It's occurred to me recently that I now use so many different "technologies" in my day to day work that I'm pretty much improvising non-stop and if someone asks me a specific technical question, in an interview say, I'm often at a complete loss to answer it - simply because I rarely think in technical terms.
Most weeks I end up using aspects of VBScript, SQL including stored procedures, JavaScript, XML, XSL, DHTML, ASP.NET with C#, Sharepoint with web parts, Ajax... plus any number of proprietary systems and development software.
I can do it, obviously. Have been for ages. Sometimes get stuck on some issue or other and spend an hour trawling the web or poking and hoping till I get it working. But when I try to think about it too much, while trying to mentally prepare myself for an interview or something, then I very quickly reach overload... just way too much to think about and remember. And absolutely anything could come out as an interview question.
Do other people have a lucid and uncluttered overview of the technology they use? I did once, a few years ago when I was just using Classic ASP, HTML, JavaScript and SQL statements. Clear as day it was. Maybe I'm just going senile, or maybe I've just had to branch out too much in doing so many different contracts so that I've never really got that instinctive feel for some of this stuff.
Doing my job isn't a problem, but interviews are becoming a real pain. Anyone got any tips? Is there a website where you can get cheat sheets to glance at during phone interviews to get the memory flowing properly? I don't think there's room in my brain to keep it all nice and neatly filed.
I suppose I can expect a load of "call yourself a professional?" type comments. Well, the Gas Board man that fixes my boiler always asks for the instructions and spends 20 minutes thumbing through them before he starts fixing the fault. I don't think it's unusual to be like this. I just wish there was an interview format for people like me that walk the walk all day long but have a terrible inability to talk the talk.
Most weeks I end up using aspects of VBScript, SQL including stored procedures, JavaScript, XML, XSL, DHTML, ASP.NET with C#, Sharepoint with web parts, Ajax... plus any number of proprietary systems and development software.
I can do it, obviously. Have been for ages. Sometimes get stuck on some issue or other and spend an hour trawling the web or poking and hoping till I get it working. But when I try to think about it too much, while trying to mentally prepare myself for an interview or something, then I very quickly reach overload... just way too much to think about and remember. And absolutely anything could come out as an interview question.
Do other people have a lucid and uncluttered overview of the technology they use? I did once, a few years ago when I was just using Classic ASP, HTML, JavaScript and SQL statements. Clear as day it was. Maybe I'm just going senile, or maybe I've just had to branch out too much in doing so many different contracts so that I've never really got that instinctive feel for some of this stuff.
Doing my job isn't a problem, but interviews are becoming a real pain. Anyone got any tips? Is there a website where you can get cheat sheets to glance at during phone interviews to get the memory flowing properly? I don't think there's room in my brain to keep it all nice and neatly filed.
I suppose I can expect a load of "call yourself a professional?" type comments. Well, the Gas Board man that fixes my boiler always asks for the instructions and spends 20 minutes thumbing through them before he starts fixing the fault. I don't think it's unusual to be like this. I just wish there was an interview format for people like me that walk the walk all day long but have a terrible inability to talk the talk.
Get your own biscuits.
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