<a href="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=clk&zid=15220&wd=468&ht=60&pair=as" target="_blank"><img style="border:0px;" src="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=img&zid=15220&wd=468&ht=60&pair=as" alt="i" width="468" height="60"/></a>
Log in
::
Register
::
Not logged in
Home
Tags
Articles
Editorials
Stairways
Forums
Scripts
Videos
Blogs
QotD
Books
Ask SSC
SQL Jobs
Training
Authors
About us
Contact us
Newsletters
Write for us
<a href="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=clk&zid=15491&wd=120&ht=300&pair=as" target="_top"><img style="border:0px;" src="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=img&zid=15491&wd=120&ht=300&pair=as" alt="i" width="120" height="300"/></a>
Recent Posts
Recent Posts
Popular Topics
Popular Topics
Home
Search
Members
Calendar
Who's On
Home
»
SQL Server 2008
»
SQL Server 2008 - General
»
100 Most famous interview Questions and...
39 posts, Page 2 of 4
««
1
2
3
4
»
»»
100 Most famous interview Questions and Answers
Rate Topic
Display Mode
Topic Options
Author
Message
Gail Wanabee
Gail Wanabee
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 11:24 AM
SSC Veteran
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, May 06, 2013 2:26 PM
Points: 254,
Visits: 1,029
[b]Jeff Moden (10/29/2012)For all those who would use such a thing... Caveat Emptor!
And while you're studying such canned answers, be advised that a lot of us don't ask canned questions on interviews especially for senior positions.
As correct as your response is, and I agree with it completely, the reality for many DBA position interviews is that they often begin with interviewers' pet questions about obscure facts and/or T-SQL coding examples. My experiences are that challenging interviewers as to why they think that some bit of trivia is important and/or useful usually backfires. They don't appreciate being asked to explain themselves.
So, for dealing with reality, no matter how inappropriate it is, it doesn't hurt to try to be prepared for the inane questions that some interviewers think are important.
Post #1379459
GSquared
GSquared
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 12:43 PM
SSCoach
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 1:55 PM
Points: 15,442,
Visits: 9,571
Lee Crain (10/31/2012)
[b]Jeff Moden (10/29/2012)For all those who would use such a thing... Caveat Emptor!
And while you're studying such canned answers, be advised that a lot of us don't ask canned questions on interviews especially for senior positions.
As correct as your response is, and I agree with it completely, the reality for many DBA position interviews is that they often begin with interviewers' pet questions about obscure facts and/or T-SQL coding examples. My experiences are that challenging interviewers as to why they think that some bit of trivia is important and/or useful usually backfires. They don't appreciate being asked to explain themselves.
So, for dealing with reality, no matter how inappropriate it is, it doesn't hurt to try to be prepared for the inane questions that some interviewers think are important.
I must be dealing with a different subset of interviewers than you are. I've never yet had that kind of question.
Number of columns per table? That's trivia. Given the very meaning of "trivia", it's impossible for anyone to anticipate every piece of trivia that someone else might ask. One of the key laws of human interaction is always, always, always, "Everyone you meet knows things you don't." There's reciprocity for that, of course, in that you know things nobody else does.
Theoretically, if I am ever asked that kind of question, I'd be inclined to answer something like, "I know there is an upper limit, but a properly normalized database should never approach that limit. If it ever does matter, I can look it up, but it's not something that's ever mattered to me yet."
(Note, last time I was job hunting, I got 6 offers in 6 interviews, in 1 week. All at or above my asking salary, which was already higher than average for the market I'm in. Just to point out that my way of handling interview questions seems to work for me.)
When I do the other side of it, if I ever asked such a "how many" type question, it would be a stress test more than a valid question. I'd probably ask something like, "How many flux capacitors does it take to implement a non-boolean Where clause in a semi-deterministic function?"
Edit: Forgot to include the answer to the flux capacitors question. It's obviously 42, as everyone knows.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
Post #1379490
Jeff Moden
Jeff Moden
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 1:03 PM
SSC-Dedicated
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:13 AM
Points: 32,906,
Visits: 26,793
I agree... I've never asked such trivial questions as to how many columns a table can hold for the very reasons that Gus stated. My point was meant to explain simply that wrote memorization of sometimes incorrect "trivial facts" are not sufficient to pass an interview unless the interviewer is also clueless.
--Jeff Moden
"
RBAR
is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for "
R
ow-
B
y-
A
gonizing-
R
ow".
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
Stop thinking about what you want to do to a row... think, instead, of what you want to do to a column."
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
Post #1379495
GSquared
GSquared
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 1:59 PM
SSCoach
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 1:55 PM
Points: 15,442,
Visits: 9,571
Jeff Moden (10/31/2012)
I agree... I've never asked such trivial questions as to how many columns a table can hold for the very reasons that Gus stated. My point was meant to explain simply that wrote memorization of sometimes incorrect "trivial facts" are not sufficient to pass an interview unless the interviewer is also clueless.
