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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> RE: Rant
Referring to the last answer about getting a coffee I don't actually think
that is a bad answer!!
If he meant "I will not rush in and do something rash, rather I will plan
what I am going to do and check the book to make sure that I am correct"
then I think that is a perfectly acceptable approach.
You can strike me from the list now after that rash comment
John
-----Original Message-----
Sent: 22 July 2002 16:24
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
mkb,
Your surprised? Over the last 6 years I've interviewed many a candidate while we added two DBA's to the group. I've gotten a lot of answers like this:
Question: How do you create a table? Answer: The developer sends me a script. I run script.
Question: How do you shutdown a database? Answer: Turn off the power to the computer.
Question: How do you change the block size of a database. Answer: Change it in init.ora, restart database.
Question: How do you add a datafile to a tablespace? Answer: You can't.
Question: What are archived redo logs? Answer: There is no such thing.
BTW: these folks had an OCP certificate.
Best answer to a question I've asked:
Question: You have a database crash at 6AM, what do you do. Answer: Get a cup of coffee first, then look in recovery manual.
We hired the guy, he's still here 2 years later and just recently got his OCP. Dick Goulet
____________________Reply Separator____________________ Author: mkb <mkb125_at_yahoo.com> Date: 7/22/2002 6:58 AM
Ok, I need to vent a little.
Last week, I was asked to do some tech interviews over the phones for a mid level DBA position. Someone with about 2-3 years experience.
I don't consider myself a real smart DBA, nor do I think that I ask particularly tough questions. The questions that I ask potential candidates are soley based on what is on the resume. So I figure if someone has, say, hot backups or SQL tuning on their resumes, I'd expect them to be able to hold a fairly intelligent conversation about these topics. No such luck!
What really frustrated me, and what I really want to get out of my system, is that nobody that I talked to, had a real good concept of hot backups. Forget about recovery. I asked each and every candidate who claimed to have done hot backups, just give me a high level overview of how you do a hot backup. Don't care about syntax, just give me the mechanics. The answers I got were completely off base, baffling and frustrating. Some of these folks claimed to have 5 years experience!!!
'Well, we use scripts to do these, so I'm not sure how these are done...' (But it says on your resume you've done this???)
'Oh, I take the tablespace offline, and copy the datafile to tape...' (Unless I'm mistaken, that's not how a hot backup is done, right?)
'Well, I use the export utility, and as the backup starts, it is written to the dump file.' (Huh? What?)
'During this time, everything is written to the redo logs and not to the tablespace...' (You've been reading one of those books, haven't you?)
I also asked them how they'd put a tablespace in backup mode. Simple enough, right? Not one of them got it right. Not even close. Didn't have clue as to what I was talking about. Fair enough, you don't know. Well how about a simple recovery scenario. I asked every candidate how they would do an online recover of a datafile while the database was still in use. No ideas. Not even close.
I dunno, perhaps I'm spoilt by being a member of this list? Perhaps I expect every candidate to be as knowledgeable as you guys? Perhaps I'm asking too much?
Rant over. Thanks for listening.
mkb
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Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists --------------------------------------------------------------------To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: ListGuru_at_fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). Received on Mon Jul 22 2002 - 11:28:29 CDT
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