Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Brian,
That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave?
I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you.
Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be "senior level"?
For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question?
Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate.
On 7/23/06, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a techinterview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't
know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate thatyou don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty muchthrough. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely
through as well.My favorite exchange as of late goes like this:Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5orgs to 2003Them - blah blah blahMe - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the
ADC?Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuseMe - other questionsMe - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003?Them - AbsolutelyMe - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain
the first step of the migration to me?In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you wantin a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty withoutgetting scared or screwing up. They should also have no second thoughts
about delegating work and asking their subordinates for help. Thatperson needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they alsoneed to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that I did X
when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a littledifficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone onyour team promoted to that position?Thanks,Brian Desmond
[EMAIL PROTECTED]c - 312.731.3132 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:ActiveDir- [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matheesha Weerasinghe Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 11:11 AM To:
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques All I am currently in the process of interviewing job candidates who if
successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked me to do the technical side of the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak technically. I am not sure if Ihave been spoilt by the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them alittle thoroughly especially with the candidate who was bold enough to
mention under key skills very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active Directory. Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under pressure and reply that the
questions I am asking are only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft. And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as the guys had the audacity to demand
pretty much twice the pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's. The feedback we received from the candidates afterwards said the interview style was . aggressive. So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing someone for a
Windows tech-lead position (with focus on AD), how technical would you want him to be? This is a guy who would be steering the design of an infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
Cheers Mudha {Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) } __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam?Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Oh usually folks stumble all over and give me some bs about how theyre a committed team player. Ive had that exchange three or four times interviewing people for this one project. Metadata cleanup is a midlevel question. Senior level questions I like quizzing people a bit more indepth about FSMO roles importance of the different ones, what happens if certain ones are offline. I sometimes ask when I might want a shortcut trust, asking how do I figure out how much memory I should put in a GC is fun, estimating DIT sizeI like questions where theyre open ended and you have to talk your way through here. Replication questions I usually just make some stuff up on the fly and let them deal with whatever Ive made up. The worst is when I have a problem with my scenario and they figure it out g. Ive been focusing more on Exchange candidates lately asking some eseutl questions like how can I figure out the state of my database (eseutil /mh) and how you would deal with different states is one of my favorites. Asking about disk i/o configs is fun too. A lot of times I just make it up as I go based on the resume I really dont care how good you actually are if I can work with you and like your personality. Sometimes Im a total asshole if I think the resume is some hotshot dude who claims 13 years of experience with insert blah here and hes an expert with insert blah here. I got a resume from some guy who claimed 8 years of expert level experience with Cisco Switches and Routers or some such bs on the first page of his resume so the very first thing I asked him was to explain to me the function of the TCAM table on a layer 3 switch and could he tell me the width of each entry (168 bits), and finally could he explain to me what would happen if I had too many ACLs which utilized port ranges. Uh thats not related to this jobNo but its on your resume and youre an expert so you should be able to tell me all about it right?. Thanks, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] c - 312.731.3132 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mike kline Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 1:16 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a tech interview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty much through. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well. My favorite exchange as of late goes like this: Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5 orgs to 2003 Them - blah blah blah Me - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the ADC? Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuse Me - other questions Me - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003? Them - Absolutely Me - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain the first step of the migration to me? In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you want in a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty without getting scared or screwing up. They should also have no second thoughts about delegating work and asking their subordinates for help. That person needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they also need to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that I did X when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a little difficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone on your team promoted to that position? Thanks, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] c - 312.731.3132 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir- [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matheesha Weerasinghe Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 11:11 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques All I am currently in the process of interviewing job candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked me to do the technical side of the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
A senior guy IMO should be more focused on "design" aspects
than "support" and thus should be able to answer questions along the line
of:
"How would you design a schema change process,
encompassing initial request through to implementation."
The answer to the above should help determine alot of info
from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question
fully.
- Does this person think
logically
- Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive
manner
- Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS
or are they succinct
- etc
To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state -
"I'd look it up in a book". I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can
only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through
reading a book.
My 2 penneth,
neil
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mike
klineSent: 24 July 2006 07:16To:
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview
Techniques
Brian,
That
was a good story, very funny. So
what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are
usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview
with you.
Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that
you all consider to be "senior level"?
For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid
level question? Just
wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid
vs. senior level candidate.
