This post is not about how to perform some technical process but what
I might expect to be asked at an upcoming interview and how I might
respond intelligently on a couple of subjects that I have only
marginal experience. The two subjects are SANs and Veritas NetBackup.
Anybody seeing this post and having been tested on their knowledge of
on either of these subjects during an interview, I'd be interested in
your opinions on the most likely 3-4 questions I might be asked. A
brief synopsis of possible interview questions on these topics would
also be greatly appreciated. Thankyou for any support on this.

Jim

Jim Nathan wrote:
> This post is not about how to perform some technical process but what
> I might expect to be asked at an upcoming interview and how I might
> respond intelligently on a couple of subjects that I have only
> marginal experience. The two subjects are SANs and Veritas NetBackup.
> Anybody seeing this post and having been tested on their knowledge of
> on either of these subjects during an interview, I'd be interested in
> your opinions on the most likely 3-4 questions I might be asked. A
> brief synopsis of possible interview questions on these topics would
> also be greatly appreciated. Thankyou for any support on this.
> 
> Jim

I think you are going about this the wrong way.  Yes, you need to look 
good in the job interview.  It's not too difficult to pick up a little 
superficial knowledge of SANs and/or Veritas Netbackup.  But that little 
  knowledge that MIGHT sneak you through the interview is NOT going to 
be enough to do the job!

The very LAST thing that you or your employer-to-be wants is to hire you 
and THEN find out that you can't perform!  Tell your prospective 
employer that you will need training on his SAN system and Netbackup.
You may not get that job but it's much better not to get it if you can't 
do it!!!!!  If they have other reasons to really want you, they may very 
well ship you off to school for both the SAN and Netbackup.

Jim Nathan wrote:
> This post is not about how to perform some technical process but what
> I might expect to be asked at an upcoming interview and how I might
> respond intelligently on a couple of subjects that I have only
> marginal experience. The two subjects are SANs and Veritas NetBackup.
> Anybody seeing this post and having been tested on their knowledge of
> on either of these subjects during an interview, I'd be interested in
> your opinions on the most likely 3-4 questions I might be asked. A
> brief synopsis of possible interview questions on these topics would
> also be greatly appreciated. Thankyou for any support on this.
> 
> Jim

You'd be better off admitting you don't know much about them and then 
asking questions that indicate you have enough interest to have spent 
some time reading about them. (which is why you need to read random work 
related stuff for 4-5 hours a week after work)  It's also OK to guess, 
as long as you say it's a guess.  That's actually a good way of 
demonstrating your analytical skills.

I met the best admin I've ever met when he appeared in my boss's office 
to fix a disk failure.   I asked him a question I was trying to resolve. 
  He responded by saying he didn't know, but that a certain fact was 
true.  I happened to know that if that fact were true another fact was 
true.  He responded in like fashion and in a couple of minutes we 
answered my question. This despite neither of us knowing the answer at 
the start.  When I left the office where he was working, I tracked down 
my boss and told her to make sure we kept him around.

Knowing the difference between what do know and what you don't know is 
the first step to successfully solving problems.  If you're not honest 
in the interview, you won't be honest on the job and are likely to make 
a mess.  Making messes is, as they say, "not career enhancing".

Have Fun!
Reg

Jim Nathan <jamcnat@gmail.com> wrote:
> This post is not about how to perform some technical process but what
> I might expect to be asked at an upcoming interview and how I might
> respond intelligently on a couple of subjects that I have only
> marginal experience. The two subjects are SANs and Veritas NetBackup.
> Anybody seeing this post and having been tested on their knowledge of
> on either of these subjects during an interview, I'd be interested in
> your opinions on the most likely 3-4 questions I might be asked. A
> brief synopsis of possible interview questions on these topics would
> also be greatly appreciated. Thankyou for any support on this.

In this case, "responding intelligently" should mean acknowledging that
you haven't worked with those technologies, but are happy to do so.

Anything less than simple honesty will be jumped on by a good interviewer
and lead to you being shown the door.

Colin

In article <Vf2Pj.79473$rd2.5000@pd7urf3no>,
	"Colin B." <cbigam@somewhereelse.shaw.ca> writes:
> Jim Nathan <jamcnat@gmail.com> wrote:
>> This post is not about how to perform some technical process but what
>> I might expect to be asked at an upcoming interview and how I might
>> respond intelligently on a couple of subjects that I have only
>> marginal experience. The two subjects are SANs and Veritas NetBackup.
>> Anybody seeing this post and having been tested on their knowledge of
>> on either of these subjects during an interview, I'd be interested in
>> your opinions on the most likely 3-4 questions I might be asked. A
>> brief synopsis of possible interview questions on these topics would
>> also be greatly appreciated. Thankyou for any support on this.
> 
> In this case, "responding intelligently" should mean acknowledging that
> you haven't worked with those technologies, but are happy to do so.
> 
> Anything less than simple honesty will be jumped on by a good interviewer
> and lead to you being shown the door.

.... possibly a week or so after you start.

The last position I recruited for, I narrowed down to 4 candidates
to interview. 3 of them tried bullshitting (one actually said in
his interview when asked why he got all the Solaris questions wrong
that he only put Solaris on his CV to make sure he got an interview).
The fourth was honest, and told me clearly what he didn't know.
Honesty won -- an honest/trustworthy person was also a requirement
of the job, just as it is with most jobs. He fitted in to the team
brilliantly and I definately made the right choice.

-- 
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

> The fourth was honest, and told me clearly what he didn't know.
> Honesty won -- an honest/trustworthy person was also a requirement
> of the job, just as it is with most jobs. He fitted in to the team
> brilliantly and I definately made the right choice.

