November 6, 2001 at 5:24 am
People skills is ok, but I vote for someone who can take constructive critiscm and mentoring in the spirit it was intended. If you can find someone who will listen and learn, its down right amazing how fast you can bring them along. What I wouldn't want is someone who THOUGHT they knew more than I did. If they REALLY know more, I'd say grab them - I could use some mentoring too!
Andy
November 6, 2001 at 6:27 am
In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
I just had the opposite experience, two grueling technical interviews and a test. The company didn't care about my certifications, they had their own standards.
Most of my interviews have been by managers. Except for this last one, I have had only one other technical interview.
Patrick Birch
Quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue
November 6, 2001 at 7:50 am
For my own two pennyworth, I had to pass an 'interesting' interview technique recently. Basically, even though my cv shows 7 passed ms exams, I was asked to take a Transcender test, with the interviewer examining my answers after 45 mins - about half the normally allocated time. Surprisingly, although there were many aural questions, the main factor was considered to be my performance in the test. This obviously isn't typical, but it does show that some employers definitely do attribute a lot of significance to exam performance.
Paul Ibison
email: Paul.Ibison@btinternet.com
Paul Ibison
Paul.Ibison@replicationanswers.com
November 6, 2001 at 7:57 am
I definately agree with all of the comments in this posting. There are some vast differences in employers. I am currently pursuing my MSDBA in turn to obtain a little repect from my boss, who is extremely into the whole cert thing.
BK
November 6, 2001 at 9:18 am
We have been burned by people claiming certs, so we actually have set up a pretty rigorous interview as well. My manager is a developer (he's the resident VB guru of the group) and if they can't pass his technical questions with regards to SQL Server, they don't get to the DBAs to get hammered. If they pass us, they then have to go before another for more of a people skills environment fit type of interview.
K. Brian Kelley
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/bkelley/
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley
November 6, 2001 at 12:56 pm
>> So if you know of a diplomatic, strategic, fast problem solver we will certainly hire them given opennings! If they are certified that is a bonus for external work.
strategic I'm your man
fast problem solver I'm your man
diplomatic I'm seriously and consistently misunderstood - and can get the references to prove it.
If you want someone to give or take bullshit go elsewhere :-).
Cursors never.
DTS - only when needed and never to control.
November 6, 2001 at 3:01 pm
My final two cents as advice.
The two toughest interviews I had:
1. I was taking the place of a consultant. He sat me in a room with the VP of IT, with my resume in front of me. I assume he had gone through it before hand and proceeded to give me scenarios of various natures for an hour which I had to answer and occassionaly debate. I had everything from "what's normalization" to "suppose you forgot the rconsole password for your netware serveR and needed to get it back" to "how do you handle security in a client-server env". It was challenging because every single thing on my resume was challenged.
2. Went to a division of DoubleClick.com which needed to replace 3 DBA consultants with 2 perms. One of the consultants was converting. They put me in a room.
First, the 3 SQL DBas come in and grill me for an hour, round robin style. They had notes and pads and kept firing questions one after the other.
10 min breal
Next, an Oracle DBA comes in and grills me on networks, general SQL ,etc for 30-45 min.
Another break
Lead developer for the 2 apps I would support comes in and spends her 1/2 hour.
Short break
VP comes in to give the final "will you fit in" interview.
That's what you should do before you hand over your data to the next MCDBA!
Steve Jones
November 7, 2001 at 5:42 am
Well..... Did you get those jobs?
My toughest interview was tough not because of the tech side but the management side. I was being laid off from a company in Miami when my wife was pregnant with our first child and we had a down payment on our first house. My company had a sister company who was looking, so I went over and interviewed.
This was back in the mid 80's and I had tons on PC experience but no mainframe. During the first interview, I was told I would be primarily PC based but I would get 20-30% mainframe work. It sounded great, so great in fact, that while waiting for my second interview I turned down several other offers.
The second interview took 4 weeks to materialize, by that time my severence pay was dwindling. I went to the interview and talked to my direct manager and his boss (Mr. Drill Sergent). They started grilling me about PC stuff, which I know. Then they ask if I have any questions. I say "What kind of mainframe tasks will I be doing?" At that point Drill Sargent says none! I'm shocked and it shows. I tell them I've turned down better opportunities because of the mainframe exposure this job offers. Well, Drill Sargent goes totally ballistic. He starts screaming and cursing at me. Saying "What's my major f#$% up?" He's inches from my face yelling full volume. Then he says he doesn't want me unless I am fully aware that I will be PC only AND I'm happy about it. I put on a smile and say sure no problem. I need this job now. Drill Sargent leaves and my direct manager tries to calm me down. Kind of like good cop, bad cop. He says DS is a little high strung. I chuckle, "A little?"
To make a long story even longer, I had planned to visit my home in NY next week, so I called my family and had them check to local classifieds. They found one job that sounded like me. I called from the airport, stopped by the head hunter's house, and interviewed the next day. The company liked me and made me a better offer. So on the Friday better I was supposed to start working for the Drill Sargent I called and said I couldn't make it. I told my direct manager and I could hear the fear in his voice as he realized he was going to have to break the news. He was so whipped that he actually asked me why I wasn't coming to work there!
PS. The company I went to work for was Grumman Aerospace and it was one of the best jobs I ever had. I also got just enough mainframe experience to round out my resume perfectly.
quote:
My final two cents as advice.The two toughest interviews I had:
1. I was taking the place of a consultant. He sat me in a room with the VP of IT, with my resume in front of me. I assume he had gone through it before hand and proceeded to give me scenarios of various natures for an hour which I had to answer and occassionaly debate. I had everything from "what's normalization" to "suppose you forgot the rconsole password for your netware serveR and needed to get it back" to "how do you handle security in a client-server env". It was challenging because every single thing on my resume was challenged.
2. Went to a division of DoubleClick.com which needed to replace 3 DBA consultants with 2 perms. One of the consultants was converting. They put me in a room.
First, the 3 SQL DBas come in and grill me for an hour, round robin style. They had notes and pads and kept firing questions one after the other.
10 min breal
Next, an Oracle DBA comes in and grills me on networks, general SQL ,etc for 30-45 min.
Another break
Lead developer for the 2 apps I would support comes in and spends her 1/2 hour.
Short break
VP comes in to give the final "will you fit in" interview.
That's what you should do before you hand over your data to the next MCDBA!
Steve Jones
November 7, 2001 at 11:13 am
Interesting. Never had anyone yell at me like that, but I'm 6', 200, so that may be part of it.
I got offered both jobs, took the first at the time. Last year I loved Doubleclick, great staff, but too long a commute. 🙁 sady, I declined.
Steve Jones
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