Tech questions for Interviewers

[MGSTech]

Wasn't 100% sure where to put this but as it would help both interviewer and interviewee I thought I'd post it here

http://www.petri.co.il/mcse-system-a...-questions.htm

Losts of highly technical questions for your potential candidates!

One to save for when people are recruiting again!

[localzuk]

Many of those questions are too specific for a role in a school I'd say, as we aren't specialists in a specific area of IT. If we had to remember all that detail for every piece of kit we use, we'd have brains like Einstein. It gives some pointers on general areas to cover though I'd say.

[MGSTech]

Need to start somewhere, also check the other sections so you can cherry pick to suit your enviroment

[Roberto]

Many of those questions are too specific for a role in a school I'd say, as we aren't specialists in a specific area of IT. If we had to remember all that detail for every piece of kit we use, we'd have brains like Einstein. It gives some pointers on general areas to cover though I'd say.

That's not far off the sort of level of question we'd ask for a senior role, to be honest. Or to write some code on a whiteboard/piece of paper for a coding roll.

[localzuk]

Need to start somewhere, also check the other sections so you can cherry pick to suit your enviroment

Aye, definitely - just wouldn't want someone to go forming their interview and scaring candidates off by being too specific.

That's not far off the sort of level of question we'd ask for a senior role, to be honest. Or to write some code on a whiteboard/piece of paper for a coding roll.

Coding is very different to network admin work. Knowing your language is a narrow kind of job (ie. people become specialists in their languages etc...).

But questions like "How can you configure TS/RDS session limits? Describe a couple of methods." and "How do you standardize user profiles and settings across a TS/RDS farm?" are too specific in my view for any 'general' role (which is what schools are full of).

[GrumbleDook]

I helped out at an interview earlier in the year up north and the range of questions was quite reasonable (set by the outgoing NM) ... and one candidate asked for access to a computer to research answers. Neither I nor the NM thought much of it as a few questions were a bit tricky and did cover a range of specialist areas, and if we were sat in the office we would have checked manuals or the online manuals before doing some of the actions. The SLT at the school were aghast ... and said that it would be cheating ... until the outgoing NM pointed out that this is what we are teaching the kids to do for a fair chunk of stuff ... so why would staff be any different?

As it was the bloke didn't get the job because he did just copy and paste a stock answer from some strange blog ... a fake entry which had been put up with the wrong information! Now *that* is the sign of a true BoFH ... and I *so* wish I had thought of it!

[witch]

. Or to write some code on a whiteboard/piece of paper for a coding roll.

Is that like a bread roll?

[shenley]

The weirdest interview question that I ever had was to solve level 10 of the Rush Hour game and document how you did it. I didn't do very well. Another good one was "What would you do if you won the lottery?" I said that "I'd buy everyone a bottle of pop and resign" which they liked. The other candidate said that he would carry on working, which they knew wasn't true, so they ruled him out immediately!

[cactus]

I recently had an interview for the role of NM at a secondary school and didn't get any technical questions at all. It was a thorough interview (panel of 5) for an hour but based on what I had done to date and how I'd take the school forward. There was an in-tray exercise afterwards (prioritising given info and presenting it in a user friendly way) and that was it.

I didn't get it and was told afterwards that I may have been too 'honest' about my current employers. You live & learn!

[Roberto]

Coding is very different to network admin work. Knowing your language is a narrow kind of job (ie. people become specialists in their languages etc...).

Well yes. Though we actually test for ability to code in a number of languages and scenarios.

But questions like "How can you configure TS/RDS session limits? Describe a couple of methods." and "How do you standardize user profiles and settings across a TS/RDS farm?" are too specific in my view for any 'general' role (which is what schools are full of).

Well I work for a college rather than a school, but as I said, we can well ask questions of about that sort of level of detail (though possibly not those precise ones) in our interview process for senior IT staff. Even where we ask more broad level questions we would expect a decent level of detail in the reply. To be fair, when the constant "what salary are you all on" questions roll around, its fair to say we pay at the higher end of the scales discussed here, so it isn't as if we're asking for something and then not paying for it.

[X-13]

Is that like a bread roll?

Nah, it's like a barrel roll.


Most of the questions I've seen in this thread, and other threads like it, make me glad I wasn't asked ANY of them...


My interview was super general things, like job prioritisation. And child-protectiony questions. [Which I answered, like a boss.]

[Roberto]

Is that like a bread roll?

Only if you do your baking on an overheating computer...

[BJG]

How do you standardize user profiles and settings across a TS/RDS farm?

WTF? I'm clearly in the wrong job.