• I usually end up doing the technical dirty work in interviews, asking the probing questions to figure out if they candidate actually knows SQL Server or has just read something about it. Having used SQL Server since v4.2, I guess I know why I get that role.

    I have found 2 things that impress me and show that there is more going on than the CV implies. The first is that the candidate is familiar with order of execution. If they have gone to that amount of trouble to learn internals then they are probably capable of learning whatever is necessary and have the desire to do so.

    The other one is when they don't know the answer to a question and ask for a reference beyond BOL to research the answer themselves. That may not get them hired, but it will make them better in their current job and in a future one. The desire to push the bounds of their knowledge makes them valuable today and tomorrow.

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    Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson