DBA Interview Questions needed - Serious only please.

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DBA Interview Questions needed - Serious only please.

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CptCrusty1

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 7:50 AM

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Hi dudes and dudettes...

The boss and I are conviced that we need a dba since the 3rd party firm providing dba services isn't doing the best job. I know lots about SQL development; however, I know very very little about being a dba.

We received a resume from a person indicating many years exp with 2000/2005/2008 as a DBA; however, outside tricky SQL Questions, I'm not sure where to go from there.

I'm looking for:

--Generic DBA type things.
--Stuff that a mid-lvl dba should know.
--Advanced stuff that is rather obscure.

If you are kind enough to respond, please preface the answer with the level of difficulty you feel it has... . Oh... and the answer too.

When hiring the person, I'd like to make an informed decision. Thanks all... I really appreciate it.

Crusty.

Post #1349676

GSquared

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 8:12 AM

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I don't want to post interview questions and answers on a public forum, because they'll be mis-used by someone. Don't mean you, but these forums are public (effectively).

But, if you want to send me an e-mail, I can help that way.

Edit: In case you don't know, you can e-mail if you click my screen name to the left of this post. Has options for sending e-mail, reviewing posts, etc.

- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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Post #1349690

durai nagarajan

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 8:15 AM

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DBA level depends

is he/she going to take care of DB only.
will he/she take of storage/hardware for servers

kindly specify the details level for the DBA?

Regards
Durai Nagarajan

Post #1349693

CptCrusty1

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 8:53 AM

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Durai,

Thanks for the reply. The previous poster (GSquared) made a valid point. Any tips you might have should probably be emailed.

The person will be a DBA only, but on occasion I can anticipate they might have some general SQL work to do. The current candidate indicates over 10 years exp... so they should probably have some advanced knowledge.

Thanks
Crusty

Post #1349721

GilaMonster

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 9:16 AM

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CptCrusty1 (8/24/2012)

--Advanced stuff that is rather obscure.

Just one point here... Unless your aim is to see if the person will make up garbage or admit they don't know, this probably should not be in an interview. Memorising obscure advanced stuff doesn't make someone a competent DBA and an interview should not be a trivial pursuit contest.

I mean, do you know the minimum and maximum sizes of a log block? If you do, when was that information last relevant?

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008, MVP
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

Post #1349742

CptCrusty1

Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 9:21 AM

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Well... I've never interviewed a DBA before. So... I at least want to get pointed in the right direction...

Post #1349749

Grant Fritchey

Posted Monday, August 27, 2012 4:39 AM

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You might want to hire a consultant to do the interview for you. I know several people that are regularly doing interviews for employers that don't have the internal resources to get that interview done properly.

By the way, I do have a few, very basic, questions posted online. You'd have to know the answers to these to get in the door. They're so basic, I don't mind sharing. The fun stuff in an interview are after these.

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Post #1350305

Sachin Butala-182900

Posted Monday, August 27, 2012 6:43 AM

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you can follow Pinal @ SQLAuthority

he listed questions for basic to advanced.

Post #1350355

GSquared

Posted Monday, August 27, 2012 7:36 AM

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Sachin Butala-182900 (8/27/2012)

you can follow Pinal @ SQLAuthority

he listed questions for basic to advanced.

I always find it interesting how many incorrect answers he has on that list. Even ones that are easy to disprove.

- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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Post #1350383

CptCrusty1

Posted Monday, August 27, 2012 7:54 AM

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Sachin Butala-182900 (8/27/2012)

you can follow Pinal @ SQLAuthority

he listed questions for basic to advanced.

I read Pinal periodicly. He's a good source.

I also went to Grant's link in the previous post. Wow.. I'm certainly not a dba, but as a developer, I take pause... a lot of the high level discussion there makes me wonder, when does one get the time to read and study on this stuff? Between kids, wife, job, etc., I just can't seem to find the time to plug my brain with more spiffy stuff, unless it's work related....

Post #1350392

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