On 7/23/06, Brian
Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
I've
got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a techinterview. I
ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you
choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate thatyou don't know
through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty muchthrough. If
you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as
well.My favorite exchange as of late goes like this:Me - Tell
me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5orgs to
2003Them - blah blah blahMe - Ok, can you name the three types of
connection agreements in the ADC?Them - well uh blah blah well uh
excuse excuseMe - other questionsMe - So would you be comfortable
migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003?Them - AbsolutelyMe - How can you
be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain the first step of
the migration to me?In any case, others have put some really good
advice here. What you wantin a technical lead is someone who can get their
hands dirty withoutgetting scared or screwing up. They should also have no
second thoughts about delegating work and asking their subordinates for
help. Thatperson needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they
alsoneed to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that "I did
X" when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a
littledifficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone
onyour team promoted to that position?Thanks,Brian
Desmond[EMAIL PROTECTED]c -
312.731.3132 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:ActiveDir- [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf
Of Matheesha Weerasinghe Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 11:11 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
All I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the
manager who will be his boss has asked me to do the technical side of
the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the
"pleasure" of interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if Ihave been spoilt by the
creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them alittle thoroughly
especially with the candidate who was bold enough to mention under
key skills "very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory". Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is
bold enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under pressure and
reply that the questions I am asking are only worthy knowledge to
those working at Microsoft. And this is the reply I got when I
asked him what the FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as
the guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the pay I am
getting and were paper MCSE's. The feedback we received from
the candidates afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive. So, my question to you guys is, if you
interviewing someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focus on
AD), how technical would you want him to be? This is a guy who would
be steering the design of an infrastructure to support tens of
thousands of users. Cheers Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wan
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
the "look it up in a book" or (preferably!) "look it up on the MS web site" is not a bad answer - as Joe said, people can't know everything but should be able to find it out. Given that, I'd be tempted to give them access to the internet and then ask some questions which need both factual knowledge that's looked up and an ability to apply that knowledge. Steve From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: 24 July 2006 08:53To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on "design" aspects than "support" and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: "How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation." The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - "I'd look it up in a book". I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mike klineSent: 24 July 2006 07:16To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be "senior level"? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a techinterview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate thatyou don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty muchthrough. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well.My favorite exchange as of late goes like this:Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5orgs to 2003Them - blah blah blahMe - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the ADC?Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuseMe - other questionsMe - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003?Them - AbsolutelyMe - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain the first step of the migration to me?In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you wantin a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty withoutgetting scared or screwing up. They should also have no second thoughts about delegating work and asking their subordinates for help. Thatperson needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they alsoneed to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that "I did X" when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a littledifficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone onyour team promoted to that position?Thanks,Brian Desmond[EMAIL PROTECTED]c - 312.731.3132 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir- [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matheesha Weerasinghe Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 11:11 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques All I am currently in the process of interviewing job candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked me to do the technical side of the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the "pleasure" of interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak technically. I am not sure if Ihave been spoilt by the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them alittle thoroughly especially with the candidate who was bold enough to mention under key skills "very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active Directory". Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under pressure and reply that the questions I am asking are only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft. And this is the reply I got when I asked him what t
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - I'd look it up in a book. I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mike kline Sent: 24 July 2006 07:16 To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a tech interview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty much through. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well. My favorite exchange as of late goes like this: Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5 orgs to 2003 Them - blah blah blah Me - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the ADC? Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuse Me - other questions Me - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003? Them - Absolutely Me - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain the first step of the migration to me? In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you want in a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty without getting scared or screwing up. They should also have no second thoughts about delegating work and asking their subordinates for help. That person needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they also need to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that I did X when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a little difficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone on your team promoted to that position?
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person:) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several "roles" that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - I'd look it up in a book. I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] On Behalf Of mike klineSent: 24 July 2006 07:16To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a techinterview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty muchthrough. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well.My favorite exchange as of late goes like this: Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5orgs to 2003Them - blah blah blahMe - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the ADC?Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuse Me - other questionsMe - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003?Them - AbsolutelyMe - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain the first step of the migration to me? In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you wantin a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty with
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
LOL. I'd say it's more like watching 6 people describe a "wibble", where none of them has been told what a "wibble" actually is :) As per most responses here (or at least what we *should* respond with) - "it depends". I'd still argue that there's little value in asking very specific in depth technical questions - that's more of a memory test than anything else. I'd rather ask questions that help the candidate show me what he/she *can* do and do know rather than what they cannot do or do not know. I agree that a slightly aggressive approach is useful to determine how the candidate performs under pressure - I would suggest you fore warn the candidate they are going to receive a tech grilling - most won't expect that and so will be rocked onto the back foot when it happens :) Another 2 penneth, neil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al MulnickSent: 24 July 2006 15:41To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person:) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, "no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book" :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several "roles" that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on "design" aspects than "support" and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: "How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation." The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - "I'd look it up in a book". I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] On Behalf Of mike klineSent: 24 July 2006 07:16To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be "senior leve
