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How Do You Interview A Sysadmin Candidate?

Posted by timothy on from the very-very-carefully dept.

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?"

9 of 476 comments (clear)

  1. My list of questions for John Q. Sysadmin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    1. pick up a random item on your desk and ask "can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these?"
    2. who is Anne Tomlinson?
    3. your secure IIS server is acting flaky. What is the quickest way to restart it? (trick question--no such thing as a secure IIS server)
    4. pull a bowl of hot grits out of your desk drawer and quickly dump them down his pants. Observe his reaction. Does he ask for more? Does he mention Natalie Portman?
  2. Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    What is tcdpump?

  3. simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    you take him roughly from behind and see how loud he screams

  4. Could It Be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    uNF.

  5. certs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    they all want certs..

  6. Re:1st question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's the Jeopardy response to "Rob Mulda and Jeff Bates big loveable cum dumpster."

  7. Re:1st question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I believe the first question was: Could it be?

  8. Easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    you ask him questions, and listen to his answers. rinse. repeat.

  9. I would ask them... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I would ask them if they liked hot grits down their pants.