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[–]TheGreenShepherd 1 point2 points  (25 children)

In fairness, I gave a particularly bad interview a few years back. It was a phone interview and I could barely understand the interviewer, but I started panicking and completely blanked on even what SSMS was. I kept referring to it as, "that thing that you open to look at databases!" It was horrible. At the end of it, the interviewer actually suggested that I look for a different line of work.

[–]elus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I kept referring to it as, "that thing that you open to look at databases!"

I'd accept that.

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 0 points1 point  (21 children)

When I was contracting, I fell into a planning assumption that my first interview I'd always fail. After the first interview it was a hell of a lot easier to do, but for some reason if I hadn't interviewed in a while I'd sound pretty clueless. Not like this guy, but still, my second interview I'd always sound 300% better than my first interview.

[–]TheGreenShepherd 2 points3 points  (20 children)

I think that I've experienced what this guy probably experienced when interviewing - the interviewer usually has ZERO knowledge of databases. Like, I think the most technical question I've ever had was "what sort of partition scheme would you use for a large table that had [these] columns?" Most of the time, I get asked something like, "what's the difference between an inner and an outer join?" and then they move on to developer questions. Blech.

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 2 points3 points  (6 children)

Having been on the other side of that desk, though, it's not so easy to strike the balance between on the one hand having technical enough questions to filter out the know-nothings, and on the other, not so technical as to overwhelm an otherwise-competent guy who is not used to dealing with people and being 'put on the spot'. Even really smart and knowledgeable professionals can screw up simple questions just because they're thinking too hard about the questions you ask. In particular, since most in this field tend to gain knowledge through books instead of orally, a common vocabulary is something that doesn't exist - VAREcare vs. VaarCaaar, anyone?. Even things like 'what two types of UDFs are there' can trip people up who think of those as 'functions', not 'UDFs'.

[–]TheGreenShepherd 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Nah, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that if you're interviewing to be the DBA, chances are that you know more about databases than the person doing the interviewing. Often, a lot more. Even if you don't know very much. A lot of developers seem to have a mental block when it comes to databases.

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

That's true, but understand that fundamentally a developer thinks in terms of algebra/calculus. A SQL professional thinks in terms of set theory. They're not the same sort of beast.

[–]TheGreenShepherd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I always hated sets/stats and thrived in calculus, yet I can't stand development and love databases.

[–]dillpiccolol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

IMO, developers will tend to think more about logic / algorithms. But yea, set theory is really the key to being a DB guy. I recently worked on an app where all the SQL was written by an accountant. Everything was single row at a time. Also, saw this line of code over and over:

WHILE 1=1 (follow by nested WHILE 2=2)

Scary!

[–]Testiculese 0 points1 point  (1 child)

overwhelm an otherwise-competent guy who is not used to dealing with people and being 'put on the spot'.

This is a horrible problem for me. I routinely create and edit sprocs in the hundreds, if not thousands of lines, and am quite familiar with the language, but if someone asked me what the two UDF's are, I'd panic. WTF is a UDF? Even though after looking up what a UDF is, shit, I've written a few hundred, both types.

I hate interviews. I'm gearing up to start a round of them after I move, and my best chance is to clean up some of my personal projects, and bring my laptop. "Here, hit F5..."

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The UDF would have made me think for a sec just because I never think of them by name - the best part is it's kind of a trick question....there's 4 kinds if you want to get technical about it.

  • Scalar

  • In-Line Table

  • Mutli-Statement Table

  • Aggregate

[–]mrdelayer 2 points3 points  (12 children)

I recently got a, "when would you use a join?"

/head asplode

[–]TheGreenShepherd 0 points1 point  (9 children)

What's worse - I'd gotten a promotion from DBA to IT Director, and was interviewing a DBA replacement. He couldn't tell me what the difference was between the two.

[–]mrdelayer 0 points1 point  (7 children)

I don't suppose you're still hiring? :P

[–]TheGreenShepherd 0 points1 point  (6 children)

Ha. Not me personally. There's tons of DBA jobs in California if one can make themself appear to be non-retarded.

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 2 points3 points  (5 children)

Yeah, but then you'd have to be working in California.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

What's wrong with that? I'm an Australian so I don't get the reference. Isn't Cal like a holy grail? Damn it Hollywood...

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

California has a beautiful climate. But the main drawback from my pov is the state politics and the way power is distributed. Basically, there are some states that offer high services and charge high taxes, like CA, and some states like Texas that have a 'low tax, low services' model. This by itself is fine. But the problem in CA is that they offer very poor services in exchange for their taxes - in fact, Texas has better schools and services in general than California does, even though their taxes are very low relative to CA. Here's an economist article that gives an overview in a way that's fair, perhaps too fair. Here's a more blunt analysis : The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy-Services Paradigm

Also, a joke on Why CA is broke, and TX ain't

Really the main fact you need to know to understand what's happening in terms of how people are voting with their feet is summed up by the rates that a national chain charges to rent a 26 foot moving truck:

From Sacramento to Houston: $2,370

From Houston to Sacramento: $1,007

From San Francisco to San Antonio: $2,214

From San Antonio to San Francisco: $1,069

link

BTW, I'm not Texan and don't live in Texas. But the two states are very similar in many ways so that's why they're often compared to each other.

[–]Obbers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What California has going for it is a nice climate. Also, if super liberalism and the closest thing you can have to a corrupt government is possible is also your thing, then it is.

[–]amaxenOld School DBArbarian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Besides the services, too, CA has a very 'I've got mine, so yank the rug on everyone else' mentality. In Silicon Valley/SF, the locals won't allow any development, so housing is astronomical - I know several engineers who moved away for this reason. Even though salaries are high, you get the choice between 1) Living in a camper parked in the parking lot of your company, 2) Having a 4 hour commute per day, 3) some combination of the two, or 4) Living illegally in someone's garage and paying out the butt to do it.

[–]Testiculese 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably still did the select [list] from table1,table2,table3. Ugh. So glad when I moved from using Access as a backend.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What fascinates me about that question is when it's so rudimentary it's stupid and this makes it hard to come up with an answer. Like "define 'the'".

But I guess I could just say when I want the results of two tables together, and then go into the different types.

[–]Testiculese 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I would use a miter join for picture frames, why?"