'm always amazed how many people are weeded out from a simple test/quiz beforehand. At one point I made sure that I only interviewed people that got 75% or better on the quiz.Cut my interview load from dozens to 10-15.
You can also make sure that the quiz/test focuses on the specific function you're looking for.
If you want a "DBA", does that mean someone who knows all about running backups, building RAID arrays for OLTP, security/domain set-up, maintenance plans, etc., or does it mean someone who can build killer T-SQL queries, or someone who can translate a business need into a set of tables, or some combination thereof?
If you're looking for someone with good admin skills, your test can focus on that. If you want high performance T-SQL, you can test for that.
That will filter out applicants who may be really skilled DBAs, but not in the specific discipline you're looking for. (A test like that last summer would have saved me 9 hours of being interviewed about T-SQL only to find out they wanted someone who has all the DBCC commands memorized and really couldn't care less about query building and database design.)
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May 21, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I just had an interview the other day. The DBA/developer asked me what was the definition of normalization, how to make a one-to-one relationship data model. Then it was my turn to ask question, so I asked the DBA/Developer if the company had a warm standby and if they use replication. He did not even know what replication was. The manager immediately said I was the interviewee and not the interviewer. The next day I got a call from the manager and he offered me the job.
The funny thing is a lot of companies said they cannot find the quality people but there are a lot of people looking for a job too. Another thing is even the companies find the right people, they do not do anything to retain that person. Training is a foreign term to me. I haven't heard this term for a long time.
May 22, 2008 at 7:31 am
After only changing jobs 8 months ago I'm about to change again, the current employer turned out not to be what they said they were from a benefits point of view, the whole experience added to my last few employment experiences as a DBA has lead me to go contracting instead, at least that way I'm only harming myself by not giving myself the correct benefits like a pension scheme.
These days no permanent job seems safe or beneficial anymore which is what put me off contracting in the first place so I'm happy to live a life of uncertainty and go contracting, earn more money and know that I don't need to concern myself too much with office politics and have the knowledge that I won't be working somewhere I don't like if I don't want to.
Can you tell I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder, I've been made redundant once, nearly redundant a second time (I left before it happenned), mislead about benefits making me underpaid.
I'd go on more but I just sound bitter 😀
Luckly I now have enough experience as a DBA to do it so why not.
May 22, 2008 at 8:43 am
Best of luck with the new job.
Sometimes you ride a bad wave of luck and have trouble with jobs. It's happened to me before. Do something good for someone else and build up your karma. Might help with the next gig.
May 23, 2008 at 1:51 am
Maybe I should make a list like Earl 😀
My problem is sometimes I'm too nice to people or too trusting, the job I had that I was made redundant from wasn't that bad, I was there for eight years, if it wasn't for the redundancy I wouldn't have become a SQL Server DBA, it would have been DB2 on AS400s instead and I would still be there probably on the same wage, it gave me the kick I needed to make myself learn more, still not very nice at the time though.
I think contracting will suit me more especially as I'm moving to the Netherlands from the UK and will be contracting there and have a better standard of living at the same time for me and my family.
May 23, 2008 at 7:38 am
Burton89, I have the same problem, I trust people too easily. I am to honest. Whenever I see something not right, I raise the issue. It seems these days the management does not appreciate that. People rather spent tons of money fixing problems instead of getting things right at the first time.
People keep telling me that I should not talk too much at work and be more cautious about people.
I got stabbed at my back from the people I trusted too many time.
In my last job, my boss praised me and told me I was the best developer he ever hired and it ended up he handed me a resignation letter and forced me to sign it because I raised concern about my new manager's ability. That was July last year. I still see the ad from that company to hire SQL developer couple days ago. This makes me feel a lot better.
May 23, 2008 at 8:19 am
I totally understand what you mean, sometimes it's best not to say anything.
It's always a problem when you think your manager isn't up to scratch, what are you supposed to do, if you don't say anything he'll continue and not know and if you do say something so they can correct it you're forever tarnished, lately I've chosen not to say anything when I see something is wrong that's outside my immediate DBA domain.
Although I still maintain that honesty is always the best policy.
May 23, 2008 at 8:32 am
Buxtons, I agree with you even I learn it from a hard way.
"Silence is Golden"
May 23, 2008 at 9:02 am
yes, knowing when to keep quiet and when to raise your voice gets better with experience.
The last think you want is for your boss to grill you because you did raise an issue - that you should have.
Sometimes you need to raise the issue in the most tactful way possible without stepping on toes.
Some technical people do not care for this approach and often cause bad vibes between managers and themselves.
I try to be as diplomatic as possible - yet ensure that if a major issue is not right - that it gets raised and hopefully addressed
Thanks
Kevin
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