Interviews

[Doggy Styles]

I was working at a big multi-national three or four years ago, and with 20 minutes notice was asked to stand in for an interviewer who was off sick.

I thought the interview went quite well, but later when the company told the candidate he was unsuccessful he put in a complaint about age discrimination.

I wasn't asked again.

[shaunbhoy]

Humility eh

That's me!!!

[MaryPoppins]

In Poland, I got involved in interviewing some of the candidates that were slowly being brought into the Project to take over from us expats, as we withdrew from the Network Rollout phase.
Some fairly clued-up people technically, as I recall. However, the best bit was when they reached the part about salaries, and the HR bint took the reins. Had to almost bite my lip when they meekly put forward their notional monthly hopes, only to be met with responses like "I'm not sure we can stretch to that!". The monthly figures they were quoting were less than my Daily rate!!

Humility eh

[shaunbhoy]

In Poland, I got involved in interviewing some of the candidates that were slowly being brought into the Project to take over from us expats, as we withdrew from the Network Rollout phase.
Some fairly clued-up people technically, as I recall. However, the best bit was when they reached the part about salaries, and the HR bint took the reins. Had to almost bite my lip when they meekly put forward their notional monthly hopes, only to be met with responses like "I'm not sure we can stretch to that!". The monthly figures they were quoting were less than my Daily rate!!

[MaryPoppins]

Anyway, the first two sailed through the technical questions, which was a bit awkward. I started to see why more obscure stuff gets included. It's actually quite difficult for the interviewer if all the answers are given quickly and easily!

Eh? Why? Interviews aren't just designed to catch people out.

I helped interview for my replacement before I went off to have baby, and was completely gobsmacked by how awful the candidates were.

It was brilliant.

One lady arrived 10 mins early, so the Prog Director went out to greet her. She was puffing and panting quite badly, having walked the 100 yards or so from another building. Seriously, the building was a two minute stroll.

We led her upstairs to an interview room (with her still puffing away), and I asked would she like a drink. She requested a tea and a water, cold please - with ice if possible(!)

She carried on puffing and panting like a bad porn star, clutching her chest as if close to a coronary. I bought the drinks back and exchanged bemused glances with Prog Director.

He asked, would she like a couple of minutes to compose herself? She said - oh yes, please - could you come back to me in 20 minutes?

I may have snorted aloud at this point, and explained that were fairly busy, had other candidates to interview, and were in a secure building so couldn't leave her alone.

She sweated and puffed her way through the excruciating interview, which we reduced to around 10 mins.

At the end, she was asked did she have any questions for us.

She appeared incredibly flustered and then proceeded to parrot two of my own interview questions back at me, before ending with "can you provide me with some feedback on how I did, and whether I will be offered the role?".

I've added this last question to my personal interview repertoire.

[Troll]

A clustered Index is an index which is clustered.

HTH

Does an index have to be clustered before it becomes capitalised?

[BlasterBates]

A clustered Index is an index which is clustered.

HTH

[Support Monkey]

Was asked to write some technical questions for an interview once it was for my permanent replacement, (thinking about it now i should have made them really difficult so they could not find anyone who could answer them, then they would have extended me instead)

I also sat in on an interview for a replacement contractor doing the same role as me

so just remember the guy doing the interview could just be the same as you and the questions could have been written in the 10 minutes before the interview

All very good experience and nice to see the interview process from the other side,

[xoggoth]

Clustered indexes? Never eard of em. They sound really dull. I did some nterviews once, I was total crap at it but in the unlikely event I get asked again I will definitely grill all candiates on clustered indexes.

[Lockhouse]

I used to get paid by an agency to conduct technical interviews over the phone in order to screen candidates prior to selection (for permanent jobs using MS technologies). For one post alone I telephone interviewed over 150 candidates from the Indian sub-continent - 95% of the CVs were fabricated.

I can tell pretty much straight away whether someone is trying it on and whether their experience matches their CV. If it's not going well I will ease up until the candidate finds their own level and then shorten the interview as much as possible. More than once within five minutes I've said "Thank you for your time" to spare us both any further embarrassment.

[Spacecadet]

They were asking for 5 years SQL Server experience so I thought perhaps it might test to see if the claims the candidates made on their CVs actually stacked up. I had to think them up 5 minutes before the first interview so I am conscious that I didn't really do them justice.

Someone with 5 years SQL Server experience should know the difference between clustered and non clustered indexes.
They should also know the maximum number of clustered indexes which can be applied to a single table!
A few simple questions should be enough to weed out bulltulipters. If they get them all right then apologise afterwards and explain why you asked those questions. They'll appreciate you for it and the interview can move on.

I've interviewed a few times and one thing which I try and concentrate on is how enthusiastic a person is about the job. If they have been in a technical role for a while you can ask them what they've done which they've been proud of. You can also get them in to a general technical discussion (e.g. what do you think of the new SQL Server 2008 features) which should demonstrate how much they read on the subject.

I also try and dig into their working methodologies... how they tackle problems like slow queries, complicated SQL requests etc... Anyone with experience should be able to talk about these comfortably without sounding like they've read it in a text book.

[wurzel]

Why are different types of index structure of any interest to someone developing winforms data input? Won't the database's underlying index structure be irrelevant?

Just askin' !

They were asking for 5 years SQL Server experience so I thought perhaps it might test to see if the claims the candidates made on their CVs actually stacked up. I had to think them up 5 minutes before the first interview so I am conscious that I didn't really do them justice.

[dang65]

Had a similar experience recently, having to help interview people for the first time in my life. I really hate being asked wilfully technical questions which are blatantly nothing to do with the job and which are often about techniques which no one will really be using till about five years away anyway. So, I got together some straightforward stuff which would show that the interviewees knew what they were talking about and hadn't just been frantically reading the latest techie blogs.

Anyway, the first two sailed through the technical questions, which was a bit awkward. I started to see why more obscure stuff gets included. It's actually quite difficult for the interviewer if all the answers are given quickly and easily!

Fortunately, the next couple of people didn't have a clue, so I was able say, yeah, that's the sort of person my questions were designed to weed out, see.

The good interviewees didn't want the job though, and I wasn't sure if that's because they thought it was going to be too easy. Fortunately, no one else suggested that so I think I got away with it. Hope I don't get asked to do it again though. Didn't feel right.

[Platypus]

setting up a simple winforms data input application for the accounts department ... what's the difference between a clustered index and a non clustered index

Why are different types of index structure of any interest to someone developing winforms data input? Won't the database's underlying index structure be irrelevant?

Just askin' !

[wurzel]

Have you ever been asked to help conduct an interview before as a contractor? I just got asked at the last minute to sit in & put some technical questions to some candidates being considered for setting up a simple winforms data input application for the accounts department here. As it was the last minute, I just bunged in the common sort of questions that I get asked at interview; like what's the difference between a clustered index and a non clustered index. Staggeringly, none of them knew & 2 of them floundered really badly. It was excruciating, I hope I don't get asked to do it again.