Just out of curiosity how big a whiff would you consider not knowing the difference between a clustered and non-clustered index in SQL Sever?
We're hiring for an ETL "BI" guy/gal --- light DBA duties (like backups, monitoring) -- okay maybe not so light, but it would be nice.
I understand an ETL guru not necessarily need to be an expert in SQL server. That said ... uh ... turning indexes on and off during ETL may be important. "Reading" and tuning queries fast enough to be imported into OLAP cubes or wherever is important.
In your opinion, --- the difference between a clustered and non-clustered index in SQL Sever (I would have accepted that a clustered index is a physical ordering of the database).
If an interview candidate didn't know that, would you consider that junior level? Still potentially mid-level? Obviously they are not expert level with that response.
Curious if I'm making too much out of it.
I'm sure that there are many folks out there that will disagree with me but for people doing ETL (ELT, LET, or whatever you want to call it anymore), I personally consider an in depth understanding of indexes and indexing (along with "Minimal Logging" and what happens when you "turn an index on" (which isn't actually that simple) to be a critical skill. People that don't know those things don't even qualify as a "junior" in the area of ETL, IMHO.