Thanks for the response from everyone. But I wanted to focus on
Andrew's response because clearly he's been in the role of an
interviewer and hiring decision maker. I see a conundrum with the
"honesty" approach which is not to say that I don't agree with it and
am not an honest person; sometimes I think I'm too honest. Here's what
I'm thinking...

I've heard that recruiters and hiring managers typically look for
keywords on a resume; the first culling of resumes are usually the
ones that don't mention the skills that are being sought. I would say
that beyond having a very good grounding in one or more of the Unix or
Linux flavors, the top tool skills being sought by employers are the
Veritas tools, SAN, and ERP/database applications. (Basic shell
scripting, excluding Perl, I consider to be part of the standard Unix
skillset.) If I only have cursory exposure to these tools, do I or do
I not mention them on my resume? If I don't, then I get very few face-
to-face interviews let alone phone calls. Of course, if asked detailed
questions like "How would trouble shoot a cluster problem?", I might
come out looking quite foolish. I'm sure I could make a stab at that
but it would by no means be a smooth, convincing answer. I should
mention that I've seen jr. level postions seeking some level of tools
skills.

By the way, I would gladly accept an "entry level" position that
hopefully would give me significant exposure to tools from which I
could build up my skillset, even if the pay was not much more than
minimum wage. I know I would move very quickly if given the
opportunity. The only problem is that there seems to be a dearth of
those kinds of jobs out there.

Jim

Jim Nathan wrote:
>> The fourth was honest, and told me clearly what he didn't know.
>> Honesty won -- an honest/trustworthy person was also a requirement
>> of the job, just as it is with most jobs. He fitted in to the team
>> brilliantly and I definately made the right choice.
> 
> Thanks for the response from everyone. But I wanted to focus on
> Andrew's response because clearly he's been in the role of an
> interviewer and hiring decision maker. I see a conundrum with the
> "honesty" approach which is not to say that I don't agree with it and
> am not an honest person; sometimes I think I'm too honest. Here's what
> I'm thinking...
> 
> I've heard that recruiters and hiring managers typically look for
> keywords on a resume; the first culling of resumes are usually the
> ones that don't mention the skills that are being sought. I would say
> that beyond having a very good grounding in one or more of the Unix or
> Linux flavors, the top tool skills being sought by employers are the
> Veritas tools, SAN, and ERP/database applications. (Basic shell
> scripting, excluding Perl, I consider to be part of the standard Unix
> skillset.) If I only have cursory exposure to these tools, do I or do
> I not mention them on my resume? If I don't, then I get very few face-
> to-face interviews let alone phone calls. Of course, if asked detailed
> questions like "How would trouble shoot a cluster problem?", I might
> come out looking quite foolish. I'm sure I could make a stab at that
> but it would by no means be a smooth, convincing answer. I should
> mention that I've seen jr. level postions seeking some level of tools
> skills.
> 
> By the way, I would gladly accept an "entry level" position that
> hopefully would give me significant exposure to tools from which I
> could build up my skillset, even if the pay was not much more than
> minimum wage. I know I would move very quickly if given the
> opportunity. The only problem is that there seems to be a dearth of
> those kinds of jobs out there.

Remember that we are supposed to be in the midst of a "recession".  I 
suspect that those fortunate enough to have jobs are not going to leave 
them if they can reasonably avoid it.

In article <fd51e113-f5cb-40ae-b5be-31df9143407f@v23g2000pro.googlegroups.com>,
	Jim Nathan <jamcnat@gmail.com> writes:
> Thanks for the response from everyone. But I wanted to focus on
> Andrew's response because clearly he's been in the role of an
> interviewer and hiring decision maker. I see a conundrum with the

I was doing this up to 6 months ago, but I changed jobs and
I'm not doing it at the moment.

> "honesty" approach which is not to say that I don't agree with it and
> am not an honest person; sometimes I think I'm too honest. Here's what
> I'm thinking...
> 
> I've heard that recruiters and hiring managers typically look for
> keywords on a resume; the first culling of resumes are usually the
> ones that don't mention the skills that are being sought. I would say

I think that most interviewing and selection is done incompetently,
so I'm afraid I wouldn't put much money on the right person being
selected for any job. That means there's often a significant
element of chance if you get the job, regardless if you are the
right person or not. Given how incredibly expensive it is to hire
the wrong person (not just talking about salary here -- that's a
tiny part of it), it's amazing more companies don't try to do this
better.

I define a set of skills I require for a job, and pass these to
recruitment agencies. I get CVs back in, typically about 25 for
a job. I create a spreadsheet with skills I require listed down
the side (usually in two groups -- essential and desirable), and
candidates across the top. I mark each candidate against each
skillset and add up each candidate's score (usually with a
weighting applied to some skillsets verses others). At this
stage, I can only go by the CV.  I use this to select up to
4 candidates for interview. Sometimes, it takes a long time
to get enough CVs to actually find 4 suitable candidates.

For the interview, I use Competency Based Interviewing (look it
up if you've never heard of it), based around the skillsets
(competences) I want. I will also get one or two team members
to interview a candidate and for a SA role, there would be a
written test.

> that beyond having a very good grounding in one or more of the Unix or
> Linux flavors, the top tool skills being sought by employers are the
> Veritas tools, SAN, and ERP/database applications. (Basic shell
> scripting, excluding Perl, I consider to be part of the standard Unix
> skillset.) If I only have cursory exposure to these tools, do I or do
> I not mention them on my resume? If I don't, then I get very few face-
> to-face interviews let alone phone calls. Of course, if asked detailed

Your CV should have a table listing your experiences/skills
and at what level/duration each is/was.

-- 
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]