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
I will absolutely let you know of all the gory details. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-) Cheers P.S. Anyone want a job? ;0) --- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person :) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: *How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation*. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - I'd look it up in a book. I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil -- *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *mike kline *Sent:* 24 July 2006 07:16 *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, *Brian Desmond* [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a tech interview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty much through. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well. My favorite exchange as of late goes like this: Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Byron, I thought you might find this a good read. Its an e-mail from Joe Richards (author of the Active Directory OReilly book). Hes talking about why a tech lead (architect here at AppSig) should definitely be a separate role from an actual manager. Much like I would rather hit the role of an architect before I would like to begin thinking of moving into any managerial role. ~Ben Interesting, I have a pretty different view on tech lead. The things you mention (handing out tasks, interfacing with upper management, discipline, etc...) are out and out managerial tasks from my viewpoint and if I had a manager and a tech lead, I wouldn't take any of that from the tech lead. I consider tech lead as senior techy, the guy whom you go to when you are out of ideas on what to do next to solve a technical problem. The manageris you go to for interfacing with anyone outside of the group, personnel issues and getting your tasks.I think the manager and the tech lead need to work very closely but that is mostly to keep the manager in a good place, informed,and pointed in the right direction such that managerial decisions don't adversely impact the technical aspects of the work too much as well as letting the manager know what the technical priorities are from the tech leads viewpoint and so the manager can tell the tech lead what the real priorities are as they are decided by the manager. For instance if going into a meeting with a customer[1] the tech lead feeds the manager with as much knowledge as necessary so the manager isn't completely at a loss in the meeting and as things dive into tech, if they do, the tech lead is either there (if it is known ahead of time it will get deep)or available via phone to help. Tech and managerial pieces do not normally fit together well, very different skill sets and strengths needed to do one or the other well. Very few people, IMO, can be good at tech and good at managerial. Unfortunately many companies do not see this and in order for someone to move up through the ranks they must assume managerial duties when in fact the company should have a managerial track and a technical track for the folks to follow so they can stick with the areas in which they have the greatest strength. Hopefully it is getting more and more obvious to companies that trying to make people spend all of the their time trying to improveon their weaknesses versus utilizing their strengths is a losing proposition. To put it another way, if someone is an amazing techy and a horrible manager, you don't force them to spend their time trying to be a mediocre manager. That is the person that everyone will point at and say they are a sucky manager. joe [1] Define as you wish, different groups have different customers. IT has the business, the business could have another aspect of the business or external, etc. -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Well, that was a forwarded e-mail gone wrong. Just ignore my inability to properly replace the TO field with the appropriate e-mail address. L From: WATSON, BEN Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 8:43 AM To: 'ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org' Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Byron, I thought you might find this a good read. Its an e-mail from Joe Richards (author of the Active Directory OReilly book). Hes talking about why a tech lead (architect here at AppSig) should definitely be a separate role from an actual manager. Much like I would rather hit the role of an architect before I would like to begin thinking of moving into any managerial role. ~Ben Interesting, I have a pretty different view on tech lead. The things you mention (handing out tasks, interfacing with upper management, discipline, etc...) are out and out managerial tasks from my viewpoint and if I had a manager and a tech lead, I wouldn't take any of that from the tech lead. I consider tech lead as senior techy, the guy whom you go to when you are out of ideas on what to do next to solve a technical problem. The manageris you go to for interfacing with anyone outside of the group, personnel issues and getting your tasks.I think the manager and the tech lead need to work very closely but that is mostly to keep the manager in a good place, informed,and pointed in the right direction such that managerial decisions don't adversely impact the technical aspects of the work too much as well as letting the manager know what the technical priorities are from the tech leads viewpoint and so the manager can tell the tech lead what the real priorities are as they are decided by the manager. For instance if going into a meeting with a customer[1] the tech lead feeds the manager with as much knowledge as necessary so the manager isn't completely at a loss in the meeting and as things dive into tech, if they do, the tech lead is either there (if it is known ahead of time it will get deep)or available via phone to help. Tech and managerial pieces do not normally fit together well, very different skill sets and strengths needed to do one or the other well. Very few people, IMO, can be good at tech and good at managerial. Unfortunately many companies do not see this and in order for someone to move up through the ranks they must assume managerial duties when in fact the company should have a managerial track and a technical track for the folks to follow so they can stick with the areas in which they have the greatest strength. Hopefully it is getting more and more obvious to companies that trying to make people spend all of the their time trying to improveon their weaknesses versus utilizing their strengths is a losing proposition. To put it another way, if someone is an amazing techy and a horrible manager, you don't force them to spend their time trying to be a mediocre manager. That is the person that everyone will point at and say they are a sucky manager. joe [1] Define as you wish, different groups have different customers. IT has the business, the business could have another aspect of the business or external, etc. -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Forgive the reply to my own email. I purposely prevented typing a word that rhymes with bassdole below, but my reply with contents included someone else using the same word in its orginal format! And I've just been sent an email from the nice postmaster at sx3 and the administrator at yahoo that I shouldnt swear. Define irony! I *swear* I didnt say it. I only said $%^$£! M@ --- Mudha Godasa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I will absolutely let you know of all the gory details. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-) Cheers __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Does it pay well with good bene's? While I have a nice job now, I always look at available opportunities. :) Don't have Brian interview me though, I expect I would come up short and I would have to show how much I like the phrases it depends and I don't know. I have no doubt that Brian could bury me in an interview, or anyone for that matter if they have a good understanding of the product and can find the focuses I have and avoid those areas and stick to areas they focus on. Again... No one can answer any question anyone can ask about AD. I am sure that most everyone on this list has probably seen something that most others haven't seen. For instance, right up until yesterday I could have been tripped up on what the default tombstone lifetime is in a freshly built R2 forest. I would have quoted what the correct answer should have been, not what it actually was. The only people who would have known different are those that would have had some reason to do it and noticed the value or have read something written about it or windiffed the schema.ini file for some reason against the SP1 version. Basically there are two types of knowing... Experience and theoretical where theoretical is what you have read or been told or what you derive yourself based on what you have experienced or been told or read. No one has experienced it all though people in key spots will have been in a position to have heard of a lot of things. joe -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mudha Godasa Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 11:38 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques I will absolutely let you know of all the gory details. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-) Cheers P.S. Anyone want a job? ;0) --- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person :) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: *How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation*. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
The only true way to be sure you don't get one of those for a boss is to not invite me to interview for it ;) On 7/24/06, Mudha Godasa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I will absolutely let you know of all the gorydetails. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-)CheersP.S. Anyone want a job? ;0)--- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to laugh.This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person :) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh.Can you answer all the questions?Nope.Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :)(ok, so I paraphrased.The point is that you use it or lose it.But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day.Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either.But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions.Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview.That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] *On Behalf Of * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: *How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation*. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully.- Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - I'd look it up in a book. I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil -- *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]] *On Behalf Of *mike kline *Sent:* 24 July 2006 07:16 *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny.So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave?I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit.What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup?Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, *Brian Desmond* [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a tech interview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty much through. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely through as well. My favorite exchange as of late goes like this: Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5 orgs to 2003 Them - blah blah blah Me - Ok, can you name
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Yeah but see when I focus in on the areas you're weak in you could still talk your way out of it instead of making up some goofy ass bs that I have to write down when I get off the phone and file in my resumes and interviews folder. Thanks, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] c - 312.731.3132 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 12:30 PM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Does it pay well with good bene's? While I have a nice job now, I always look at available opportunities. :) Don't have Brian interview me though, I expect I would come up short and I would have to show how much I like the phrases it depends and I don't know. I have no doubt that Brian could bury me in an interview, or anyone for that matter if they have a good understanding of the product and can find the focuses I have and avoid those areas and stick to areas they focus on. Again... No one can answer any question anyone can ask about AD. I am sure that most everyone on this list has probably seen something that most others haven't seen. For instance, right up until yesterday I could have been tripped up on what the default tombstone lifetime is in a freshly built R2 forest. I would have quoted what the correct answer should have been, not what it actually was. The only people who would have known different are those that would have had some reason to do it and noticed the value or have read something written about it or windiffed the schema.ini file for some reason against the SP1 version. Basically there are two types of knowing... Experience and theoretical where theoretical is what you have read or been told or what you derive yourself based on what you have experienced or been told or read. No one has experienced it all though people in key spots will have been in a position to have heard of a lot of things. joe -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mudha Godasa Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 11:38 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques I will absolutely let you know of all the gory details. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-) Cheers P.S. Anyone want a job? ;0) --- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person :) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Now Al, have you been making your employees drop and give you 20 again? Really, I thought we'd talked about that? ;-) - Laura On 7/24/06, Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The only true way to be sure you don't get one of those for a boss is to not invite me to interview for it ;) On 7/24/06, Mudha Godasa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I will absolutely let you know of all the gory details. I sure hope I dont get an $%^$£! for a boss. ;-) Cheers P.S. Anyone want a job? ;0) --- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to laugh. This thread is starting to sound like the six blind men describing an elephant. As was mentioned, it is very hard to find somebody who can do the high-level design at all 8 layers, manage a staff of people, and still fit that into a 23 hour day. If you find one, keep him or her. If you don't find one, don't be terribly disappointed; look for one that's close and has the right personality to be made into one. There's plenty more of those, but be sure you're ready to keep him/her later because there are others looking for that type of person :) FWIW, I think interviewing wtih Brian might be a laugh. Can you answer all the questions? Nope. Not every one. But you can still enjoy it and I think Neil was wise enough to mention that, no, I don't know it all but I do know how to use a book :) (ok, so I paraphrased. The point is that you use it or lose it. But knowing what questions to ask and where to find the answers is far more resilient than knowing everything there is to know about a product set on a given day. Most of the players on the team that wrote the application or product don't know either. But they do know where to go for the answers) One thing that does come to mind would be to follow Brian's advice and ask open ended questions. Those are going to be the hardest because you're not going to be able to study for that. You'll have to walk through it under the pressure of an interview. That will tell the interviewer a lot about the person and what they would do 6 months from now when the technology is totally different and how they would deal with your unique situations. Best of luck in you hiring endeavors. I for one am interested to hear a follow up in a few months to hear how it went. Al On 7/24/06, Ken Schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose there are several roles that senior people could hold: some are managerial, some are architectural, and some are deeply technical (i.e. high level support). Architects, in that taxonomy, would do design work. Whereas a PSS engineer would probably spend more time with a debugger than using Word and Visio to produce high-level designs. Cheers Ken *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] *On Behalf Of * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Monday, 24 July 2006 5:53 PM *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques A senior guy IMO should be more focused on design aspects than support and thus should be able to answer questions along the line of: *How would you design a schema change process, encompassing initial request through to implementation*. The answer to the above should help determine alot of info from that person (see below) - even if they cannot answer the question fully. - Does this person think logically - Does this person explain ideas in a cohesive manner - Does this person answer questions with fluff and BS or are they succinct - etc To answer 'what do the FSMOs do?' one can simply state - I'd look it up in a book. I'd therefore always try to ask questions which can only be answered through experience (where possible) and not just through reading a book. My 2 penneth, neil -- *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *mike kline *Sent:* 24 July 2006 07:16 *To:* ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org *Subject:* Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Brian, That was a good story, very funny. So what did the guy do? Did he just get up and leave? I know from reading your posts you are usually straight and to the point. I would be sweating if I had to interview with you. Going off course a bit. What are some types of AD questions that you all consider to be senior level? For example what if you ask someone how to do a metadata cleanup? Would you all consider that to be a mid level question? Just wondering because I always grapple trying to figure out questions for the mid vs. senior level candidate. On 7/23/06, *Brian Desmond
[ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate who
was bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under
pressure and reply that the questions I am asking are
only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as the
guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates
afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focus
on AD), how technical would you want him to be? This
is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
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Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Is he a manager or a technical lead? There's a world of difference between the two.Technical leads have many of the responsibilities of a manager (handing out tasks, interfacing with upper management, discipline, etc...) but also have to be able to 'get their hands dirty', in other words, they basically have to be very strong technically.
