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
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