On the other hand ... if anyone ever publishes "Trivial Pursuit, DBA Edition", they could come in very handy indeed!
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
Post #1379516
George M Parker
George M Parker
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 2:10 PM
Mr or Mrs. 500
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, May 09, 2013 1:13 PM
Points: 516,
Visits: 1,004
Does anyone ever ask or get asked what ACID properties are? I've been asked that one a number of times by non-DBA's grasping for interview questions. Whenever I interview DBA candidates, I am less impressed with what they can regurgitate than I am with real world scenario examples. I believe they call them "behavioral example" questions.
Post #1379520
Luis Cazares
Luis Cazares
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 2:12 PM
SSC Eights!
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 5:52 PM
Points: 960,
Visits: 1,921
GSquared (10/31/2012)
On the other hand ... if anyone ever publishes "Trivial Pursuit, DBA Edition", they could come in very handy indeed!
Would you buy it? Or would you play it?
EDIT: wrong quote.
Luis C.
Please don't trust me, test the solutions I give you before using them.
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Post #1379521
Gail Wanabee
Gail Wanabee
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:26 PM
SSC Veteran
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, May 06, 2013 2:26 PM
Points: 254,
Visits: 1,029
George M Parker (10/31/2012)
Does anyone ever ask or get asked what ACID properties are?
On just about every interview I've ever been on.
Post #1379598
Michael Valentine Jones
Michael Valentine Jones
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 10:22 PM
SSCrazy
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:55 PM
Points: 2,944,
Visits: 10,510
I like to ask a couple of easy trivial questions to get things started, and then ask one that a lot of senior DBA might stumble over. Just to shake things up.
What is the money data type used for?
What function can you use to get the current date and time?
How would you move a 2 TB database from one server to a server at a different site connected via a T1 WAN link with a maximum application downtime of 30 minutes?
Post #1379610
Jeff Moden
Jeff Moden
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 11:53 PM
SSC-Dedicated
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:13 AM
Points: 32,906,
Visits: 26,793
Michael Valentine Jones (10/31/2012)
I like to ask a couple of easy trivial questions to get things started, and then ask one that a lot of senior DBA might stumble over. Just to shake things up.
What is the money data type used for?
What function can you use to get the current date and time?
How would you move a 2 TB database from one server to a server at a different site connected via a T1 WAN link with a maximum application downtime of 30 minutes?
The developer candidates I've been interviewing can't make it past your second question (SERIOUSLY!)
The answer to your third question is "Why would you want 30 minutes of downtime when you can do it in virtually 0 seconds?"
--Jeff Moden
"
RBAR
is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for "
R
ow-
B
y-
A
gonizing-
R
ow".
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
Stop thinking about what you want to do to a row... think, instead, of what you want to do to a column."
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
Post #1379634
Lowell
Lowell
Posted Thursday, November 01, 2012 7:25 AM
SSChampion
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:23 AM
Points: 11,638,
Visits: 27,715
here's a link to a copy of the pdf that doesn't require his damn password.
boy that pissed me off for some reason.
oh, and some of his code example references the DECODE function, which is actually an Oracle function.
SQL would use a CASE statement.
sqlserver2008r2_cheatsheet_v1-01_unlocked.pdf
Lowell
--
There is no spoon, and there's no default ORDER BY in sql server either.
Actually, Common Sense is so rare, it should be considered a Superpower. --my son
Post #1379799
« Prev Topic
|
Next Topic »
39 posts, Page 2 of 4
««
1
2
3
4
»
»»
Permissions
You
cannot
post new topics.
You
cannot
post topic replies.
You
cannot
post new polls.
You
cannot
post replies to polls.
You
cannot
edit your own topics.
You
cannot
delete your own topics.
You
cannot
edit other topics.
You
cannot
delete other topics.
You
cannot
edit your own posts.
You
cannot
edit other posts.
You
cannot
delete your own posts.
You
cannot
delete other posts.
You
cannot
post events.
You
cannot
edit your own events.
You
cannot
edit other events.
You
cannot
delete your own events.
You
cannot
delete other events.
You
cannot
send private messages.
You
cannot
send emails.
You
may
read topics.
You
cannot
rate topics.
You
cannot
vote within polls.
You
cannot
upload attachments.
You
may
download attachments.
You
cannot
post HTML code.
You
cannot
edit HTML code.
You
cannot
post IFCode.
You
cannot
post JavaScript.
You
cannot
post EmotIcons.
You
cannot
post or upload images.
Copyright © 2002-2013 Simple Talk Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy.
Terms of Use.
Report Abuse.