If you're interviewing for a manager who isn't going to be doing anything technical, then just make sure that A) you don't grant him schema/enterprise admin rights, so that he can't screw everything up on you and B) He knows enough to where you're not holding his hand in *every* discussion that goes down the technical path.
If he's a technical lead... he should know how to deal with people and know nearly as much as you do, if not more. If he's going to be digging into AD and having to work on fixing problems when they appear, then you need to make sure that he's not going to screw things up because he's trying to remember what they taught him in that 2-week class 8 months ago.
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
AllI am currently in the process of interviewing jobcandidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)Basically the manager who will be his boss has askedme to do the technical side of the interview and check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure ofinterviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weaktechnically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt bythe creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate whowas bold enough to mention under key skills verystrong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 ActiveDirectory.Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up underpressure and reply that the questions I am asking areonly worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as theguys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice thepay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.The feedback we received from the candidatesafterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewingsomeone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focuson AD), how technical would you want him to be? Thisis a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.CheersMudha{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.comList info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList FAQ:
http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
LOL. If it's for a technical position, then I have no qualms of trying to make the interviewed candidate cry. May as well see what they do with pressure.
I can usually tell in the first few minutes how a person thinks and how well they know the subject matter. But I like to see how they react and how they deal with questions. Are they going to fold? Are they going to buckle? Are they going to lie and BS an answer? The last is the worst thing they can ever do. I demand honesty in the work I do. If you BS me, you'll be done before you go a step further. If you tell the truth and let me know that you don't know, I'll at the very least have respect for you because I know that nobody can know it all, and I konw that the interviewer is going to ask a question that sticks in their mind as something that stumped them for a while. Either consciously or sub-consciously.
I like to ask leading questions and I like to pick at the things on the resume to verify that what they wrote is what they are capable of doing. Since this is a tech lead position, I expect a broad and deep set of knowlede and I expect that the characteristics of the person are such that they can easily refer to the SME (subject-matter expert) for particular subsystems without getting uptight about not knowing the answer themselves. It really could suck if you brought somebody in who was too uptight and insecure to let you do your job. They should be trying to help you advance vs. holding you back and causing hate and discontent.
My $0.04 worth anyway.
Al
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
AllI am currently in the process of interviewing jobcandidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has askedme to do the technical side of the interview and checkif the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure ofinterviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt bythe creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them alittle thoroughly especially with the candidate whowas bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 ActiveDirectory.Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is boldenough to claim that, he better not buckle up underpressure and reply that the questions I am asking are
only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.And this is the reply I got when I asked him what theFSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as theguys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.The feedback we received from the candidatesafterwards said the interview style was .aggressive.So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focuson AD), how technical would you want him to be? Thisis a guy who would be steering the design of aninfrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
CheersMudha{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
A lead tech better be pretty darn technical with strong troubleshooting
skills. It is tough to interview someone for the latter as asking questions
like this and this are occurring, what do you do or what is wrong are
usually not productive.
One thing to keep in mind is that just about anyone who has some experience
with AD could likely ask a question someone else couldn't answer, there is
no one that knows every single aspect of Active Directory and could answer
any possible question cold. However, a general chat about what they have
been doing with their knowledge and maybe where they picked it up can cause
things to float up that give you a good understanding of what they know and
what they can figure out.
In general I would say it is tough to hire for a lead tech for an already
existing team unless the team is aware of the person already and has some
measure of respect for the person. Usually, in my experience, the lead
tends to float to the top when the team is working together and it just
naturally becomes obvious who the lead should be. To artificially force a
lead can hurt the team and I have been in several circumstances where that
has occurred. The lead may feel they need to show how smart they are or the
team may feel they need to see if they can outwit the lead; either thing
occurring and the team isn't a team but a competition.
The best tech leads I have run into have all been people who DON'T want to
run a team, they just want to solve technical problems and lead by solving
problems well.
joe
--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matheesha
Weerasinghe
Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 12:11 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate who
was bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under
pressure and reply that the questions I am asking are
only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as the
guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates
afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focus
on AD), how technical would you want him to be? This
is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
__
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Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
He is a technical lead but with some responisbilities
of a manager. He would be mostly doing managerial
duties as you have identified. But he will need to get
his hands dirty when the going gets tough.
Most importantly, he will need to identify customer
requirements and ensure the design we produce with him
is steered in the correct direction. He will also need
to sell solutions to the customer that will benefit
both parties ;-)
I seem to recall reading somewhere some comments from
either joe or Jorge. But I cant find it anymore. Hence
the post.
Cheers
--- Matt Hargraves [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Is he a manager or a technical lead? There's a
world of difference between
the two.
Technical leads have many of the responsibilities of
a manager (handing out
tasks, interfacing with upper management,
discipline, etc...) but also have
to be able to 'get their hands dirty', in other
words, they basically have
to be very strong technically.
If you're interviewing for a manager who isn't going
to be doing anything
technical, then just make sure that A) you don't
grant him schema/enterprise
admin rights, so that he can't screw everything up
on you and B) He knows
enough to where you're not holding his hand in
*every* discussion that goes
down the technical path.
If he's a technical lead... he should know how to
deal with people and know
nearly as much as you do, if not more. If he's
going to be digging into AD
and having to work on fixing problems when they
appear, then you need to
make sure that he's not going to screw things up
because he's trying to
remember what they taught him in that 2-week class 8
months ago.
