Technical competence test

[Potato-Peeler]

Hello, I have an interview next week at a university as a network support assistant. There will be an interview and a technical competence test. Just wondered if anyone had an idea what I might be asked?

Cheers

[SpuffMonkey]

Could be anything - I've had everything from practical tests connecting broken PCs up - to theory tests so over complicated that I didn't even understand the question. let alone know the answers.

 

Good luck!

[Potato-Peeler]

Cheers mr. monkey, i will keep an open mind Any other ideas edugeekers?

[RTFM]

My competency test was as simple as "here is a pc, here are some components (a spare HD and Ram), some are broke some arent, make the PC work and document what you do" 15min timelimit.....

[sonofsanta]

When I went for my techie job I was given a paper test for half an hour (I always get these and I hate them - when have you ever worked without Google? ) and a practical for half an hour, which was basically "here is a broken PC, find out what is wrong with it and replace the CD-ROM drive". It was fairly obvious stuff like leads disconnected, crap shoved inside the old drive to stop it working.

 

I would do some basic brushing up on network stuff - 7 layer model, which protocols you'd use, cabling, wireless security etc. - and you should be ok with the written test. As for the practical troubleshooting part - well, if you're capable of the job you're capable of doing that. I wouldn't worry about it overly, it just weeds out the ones who are blatantly pretending and have no clue. If you've ever opened a computer case you should be fine.

[mac_shinobi]

When I went for my techie job I was given a paper test for half an hour (I always get these and I hate them - when have you ever worked without Google? ) and a practical for half an hour, which was basically "here is a broken PC, find out what is wrong with it and replace the CD-ROM drive". It was fairly obvious stuff like leads disconnected, crap shoved inside the old drive to stop it working.

 

I would do some basic brushing up on network stuff - 7 layer model, which protocols you'd use, cabling, wireless security etc. - and you should be ok with the written test. As for the practical troubleshooting part - well, if you're capable of the job you're capable of doing that. I wouldn't worry about it overly, it just weeds out the ones who are blatantly pretending and have no clue. If you've ever opened a computer case you should be fine.

 

The only other thing with the written tests that I have come across is to establish if the people taking the test are any good at prioritising ie

 

whole room of computers that cant login stopping students from working

 

admin member of staff who can't login to there computer

 

principle / head master who needs a document printing off urgently

 

something along those lines and you have to number them 1 to 3 or whatever and put them in the correct order.

[gibbo_ap]

The only other thing with the written tests that I have come across is to establish if the people taking the test are any good at prioritising ie

 

whole room of computers that cant login stopping students from working

 

admin member of staff who can't login to there computer

 

principle / head master who needs a document printing off urgently

 

something along those lines and you have to number them 1 to 3 or whatever and put them in the correct order.

 

i would have trouble with this as if in a future interview as i would be thinking about our current head - deputies. they dont care that 35 others are having problems getting on, they need to print off their emails to read them and they need to do that nowwww!

 

also whats the admin staff member doing/job roll, if they are the sims person and its report time they are bloody important. if they dont need computer urgently and can do some photocopying???

 

what if i am busy, as in really busy, doing urgent stuff.

 

this is why i hate these stupid questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mac_shinobi]

i would have trouble with this as if in a future interview as i would be thinking about our current head - deputies. they dont care that 35 others are having problems getting on, they need to print off their emails to read them and they need to do that nowwww!

 

also whats the admin staff member doing/job roll, if they are the sims person and its report time they are bloody important. if they dont need computer urgently and can do some photocopying???

 

what if i am busy, as in really busy, doing urgent stuff.

 

this is why i hate these stupid questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My descriptions of the problems are prolly wrong but generally it would be

 

1. Full class of students who can not login and or do anything - as its an educational establishment the students would come first especially considering its a full class

 

2. admin staff because half the time its a password reset but obviously depends on the situation

 

3. Head master as am sure his problem can wait 30 mins to an hour because there is a full class down

 

Although there is no right or wrong way because you could put 2 before 1 because it takes 10 seconds to reset a password assuming it was a password as long as you explain your reasoning as to which order you put it around.

[sonofsanta]

My descriptions of the problems are prolly wrong but generally it would be

 

1. Full class of students who can not login and or do anything - as its an educational establishment the students would come first especially considering its a full class

 

2. admin staff because half the time its a password reset but obviously depends on the situation

 

3. Head master as am sure his problem can wait 30 mins to an hour because there is a full class down

 

Although there is no right or wrong way because you could put 2 before 1 because it takes 10 seconds to reset a password assuming it was a password as long as you explain your reasoning as to which order you put it around.

