InstantForum.NET v2.9.0SQLServerCentralhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/notifications@sqlservercentral.comSun, 19 May 2013 22:07:15 GMT20http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspx[quote][b]Jeff Moden (10/24/2008)[/b][hr]YES! I want someone that knows how to write code. There are certain basics that I believe you must know. But, I've had a couple of certified geniuses apply for similar jobs that knew just about everything I needed them to know about SQL... and I didn't hire them because either they were arrogant, they tried to BS me in the interview, or they lied on their resume.Like I said, how you answer a question is nearly as important as the answer and absolute honesty is an absolute requirement.[/quote]Agreed. A couple months before I left the bank, I was interviewing someone who, if we had hired him, would have been my replacement. His skill level was border-line acceptable and, given 2 months with him I could have got hom to a level that I'd have been happy leaving the work to him. Problem is that he had an incredibly condescension manner towards everyone, as though he was doing us a massive favour by answering and he made up answers to some questions.Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:56:58 GMTGilaMonsterhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspx[quote][b]GilaMonster (10/10/2008)[/b][hr][quote][b]Brandie Tarvin (10/10/2008)[/b][hr]I've actually stumped people with simple backup & restore questions of all things. You'd think *that* particular subject matter would be basic to everyone's DBA knowledge.[/quote]Oh, please... Just take a look at all the backup/restore questions we get here[/quote]No kidding! :alien::cool:Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:46:43 GMTLynn Pettishttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspx[quote][b]Brandie Tarvin (10/24/2008)[/b][hr]Jeff may disagree with me on this, but here's my take on interviews.Know your stuff, but if you can't answer the question, be honest about it. Tell the interviewer that you don't know. I've told prospective employeers before that "I don't know the syntax, I usually check BOL before I do it" or "I haven't played with that functionality before" or things like that, depending on the question. In my book, there's nothing wrong with those kinds of answers. And if the interviewee seems to know the other stuff, but is weak in an area or two, I'm willing to let them learn on the job, so long as they're not trying to BS their way through the interview.[/quote]No... no disagreement there. How you answer or don't answer a question is nearly as important as the actual answer itself.I've told this story before, but it seems very appropriate here. I was the AppDev manager and I had open billets for a GUI programmer who also knew SQL Server a bit better than average. I gave the recruiting agency a copy of a test I wanted candidates to pass before even thinking of sending them to me. The exam wasn't difficult... it was a pretty straight forward exam that anyone with a year or two of SQL experience should easily pass without studying.Well, after a couple of days, the recruiter sent me a handful of resume`s along with each person's exams. Some did pretty well on the exam, but I was mostly disappointed because most gave some really poor and incorrect answers on 5 or 6 of the questions. You could tell they didn't know the answer but wrote a lot of rhetoric trying to convince me they did instead of just saying "Don't know, would have to research it or look it up in Books Online".Then, I ran across this one fellow's test... it was perfect. He had all correct answers and the additional explanations he gave were spot on. On top of that, he had teaching experience and a great background in Math. So, I picked up the phone and called him. We talked for a while about what turned out to be an impressive work and experience history, and then I asked the question... "No one else gave all correct answers and they certainly didn't give the detailed explanations you did. For example, your explanation about what a "Firehose" cursor was, was absolutely spot on. How is it that, as a GUI programmer, that you know so much about SQL?"His answer absolutely floored me... he said, "Unbeknownst to you, they allowed all of us to take the exam home... to take it in an unsupervised fashion. I didn't know a "Firehose" cursor from a ticked off fireman. So, I looked it all up on the internet."He appologized for the "deception" and for "wasting my time" and was on the verge of hanging up. I stopped him, of course. In fact, I hired him for a couple of reasons...First, he was honest to the point that it could have worked against him. That's pretty damned honest and I need people to be honest enough to tell me they broke something or whatever.Second, even though it wasn't planned that way, ALL the other applicants had the same opportunity to get the answers absolutely correct the same way this fellow did, yet they did not. They apparently didn't have the research skills or, worse, couldn't be bothered.Joe worked for me only a couple of years before the company decided to pull up and move back to Chicago... but during that time, he continued to demonstrate not only the ability to do the correct research to get a job done, but he was absolutely honest. He broke some code, one day, and came and told me not only that he broke the code, but what he was doing to try to fix it and then stayed late to stay on schedule. Even if he didn't know how to fix it, ya gotta love absolute honesty.YES! I want someone that knows how to write code. There are certain basics that I believe you must know. But, I've had a couple of certified geniuses apply for similar jobs that knew just about everything I needed them to know about SQL... and I didn't hire them because either they were arrogant, they tried to BS me in the interview, or they lied on their resume.Like I said, how you answer a question is nearly as important as the answer and absolute honesty is an absolute requirement.Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:42:50 GMTJeff Modenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxJeff may disagree with me on this, but here's my take on interviews.Know your stuff, but if you can't answer the question, be honest about it. Tell the interviewer that you don't know. I've told prospective employeers before that "I don't know the syntax, I usually check BOL before I do it" or "I haven't played with that functionality before" or things like that, depending on the question. In my book, there's nothing wrong with those kinds of answers. And if the interviewee seems to know the other stuff, but is weak in an area or two, I'm willing to let them learn on the job, so long as they're not trying to BS their way through the interview.Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:48:09 GMTBrandie Tarvinhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxHeh... no... if I posted the questions here, they'd be no better than certification exams. Sorry.Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:56:54 GMTJeff Modenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspx[quote][b]Brandie Tarvin (10/10/2008)[/b][hr]I've actually stumped people with simple backup & restore questions of all things. You'd think *that* particular subject matter would be basic to everyone's DBA knowledge.[/quote]You could probably stump [i]me[/i] with them :w00t:. That's because I am a DB Consultant, and not a DBA most of the time: I rarely have to get my hands dirty with the everyday operational tasks.Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:50:30 GMTRBarryYounghttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxJeff Moden, would you be kind enough to put here your those FEW INTERVIEW QUESTIONS?Just wanted to check my own capability.Thanks,UsmanThu, 23 Oct 2008 13:26:19 GMTU.Thttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxTrue enough. @=)Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:12:21 GMTBrandie Tarvinhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspx[quote][b]Brandie Tarvin (10/10/2008)[/b][hr]I've actually stumped people with simple backup & restore questions of all things. You'd think *that* particular subject matter would be basic to everyone's DBA knowledge.[/quote]Oh, please... Just take a look at all the backup/restore questions we get hereFri, 10 Oct 2008 07:04:00 GMTGilaMonsterhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxOh, yes. I've been on the interviewer side of the table myself. It makes me appreciate that I was smart enough to build myself a SOHO and actually work things through when I was studying for my certs.Of course, coming from a retail background, I had a lot more to prove than a lot of people who were already in IT. @=)I've actually stumped people with simple backup & restore questions of all things. You'd think *that* particular subject matter would be basic to everyone's DBA knowledge.Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:31:02 GMTBrandie Tarvinhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxAs a side bar, this is why I hate certifications. They mean nothing because you can get the answers to most of the questions one way or the other and some (many, apparently) would rather spend the time memorizing the answers than learning the skill. ;)I've had two certified DBA's where if practical knowledge about SQL Server and-T-SQL were gasoline, they wouldn't have enough to run a sugar-ant's mini-bike through a matchbox. Yes, there are some good ones with certifications... but they probably would have been good even without the certification because they practice their trade instead of book-memorization.It generally takes me 2 to 4 questions when I'm interviewing someone to figure out if they've ever done anything worthwhile in SQL Server more than being in the same room with a study guide. They're not difficult questions, either. :)Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:49:17 GMTJeff Modenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxFar away from the point??? What do you mean?Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:07:58 GMTBrandie Tarvinhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxI wouldn't go personally for Transcender - expensive and far away from the point....:angry:Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:04:17 GMTrayna.penevahttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxi started studying and that training kit seems interesting , it covers most of the core concepts which is only required to clear this exam!try that folks!Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:12:03 GMTmeghna.bhargavhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxI prefer Transcendor myself. Plus Microsoft's website for certification usually has a 10 question "sample" you can look at. If you get more cert study books, aside from the training Kit, those also usually have a practice test or a set of questions on a CD/DVD that you can install on your PC and play with, but they're usually more multiple choice then actual Sim / Case Study style.Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:01:53 GMTBrandie Tarvinhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxTranscender and MeasureUp are both good. Not cheap though.Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:45:44 GMTGilaMonsterhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxThe training kit should give you an idea of the types of questions and perhaps someone will chime in.Exact questions and potential answers, should not be posted as that violates the NDA of the exam.Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:30:42 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic565272-10-1.aspxHi evreyoneThis is the request to all of you who have passed and studying for the certification exam 70-445. I have a training kit but i want sample important questions with answers which will give better idea and more vigilance while doing preparations!if any one has such , can you please provide them to me , I will be highly grateful !Thanks-MeghnaMon, 08 Sep 2008 03:35:18 GMTmeghna.bhargav