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss
;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has
asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and
check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure
of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt
by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate
who
was bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is
bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up
under
pressure and reply that the questions I am asking
are
only worthy knowledge to those working at
Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what
the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as
the
guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice
the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates
afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you
interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with
focus
on AD), how technical would you want him to be?
This
is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of
users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
__
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protection around
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http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
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RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Interesting, I have a pretty different view on tech lead. The things you mention (handing out tasks, interfacing with upper management, discipline, etc...) are out and out managerial tasks from my viewpoint and if I had a manager and a tech lead, I wouldn't take any of that from the tech lead. I consider tech lead as senior techy, the guy whom you go to when you are out of ideas on what to do next to solve a technical problem. The manageris you go to for interfacing with anyone outside of the group, personnel issues and getting your tasks.I think the manager and the tech lead need to work very closely but that is mostly to keep the manager in a good place, informed,and pointed in the right direction such that managerial decisions don't adversely impact the technical aspects of the work too much as well as letting the manager know what the technical priorities are from the tech leads viewpoint and so the manager can tell the tech lead what the real priorities are as they are decided by the manager. For instance if going into a meeting with a "customer"[1] the tech lead feeds the manager with as much knowledge as necessary so the manager isn't completely at a loss in the meeting and as things dive into tech, if they do, the tech lead is either there (if it is known ahead of time it will get deep)or available via phone to help. Tech and managerial pieces do not normally fit together well, very different skill sets and strengths needed to do one or the other well. Very few people, IMO, can be good at tech and good at managerial. Unfortunately many companies do not see this and in order for someone to move up through the ranks they must assume managerial duties when in fact the company should have a managerial track and a technical track for the folks to follow so they can stick with the areas in which they have the greatest strength. Hopefully it is getting more and more obvious to companies that trying to make people spend all of the their time trying to improveon their weaknesses versus utilizing their strengths is a losing proposition. To put it another way, if someone is an amazing techy and a horrible manager, you don't force them to spend their time trying to be a mediocre manager. That is the person that everyone will point at and say they are a sucky manager. joe [1] Define as you wish, different groups have different customers. IT has the business, the business could have another aspect of the business or external, etc. -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt HargravesSent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 1:10 PMTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques Is he a manager or a technical lead? There's a world of difference between the two.Technical leads have many of the responsibilities of a manager (handing out tasks, interfacing with upper management, discipline, etc...) but also have to be able to 'get their hands dirty', in other words, they basically have to be very strong technically. If you're interviewing for a manager who isn't going to be doing anything technical, then just make sure that A) you don't grant him schema/enterprise admin rights, so that he can't screw everything up on you and B) He knows enough to where you're not holding his hand in *every* discussion that goes down the technical path. If he's a technical lead... he should know how to deal with people and know nearly as much as you do, if not more. If he's going to be digging into AD and having to work on fixing problems when they appear, then you need to make sure that he's not going to screw things up because he's trying to remember what they taught him in that 2-week class 8 months ago. On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: AllI am currently in the process of interviewing jobcandidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)Basically the manager who will be his boss has askedme to do the technical side of the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the "pleasure" ofinterviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weaktechnically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt bythe creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a little thoroughly especially with the candidate whowas bold enough to mention under key skills "verystrong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 ActiveDirectory".Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold enough to claim that, he better not buckle up underpressure and reply that the questions I am asking areonly worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as theguys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice thepay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.The feedback we received from the candidatesaf
RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Yeah Al interviewed me once and I didn't get the job
because I started crying.
I found his car in the parking lot and punched holes in the
tires. :)
--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al
MulnickSent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 1:54 PMTo:
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview
Techniques
LOL. If it's for a technical position, then I have no qualms of
trying to make the interviewed candidate cry. May as well see what they do with
pressure.
I can usually tell in the first few minutes how a person thinks and how
well they know the subject matter. But I like to see how they react and
how they deal with questions. Are they going to fold? Are they going to
buckle? Are they going to lie and BS an answer? The last is the worst
thing they can ever do. I demand honesty in the work I do. If you BS
me, you'll be done before you go a step further. If you tell the truth and let
me know that you don't know, I'll at the very least have respect for you because
I know that nobody can know it all, and I konw that the interviewer is going to
ask a question that sticks in their mind as something that stumped them for a
while. Either consciously or sub-consciously.
I like to ask leading questions and I like to pick at the things on the
resume to verify that what they wrote is what they are capable of doing.
Since this is a tech lead position, I expect a broad and deep set of knowlede
and I expect that the characteristics of the person are such that they can
easily refer to the SME (subject-matter expert) for particular subsystems
without getting uptight about not knowing the answer themselves. It really could
suck if you brought somebody in who was too uptight and insecure to let you do
your job. They should be trying to help you advance vs. holding you back and
causing hate and discontent.
My $0.04 worth anyway.