 

I'd go about differently again - headmaster needing a document printing urgently would be first because it is no doubt something very important and last minute (as ever!) and it would likely be a case of dropping a spare printer off quickly or getting the document from his home directory and printing it out yourself to hand to him. Not too time consuming, and off the record keeping the boss happy is always a worthwhile endeavour.

 

Class of kids would come next - especially as all 30 in one room implies a larger problem with the network connectivity. Ideally I'd have another techie investigating this whilst I dealt with the head, doing some basic troubleshooting before we both put our heads together. Obviously the fact that they need to be taught lends a certain urgency to this, although most teachers should be capable of occupying a class for ten or fifteen minutes by talking while you fix (SHOULD)

 

Admin staff last because it sounds like a small issue and isn't priority in comparison to the other two, unless, as said, reports or census or similar are going on.

 

 

I think the point is - there isn't really a right and wrong answer - they just want to see that you CAN prioritise based on certain justifications. Saying "admin staff first cos their office is nearer" is obviously not a good way of organising your workload, but thinking through the repurcussions and what your role in school is (i.e. supporting learning) should get you through fine.

[machin05]

The job priority test is a good one that is becoming more and more popular.

 

We set a practical test of setting up a data projector to a laptop, then to a pc using a video splitter. Another test we set was the NumLock on a laptop trick.

[tech_guy]

I once went for interview - well it was actually a pre-interview interview - with a major blue-chip UK company. The whole session consisted of a 45-minute 'aptitude test' - designed to filter the candidates so that the interviewers only got to see people who knew what they were talking about....

.......brilliant, I thought - I'll be able to show them what I know.

 

What was the test? Bleedin' algebra. Not a single question about computers. At the bottom of the paper I wrote, "I thought I was applying to be a network manager, not a maths teacher". For some strange reason I didn't get the next interview.

 

The company was sold a year or two later and taken over by some foreign outfit who promptly sold everything off and made everybody redundant. Serves them right.

[bossman]

@all:

 

The only other thing with the written tests that I have come across is to establish if the people taking the test are any good at prioritising ie

 

whole room of computers that cant login stopping students from working

 

admin member of staff who can't login to there computer

 

principle / head master who needs a document printing off urgently

 

something along those lines and you have to number them 1 to 3 or whatever and put them in the correct order.

 

I did actually get asked these questions in an interview and my answers were as follows:

 

1. The students who can't login as this is paramount to the schools student teaching and learning ethos this will be a network connectivity issue and probably mean that a switch is down through electrical fault or hardware fault once this has been identified which should take no more than 5 mins you can move on to request No 2.

 

2. The Admin worker who probably does far more work than any other staff member and so this would impact other staff members.

 

3. The Head teacher requiring an urgent document printing out as he could get the admin worker to print it out after you have sorted her problem.

 

I was told afterwards in my feedback that the answers I had given were very good and that this had been a major part in being offered the position. I did decline the offer as I had been made a better offer previous.

[timzim]

I had an interview just over a year ago which included a written test: all the questions were lifted from an MCSE coursework book....for Windows 2000! Haven't touched 2k for at least 5 years so I got most of them wrong (e.g. questions about the interface which have totally different answers in XP). They didn't even have w2k on any of their systems either. Durrr.

 

The job was rubbish anyway...

[Potato-Peeler]

Thankyou people, this was most helpful

[RTFM]

Thankyou people, this was most helpful

 

I forgot to say good luck in my post

 

:D

[mossj]

@all:

 

I did actually get asked these questions in an interview and my answers were as follows:

 

1. The students who can't login as this is paramount to the schools student teaching and learning ethos this will be a network connectivity issue and probably mean that a switch is down through electrical fault or hardware fault once this has been identified which should take no more than 5 mins you can move on to request No 2.

 

2. The Admin worker who probably does far more work than any other staff member and so this would impact other staff members.

 

3. The Head teacher requiring an urgent document printing out as he could get the admin worker to print it out after you have sorted her problem.

 

I was told afterwards in my feedback that the answers I had given were very good and that this had been a major part in being offered the position. I did decline the offer as I had been made a better offer previous.

 

This is VASTLY different in a university...

 

Who are you going to proritize? students who can't log in or a system that made £10 million last year? It's not a question you will have to ask yourself anyway uni's tend to have teams to deal with a specific area.. You trust them to deal with what they are entrusted with.

 

For example I'm a Web/Systems Assistant in the business systems team. My job revolves around making sound technical business decisions, analyzing processes and training needs, administrating the business systems, and furthering the goals of my department (profit/prestige/customer service).

 

I wouldn't for example play with the switch in my office nor would I log onto my computer with admin rights to install software.

 

You need to look at your job description, try to find out what systems they use and work from there and remember a university at the end of the day is a business.

