Oracle FAQ Your Portal to the Oracle Knowledge Grid
HOME | ASK QUESTION | ADD INFO | SEARCH | E-MAIL US
 

Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> RE: DBA interviews

RE: DBA interviews

From: Peter Barnett <regdba_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 07:20:16 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20040830142016.15365.qmail@web13421.mail.yahoo.com>


Interesting thread. In the years that I have done DBA work I have had two 'technical' interviews. In one the lead DBA's major objective was to prove how smart he was rather than figure out if I could do the job. In the second, a team of DBAs obviously spent a lot of time generating questions about obscure and arcane Oracle features.

Neither interview got down to the core issues that management wants to know about: you can keep their production system up 99.9999% of the time; you can continue to perform your job expertly under stress at three in the morning; you are not a complete moron; you will continue to grow and learn (whether they send you to training or not); and, you clean up good enough not to embarass them when the suits show up.

> Very good point.
>
> Here's a revolutionary idea: how about tying the
> interview questions to the
> relevant function, first ensuring the IT function is
> somehow tied directly
> to the core business. In short, even if the
> technical interview is entirely
> relevant to the position the current trend that is
> all the fashion requires
> one to consider whether the position is or ever has
> been relevant to the
> core business.
>
> It might be a good idea to start thinking in these
> terms as our industry has
> been promising corporate America and Wall Street
> increased profitability for
> more than a decade: a significant, positive ROI from
> that next IT project or
> investment. Despite the obvious lack of initiative
> on the part of senior
> business executives to learn and understand
> technology, which is duly noted
> and quite pathetic, itself, outsourcing is still all
> the rage as the same IT
> project failures at 1/10th the cost is what makes
> the Wall Street world go
> round.
>
> Ellis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
> [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org]On Behalf Of
> Niall Litchfield
> Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 1:54 AM
> To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
> Subject: Re: DBA interviews
>
>
> On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:45:59 -0400, ryan gaffuri
> <ryan.gaffuri_at_comcast.net> wrote:
> > 1. Select, from,where, group by, having, order by:
> What order are these
> > processed in? Then I go into the implications. I'm
> basically looking to
> see
> > if the person understands the set based nature of
> SQL.
>
> Well that establishes all those who know that
> some
> french
> whores
> give
> head
> optimally
>
> which may not be what you want :).
>
> > 2. The following is a really tricky
> counter-intuitive SQL question, that I
> > have never seen in practice(got it out of an
> academic textbook. Its really
> > simple to do in relational algebra) Don't them use
> Oracle either. I want
> > them to do it on a white board(mainly for
> intimidation, I want to get rid
> of
> > people who give up real quick). I don't expect
> people to get it most of
> the
> > time. I just want to see how hard you try. Most
> people won't even give it
> a
> > good try. There are two solutions.
> >
> > You have 3 tables. Saliors, BoatsXSailors, Boats.
> This is a many to many
> > relationship. Assume the keys are Sailor_id,
> salXBoat_id, Boat_id. Find
> all
> > the sailors that have used all the boats.
>
> If this works as designed you have now established
> that your candidate
> has one or all of the following attributes
>
> 1. is desperate for a job and so won't give in.
> 2. can solve an academic problem.
> 3. doesn't mind working for someone who intimidates
> them.
>
> Point 2 might be worth finding out, problem solving
> skills are good,
> but 1 and 3 would likely be good candidates to
> reject..
>
> >
> > I ask other stuff depending on what I am looking
> for, but I always like to
> > ask those.
> >
> > 3. Got this one off asktom. Draw me a picture of
> the Oracle database
> > including all background process, memory
> structures, and file systems.
> Then
> > I ask about interactions. I don't want it
> memorized, but I want big
> picture
> > knowledge about redo, undo, etc...
> >
> > I ask other stuff depending on what I am looking
> for. What do you ask?
> What
> > traits are you looking for? I'm sure some of you
> have really hard
> > interviews...
>
> What are you looking for in the post? Those would be
> the traits I'd
> hope to establish at interview. I don't really buy
> having really
> "hard" interviews, its a process of job and
> candidate matching not an
> examination.
>
>
> --
> Niall Litchfield
> Oracle DBA
> http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com
>



> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ:
> http://www.orafaq.com

>

> To unsubscribe send email to:
> oracle-l-request_at_freelists.org
> put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
> --
> Archives are at
> http://www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
> FAQ is at
> http://www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
>

>

>

> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ:
> http://www.orafaq.com

>

> To unsubscribe send email to:
> oracle-l-request_at_freelists.org
> put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
> --
> Archives are at
> http://www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
> FAQ is at
> http://www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
>

>


Pete Barnett
Lead Database Administrator
The Regence Group
pnbarne_at_regence.com                 

Do you Yahoo!?
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo

Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com

To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request_at_freelists.org put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
--
Archives are at http://www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
FAQ is at http://www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Mon Aug 30 2004 - 09:16:07 CDT

Original text of this message

HOME | ASK QUESTION | ADD INFO | SEARCH | E-MAIL US