Re: Oracle DBA Interview Questions

John Jones wrote:
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NON-TECHNICAL QUESTIONS I always find it a good question to find out what a potential new hiree knows about the industry, technology in general and something in the terms of research and resources. This helps in getting well rounded candidates. Ask what other databases he/she has knowledge in or keeps up with (Sybase, Informix). What about object oriented databases, design or technique? What books or magazines does he/she read or use as reference material? (O'Rielly and Oracle Press are a good tip off of something that is potentially serious) Ask them if they are members of IOUG or even if they know what IOUG is? Very few Oracle DBA's with several years experience and drive DON'T know what IOUG has become. What about user group information. If the candidate is a member of keeps in touch with user group information, is another indication of something that has not simply been set to Oracle training and now thinks they are a DBA.

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS Always ask the candiates the versions and releases they worked with in the database, tools and operating systems. I usually find it a bad indication to find a candidate that doesn't know which version of the operating system they were using, or the RDBMS or patch information.

Ask he/she specifics on the database schema. Number of tables, procedures, triggers, users. A DBA should have a good handle on this information and should be able to tell you at what rate the database or bases were growing. These are good indications of a DBA that is "aware" of the systems they manage.

MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS Ask the candiate what type of change control and revision policys they implemented or used. Any references to documentation they may have had to write are good. What management tools were used to monitoring databases.

Find and hire candiates with motivation and desire to be a good DBA. Don't hire people that simply what to work with databases. Desire can go a long way.

-- 
Neil Greene				"Pinky, you make me worry.  You are too
Sr. Oracle DBA / Unix Administrator		close to being a poster child for 
SHL Systemhouse, Inc. - L.A.			cheese wiz," Brain
<URL:mailto:ngreene_at_laoc.SHL.com>