Edited February 12, 2010 by mossj

[localzuk]

I went for (and got) a job at Uni when I was studying there, as a first line support monkey. This involved simple things like replacing toner, topping up people's print budgets, diagnosing basic problems with people's email accounts and desktop accounts, and helping people who were trying to print. Very basic role.

 

My interview involved a bunch of questions about how i'd narrow down an issue from the comment said by the customer to determining how to fix it - be that by myself, or by reporting to other teams.

 

The questions were quite probing and detailed, even for a basic role - so I'd say expect to have quite detailed questions posed of you, ensuring you can handle the depth of the role.

[mossj]

Oh and good luck!

 

A university is truely an excellent place to work. Lots of advantages to it Gym, Library, night courses, Accommodation to name a few.

 

You will find you gain knowledge in your team quite rapidly BUT you will find you unrelated knowledge gets old fast... hence why I always visit here in a attempt to keep up to speed.

[mac_shinobi]

Oh and good luck!

 

makes at least a few of us as I forgot to mention good luck stay calm

[Marci]

I'd go about the priorities question slightly differently myself...

 

1) Log all on helpdesk so that another member of ICT support can pick up whichever of the calls you leave behind whilst you deal with the first...

2) To get me in the good books, phone the Head (pref from mobile whilst on way to fix the classroom), ask for a quick summary of the issue, explain that you have a classroom down and will be round as soon as possible

3) Phone the Admin worker (again from mobile, on way to fix classroom), ask for a quick summary of the issue, explain that you have a classroom down and that the head has a problem.

4) Go fix the classroom that's down...

5) Take answers from 2 & 3 and prioritise based on their responses.

[mac_shinobi]

I'd go about the priorities question slightly differently myself...

 

1) Log all on helpdesk so that another member of ICT support can pick up whichever of the calls you leave behind whilst you deal with the first...

2) To get me in the good books, phone the Head (pref from mobile whilst on way to fix the classroom), ask for a quick summary of the issue, explain that you have a classroom down and will be round as soon as possible

3) Phone the Admin worker (again from mobile, on way to fix classroom), ask for a quick summary of the issue, explain that you have a classroom down and that the head has a problem.

4) Go fix the classroom that's down...

5) Take answers from 2 & 3 and prioritise based on their responses.

 

 

Assuming those problems still exist because if it's a password issue u can mstsc into said server from either the heads laptop or a classroom computer and reset p/w for said users??? Obviously depending on which server ie admin or curric

[browolf]

The only other thing with the written tests that I have come across is to establish if the people taking the test are any good at prioritising ie

 

whole room of computers that cant login stopping students from working

 

admin member of staff who can't login to there computer

 

principle / head master who needs a document printing off urgently

 

something along those lines and you have to number them 1 to 3 or whatever and put them in the correct order.

 

 

If the school ethos is along the lines of (it usually is), you exist to further teaching and learning, then students always come first. A room of computers that can't log on is likely to be a more serious problem than just 1 room. Whenever this happens to us, it's usually the whole cabinet in the building has gone offline. That means all the computers and laptops in the building disconnected! It's prudent to act on the possibility that the problem is more serious.

 

I'd put the head next as he probably needs it for some important meeting, with parents, or external peoples.

 

after that admin staff.

[srochford]

As @mossj has said, universities are very different from schools. I'd guess most people here working in a school are in a team of 2-3 people at most. The university I work at has about 250 people working in ICT and roles are very clearly defined

 

Given that the job is defined as network support assistant I suspect that it pretty much won't involve anything to do with end users - it's about making sure that there's a functioning network.

 

You need to look at the job description but if it mentions stuff like managing switches then it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to give you a switch and say something like "configure VLANS for xxx" or perhaps ask you to do something with DNS or DHCP on a test network (and it probably won't be using Windows!)

 

One other thing - try and find out how their IT is structured. Some unis still work on the basis that every department does its own IT (so their will be separate teams in maths, physics, mech eng etc) whereas others have moved to a centralised model.

 

Good luck!

[Rydra]

The questions I hate is things like conflict resolution.

 

I resolve conflict by not getting into one in the first place.

 

7 years of working and the worst I've had is a stroppy teacher being an arse (she kept blaiming my equipment for her students being crap, where it was in fact her students that were crap!). At which point I promptly informed my Network Manager, that it might be best he should deal with any/all support calls with said teacher for the time being. This was further assisted by the fact that they refused to acknowledge my existence for about 6 weeks, including not emailing me when they had a problem, only my colleagues

 

I tend to wind people up that way though, I'm not easily intimidated, or wound up, I tend to remain calm and quiet in most situations, which when someone is trying to spit fireballs at you, tends to increase their anger!