DBA Interview Questions needed - Serious only please.

  • 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.

  • 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
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    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
  • Well... I've never interviewed a DBA before. So... I at least want to get pointed in the right direction...

  • 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[/url]. 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.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • you can follow Pinal @ SQLAuthority

    he listed questions for basic to advanced.

  • 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
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • 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....

  • Sachin Butala-182900 (8/27/2012)


    you can follow Pinal @ SQLAuthority

    he listed questions for basic to advanced.

    Pinal is a great guy. But, I wouldn't rely on those lists of questions and answers. I can't recommend them and I don't support them as a choice.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • I've seen some of the scuttle-butt about his posts... I'm honestly not the caliber of developer to be challenging his answers; however, I don't take them a face value. I test everything... I'm too paranoid....

  • well most of the Pinal questions comming as academic and not as experienced users.

    mssqltips.com is also good website to find more interview questions.

  • CptCrusty1 (8/24/2012)


    Hi dudes and dudettes...

    I've convinced the boss that he needs 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.

    Hiring a DBA is both a major expense and a matter of trust on your part. Basically, you're handing the proverbial keys to the city to this person. If you don't have anyone in the company that knows enough to properly interview a DBA, then find someone that does. All asking a bunch of questions from the internet are going to do is show you that someone can memorize the (sometimes incorrect) answers. You won't actually know what someone will do if there's an emergency or something that isn't "in the book".

    Also, have you considered doing any kind of background investigation, drug testing, etc? Like I said, you're handing the keys to the city over to this person.

    And don't rely on recruiters to give you a good DBA... most recruiters can't spell DBA. 😉 You really need to get a pro in to help you find a good DBA that's going to take care of things properly. It's worth the wait and it's worth going the extra mile on.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    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.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • Jeff is completely correct. Hire a consultant to interview DBAs for you. There are plenty of good ones that are willing to help.

    Brent Ozar (brentozar.com) or Adam Machanic (www.sqlblog.com) do this all the time.

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