ICT Tech - interview tasks

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Originally Posted by CHR1S

See how important context is! There was me thinking you were an evil IT dictator plotting the downfall of these poor interviewees and all along it was just out of date testing ;)

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haha yes sorry about that, I did say last time we had new IT guys in, I should of specified a date really, my bad :o

I thought it was to test their Computer History knowledge...!!

We invited ours in for coffee with the teachers at morning break.. That was a good test!

Yeah I have done this before.
I think its more about observing a candidate's problem solving approach than looking for specific knowledge.
I take 4 machines, disable 3 of them in some way and give a scenario for each one. The candidate has to prioritise the jobs and crack on with solving the problems. The fourth machine is for Google (its how we solve most problems right? ;) ). Bit mean but I have thrown in a completely knackered machine to see what they say.

What ive had to do before in an interview was get a laptop working, The NM had laid out all the disks, toolkit and laptop and I had to solve why it wasnt working. I was only allowed to use one item. either the toolkit or disks. good thing I chose the toolkit as he had unseated the RAM and then put the cover back on.

that was a good test as had to make a choice on what to use.

depending on what tasks he/she will be doing, could you base a task on that?

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Originally Posted by hardtailstar

What ive had to do before in an interview was get a laptop working, The NM had laid out all the disks, toolkit and laptop and I had to solve why it wasnt working. I was only allowed to use one item. either the toolkit or disks. good thing I chose the toolkit as he had unseated the RAM and then put the cover back on.

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That's kind of a dick move.

You're not a mind reader, so you can't be expected to know what you'll need before you've even had a chance to look at it.

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Originally Posted by X-13

That's kind of a dick move.

You're not a mind reader, so you can't be expected to know what you'll need before you've even had a chance to look at it.

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I could look at the laptop. I was only allowed to choose one thing once I had made my conclusion of what was wrong.

its by far the best test ive done as I had to properly think about the problem

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Originally Posted by CHR1S

Even I had to google this one!

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Really? This is a good one that stumps a lot of people. I have a few floating around at home for the devices they're hooked up too, because they are rock solid!

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Originally Posted by hardtailstar

I could look at the laptop. I was only allowed to choose one thing once I had made my conclusion of what was wrong.

its by far the best test ive done as I had to properly think about the problem

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The problem is, you need the toolkit to check if you need the toolkit.

If you checked the RAM and it was fine, you'd be screwed.

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Originally Posted by nephilim

Really? This is a good one that stumps a lot of people.

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Was it one of those old school printer cables? The big fat things. [I don't know what they're called... should I hand in my Tech badge?]

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Originally Posted by X-13

Was it one of those old school printer cables? The big fat things. [I don't know what they're called... should I hand in my Tech badge?]

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Serial, Parallel or RS232 - take your pick

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Originally Posted by CHR1S

Serial, Parallel or RS232 - take your pick

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I'll take Serial for $500 please, Chris.

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Originally Posted by X-13

I'll take Serial for $500 please, Chris.

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Which 25 pin cable and is now considered to be redundant, but is used with older machines and servers?

Serial - 9 pin
Midi (yes, I remember those!) - 15 Pin
Parallel - 25 Pin

Then again.. I remember using SCSI drives in servers!

I'm sorry @VeryPC_Tom_M you didn't give the answer in the form of a question!

Now...who here honestly knew the answer WITHOUT googling to my question?