Slashdot Mirror
How Do You Interview A Sysadmin Candidate?
benedict writes: "The article No Shortage of Programmers? sparked a really interesting thread about how to interview programmers. Being a systems administrator, I am curious about the Slashdot community's collective wisdom on how to interview sysadmins. I have come up with a few questions of my own to prime the pump. 'What is tcpdump? What is it good for?' 'How about truss/ktrace/strace? What are they good for?' 'What's the largest number of machines you've maintained? What have you done to make it easier on yourself (e.g. what types of automation, file distribution, etc.)' 'Do you use source code control? What for?' I would also present a couple of 'hypothetical' situations from my own experience and ask how people would approach them. How about you: what kinds of questions would you ask, what situations would you describe, what kinds of answers would you look for?"
Have you ever played Core Wars?
Which weapon on Counter Strike do you prefer?
What is your home machine?
Know what BOFH stands for :)
I always ask a potential applicant to spell "piece" for me.
"Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or dead." -Kurt Cobain
(This question is also wonderful if you're hiring highschool computer teachers. There's nothing more hilarous than a roaring classroom after the teacher innocently typed http://www.whitehouse.com into his big screen browser...)
on this file I send you?
DataSquid.net, a little about me.
No, no! You know the drill! If there's any chance that he'll end up as a marketeer we have to drive a stake through his heart, decapitate him and bury the remains at a crossroads at midnight.
There may be something involving salt as well, but maybe I'm just I'm just thinking about tequila.
I would be a paid subscriber if Taco and Hemos weren't such cunts
Let's do in a different manner.
<interviewer> It's a program to view contents of TCP packets on the network?
<candidate> "What is tcpdump?"
It would be much more funny... (maybe the candidate can then go to the big final, and win 1 million)
Don't worry, I'm too addicted [to|every]day
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
Not so fast, marketing is hiring too!
Say no to software patents.
Handwriting test: if their handwriting is anything but completely illegible, don't hire them.
/dev/null? If the answer is not 'for redirecting Web proxy logs' forget it.
Eye test: if they aren't near-sighted, just say no.
Wrist test: if they don't have carpal tunnel, nix 'em.
Clothing test: if they show up to the job interview wearing a suit, they have no clue.
Jargon file test: Do you know what RTFM means? Can you recite the entire "Story of Mel"?
Caffeine test: If they don't ask for coffee, tea, Coke, or some other form of caffeine several times throughout the interview, forget it.
Slashdot test: What is your slashdot karma? (Don't hire if Karma 25)
Microsoft test: show them a picture of Bill Gates naked. If they don't turn away and run in disgust, don't hire 'em. (NOTE: a good hire will be very difficult to catch)
/dev/null test: What is the true use for
My journal has hot
Take the person to a room and boot up a Windows system - a Windows system without a mouse.
Ask the person to copy all files from C:\Program Files to C:\TEMP
Those who have their "SH" with their "IT" won't break a sweat. The others will ask for a mouse...
There is loads of highly concentrated wisdom in here
Robust
Synergy
Think-outside-the-box
Current- state
Pro-active
Throw them out of your office.
CIO: "So what do you do?"
ME: "I play a lot of games."
CIO: "Ever make a UT Server behind a firewall?"
ME: "Yeah."
CIO: "Windows or Linux?"
ME: "Both."
CIO: "Go to HR and get a badge."
True story.
This
How about: (largely based on Pitr from User Friendly.
Q: Do you have or can you fake a Slavic Accent?
A: Da.
Q: What is the difference between being root and being God?
A: Root, God, no difference at all.
Q: What is your most used manual?
A: Evil Geniuses for Dummies. Or O'Reilly books. It varies. Dependink on current evil plan.
Q: Have you ever been a sysadmin for an NT system.
A: No, but havink crushed them with mallet.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Who is CowboyNeal?
Do you like children?
If the candidate answers with anything other than some smartass reply like "Yes, with lemon butter and capers" then reject.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Claric
There's no problem that cannot be solved with a suitable amount of high explosives
If your company is running NT or 2000 servers you might ask "How quickly can you reboot a Windows NT Server?"
S.t.e.v.e.
And if you do enough of this, you never have to hire a damn sysadmin!
To candidate 1: Install this firewall software. I'll be back in a couple hours to see how you've done.
To candidate 2: Configure this firewall to...
Etc.
That is all.
m00.
From the BOFH Archive:
So I'm interviewing for new Operators, and, as the Bastard System Manager from Hell, I have high standards. And as the Immediate Past Bastard Operator from Hell, I have even higher standards.
I get the first applicant in.
"Ok" I say "I'm just going to ask you some simple questions to guage your knowledge of Computing and Networking in relation to the Operations Field"
"Sure"
"Right. Question One. What's the best way to stop an individual posting nasty articles to news?"
"Close their account"
"Good - But can you elaborate?"
"Delete all their files, Change their password to `Knobhead' and Erase any backups of their account"
"Excellent. What is a killfile?"
"Uh. It's a list of usernames/topics/news items etc that you wish the news- reader to automatically skip so you don't have to wade through rubbish"
"Uh No. Remember I said pertaining to Operations. A killfile is in fact a file with a list of names of people you are going to kill."
"Oh. Of course."
"Never mind. What is DCE?"
"Delete, Close and Erase"
"Good. DTR?"
"DON'T TRY to RING. The Operator's watchword"
"Well done. DBMS?"
"Dont Bug My Supervisor. Probably the most important acronym around"
"You betcha. Ok. A user comes to you with a complaint about another user sending sexually explicit email messages to them. What do you do?"
"Take a copy of the messages, close the complainant's account (by accident) and extort money from the mailer by threatening to show their parents"
"Good. I think you'll do nicely. Hang onto this wire..."
"I don't think so."
"Excellent. You passed the final test. You start tommorrow. Please leave by that door so as not to disturb the other applicants."
BZZZZZEEEERETTT!
Electrified Door Handle. Gets them every time. I think it's the "Complaints Dept" sign that draws them to it like moths to a globe...
I push the body out onto the fire escape.
"NEXT!"
Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
I like to ask some basic questions to get a feel for their understanding before going into any depth. Here's my favorite question and answer from an actual interview: q. What's the difference between TCP and UDP? a. "TCP is from Microsoft. I don't know what UDP is."
Throw in atleast ONE trick question:
"Do you have an expeirence with the Thruman Process on Unix or NT?"
"Ummm *cough* yea they used it breifly at the last company I was at"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how would you rate your knowledge and expeirence with the Thruman Process on Unix or NT?"
"Very much so, I would have to give myself a 6-7"
"Do you have expeirence with the Uma Modules to the Thurman Process?"
....
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
them: so if (this organization) was a circus, what role would do you play?
me (thinking): what the fuck kind of stupid question is that??
me (speaking): *laff* I clean up the elephant shit.
I think they wanted me to say ringmaster or something.
Are all your base belong to us?
You've got mail. Pattern baldness. - Crow