Al
On 7/23/06, Matheesha
Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
AllI
am currently in the process of interviewing jobcandidates who if
successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be his
boss has askedme to do the technical side of the interview and checkif
the candidates are OK. I've had the "pleasure" ofinterviewing 2 so far and
they were pretty weak technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt
bythe creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them alittle thoroughly
especially with the candidate whowas bold enough to mention under key
skills "very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003
ActiveDirectory".Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is
boldenough to claim that, he better not buckle up underpressure and
reply that the questions I am asking are only worthy knowledge to those
working at Microsoft.And this is the reply I got when I asked him what
theFSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as theguys had the
audacity to demand pretty much twice the pay I am getting and were paper
MCSE's.The feedback we received from the candidatesafterwards said
the interview style was .aggressive.So, my question to you
guys is, if you interviewingsomeone for a Windows tech-lead position (with
focuson AD), how technical would you want him to be? Thisis a guy who
would be steering the design of aninfrastructure to support tens of
thousands of users.CheersMudha{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0)
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RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
I've got no second thoughts about being an asshole during a tech
interview. I ask the question, you either answer it or tell me you don't
know. If you choose not to tell me you don't know and demonstrate that
you don't know through what you tell me instead, I'm already pretty much
through. If you're arrogant like this candidate you describe, I'm likely
through as well.
My favorite exchange as of late goes like this:
Me - Tell me a little bit about your experience migrating Exchange 5.5
orgs to 2003
Them - blah blah blah
Me - Ok, can you name the three types of connection agreements in the
ADC?
Them - well uh blah blah well uh excuse excuse
Me - other questions
Me - So would you be comfortable migrating a 10K user 5.5 org to 2003?
Them - Absolutely
Me - How can you be comfortable doing that when you can't even explain
the first step of the migration to me?
In any case, others have put some really good advice here. What you want
in a technical lead is someone who can get their hands dirty without
getting scared or screwing up. They should also have no second thoughts
about delegating work and asking their subordinates for help. That
person needs to be able to deal with upper management, and they also
need to make sure their self esteem is in check - none of that I did X
when all they did is watch. Hiring your new manager can be a little
difficult on both sides from the point of view of why wasn't someone on
your team promoted to that position?
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
c - 312.731.3132
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matheesha Weerasinghe
Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 11:11 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job candidates who if
successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be
his boss has asked me to do the technical side of the interview and
check if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of
interviewing
2 so far and they were pretty weak technically. I am not sure if I
have
been spoilt by the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little
thoroughly especially with the candidate who was bold enough to
mention
under key skills very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold enough to claim
that, he better not buckle up under pressure and reply that the
questions I am asking are only worthy knowledge to those working at
Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the FSMO roles did.
Actually, I got a little miffed as the guys had the audacity to demand
pretty much twice the pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates afterwards said the
interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing someone for a
Windows tech-lead position (with focus on AD), how technical would you
want him to be? This is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
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Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
Thanks Al. Thats very useful. I value those comments
more than $0.04 ;0). Especially the comments in the
last paragraph. The last thing I want is someone who
is going to prevent any of my suggestions getting
through because he doesnt understand and has influence
over the final design.
I had one guy who claimed to be from a reputable IT
services company and he explained a redesign he'd
done. Basically he wrecked a perfectly working and
functioning detailed role based delegation model
because it was too complex. Instead of the
structured organisation the original plan had based on
location and business unit, he basically classed all
users as normal and admin. Domain admins all over
the place. 2nd level support guys with schema admin
rights because they were trained to make the
necessary application specific schema changes. WTF?
And what's up with these damn contractors that want to
re-build from scratch a lab just because they cant fix
it. And all that was wrong was there was no
_msdcs.forestfqdn to resolve gc records. Beats me how
they get jobs.
Ugh!
I cant believe that people have the guts to lie like
that on their CVs.
Cheers
--- Al Mulnick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
LOL. If it's for a technical position, then I have
no qualms of trying to
make the interviewed candidate cry. May as well see
what they do with
pressure.
I can usually tell in the first few minutes how a
person thinks and how well
they know the subject matter. But I like to see how
they react and how they
deal with questions. Are they going to fold? Are
they going to buckle? Are
they going to lie and BS an answer? The last is the
worst thing they can
ever do. I demand honesty in the work I do. If you
BS me, you'll be done
before you go a step further. If you tell the truth
and let me know that you
don't know, I'll at the very least have respect for
you because I know that
nobody can know it all, and I konw that the
interviewer is going to ask a
question that sticks in their mind as something that
stumped them for a
while. Either consciously or sub-consciously.
I like to ask leading questions and I like to pick
at the things on the
resume to verify that what they wrote is what they
are capable of doing.
Since this is a tech lead position, I expect a broad
and deep set of
knowlede and I expect that the characteristics of
the person are such that
they can easily refer to the SME (subject-matter
expert) for particular
subsystems without getting uptight about not knowing
the answer themselves.
It really could suck if you brought somebody in who
was too uptight and
insecure to let you do your job. They should be
trying to help you advance
vs. holding you back and causing hate and
discontent.
My $0.04 worth anyway.
Al
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss
;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has
asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and
check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure
of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt
by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate
who
was bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is
bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up
under
pressure and reply that the questions I am asking
are
only worthy knowledge to those working at
Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what
the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as
the
guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice
the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates
afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you
interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with
focus
on AD), how technical would you want him to be?
This
is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of
users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
__
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RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
--- joe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A lead tech better be pretty darn technical with strong troubleshooting skills. It is tough to interview someone for the latter as asking questions like this and this are occurring, what do you do or what is wrong are usually not productive. I was thinking of giving a VM based env on a laptop for them to fix just to see what their TS skills are like. Fixing it would be nice but it was more to see his thinking style. One thing to keep in mind is that just about anyone who has some experience with AD could likely ask a question someone else couldn't answer, there is no one that knows every single aspect of Active Directory and could answer any possible question cold. I thought Sanjay could? (http://www.activedirectoryconsulting.com/background.html) :-( Sorry. However, a general chat about what they have been doing with their knowledge and maybe where they picked it up can cause things to float up that give you a good understanding of what they know and what they can figure out. # I agree and I am doing that. Thanks In general I would say it is tough to hire for a lead tech for an already existing team unless the team is aware of the person already and has some measure of respect for the person. Usually, in my experience, the lead tends to float to the top when the team is working together and it just naturally becomes obvious who the lead should be. To artificially force a lead can hurt the team and I have been in several circumstances where that has occurred. The lead may feel they need to show how smart they are or the team may feel they need to see if they can outwit the lead; either thing occurring and the team isn't a team but a competition. Hmm. Thats very true.To be honest, I am yet to work with a real good team. You never know I might get lucky soon. The best tech leads I have run into have all been people who DON'T want to run a team, they just want to solve technical problems and lead by solving problems well. joe -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm Cheers __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
LOL. Yeah. Never a good idea to have customised BIG AL number plates.
;-)
On 7/23/06, joe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Yeah Al interviewed me once and I didn't get the job because I started
crying.
I found his car in the parking lot and punched holes in the tires. :)
--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al
Mulnick
Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 1:54 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
LOL. If it's for a technical position, then I have no qualms of trying to
make the interviewed candidate cry. May as well see what they do with
pressure.
I can usually tell in the first few minutes how a person thinks and how well
they know the subject matter. But I like to see how they react and how they
deal with questions. Are they going to fold? Are they going to buckle? Are
they going to lie and BS an answer? The last is the worst thing they can
ever do. I demand honesty in the work I do. If you BS me, you'll be done
before you go a step further. If you tell the truth and let me know that you
don't know, I'll at the very least have respect for you because I know that
nobody can know it all, and I konw that the interviewer is going to ask a
question that sticks in their mind as something that stumped them for a
while. Either consciously or sub-consciously.
I like to ask leading questions and I like to pick at the things on the
resume to verify that what they wrote is what they are capable of doing.
Since this is a tech lead position, I expect a broad and deep set of
knowlede and I expect that the characteristics of the person are such that
they can easily refer to the SME (subject-matter expert) for particular
subsystems without getting uptight about not knowing the answer themselves.
It really could suck if you brought somebody in who was too uptight and
insecure to let you do your job. They should be trying to help you advance
vs. holding you back and causing hate and discontent.
My $0.04 worth anyway.
Al
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
All
I am currently in the process of interviewing job
candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-)
Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and check
if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of
interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak
technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a
little thoroughly especially with the candidate who
was bold enough to mention under key skills very
strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory.
Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold
enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under
pressure and reply that the questions I am asking are
only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft.
And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the
FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as the
guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's.
The feedback we received from the candidates
afterwards said the interview style was .
aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing
someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focus
on AD), how technical would you want him to be? This
is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users.
Cheers
Mudha
{Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) }
__
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Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques
So basically it sounds like you need a technically savvy person who has very good understanding of AD, but is going to come back to you with any concerns about a design direction that you've come up with instead of going through and revamping it completely... 'basic user' or 'admins'... ROFLMAO Schema updates are uncommon enough to where nobody really needs that level of access on a day-to-day basis.
My description of a technical lead was because I've run into companies where they expect their manager for the IT department to basically be the 3rd/4th level of support for problems. They expect the manager to do the 'heavy lifting' on the technical side of things and basically be a technical lead *and* a manager. I tend to agree that running into someone who can do both is like finding a roc's tooth. They're out there, just few and far between.
On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
LOL. Yeah. Never a good idea to have customised BIG AL number plates.;-)On 7/23/06, joe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yeah Al interviewed me once and I didn't get the job because I started
crying. I found his car in the parking lot and punched holes in the tires. :) -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htmFrom: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 1:54 PM To:
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: Interview Techniques LOL.If it's for a technical position, then I have no qualms of trying to make the interviewed candidate cry. May as well see what they do with
pressure. I can usually tell in the first few minutes how a person thinks and how well they know the subject matter.But I like to see how they react and how they deal with questions.Are they going to fold? Are they going to buckle? Are
they going to lie and BS an answer?The last is the worst thing they can ever do.I demand honesty in the work I do.If you BS me, you'll be done before you go a step further. If you tell the truth and let me know that you
don't know, I'll at the very least have respect for you because I know that nobody can know it all, and I konw that the interviewer is going to ask a question that sticks in their mind as something that stumped them for a
while. Either consciously or sub-consciously. I like to ask leading questions and I like to pick at the things on the resume to verify that what they wrote is what they are capable of doing.
Since this is a tech lead position, I expect a broad and deep set of knowlede and I expect that the characteristics of the person are such that they can easily refer to the SME (subject-matter expert) for particular
subsystems without getting uptight about not knowing the answer themselves. It really could suck if you brought somebody in who was too uptight and insecure to let you do your job. They should be trying to help you advance
vs. holding you back and causing hate and discontent. My $0.04 worth anyway. Al On 7/23/06, Matheesha Weerasinghe
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: All I am currently in the process of interviewing job candidates who if successful will become my boss ;-) Basically the manager who will be his boss has asked
me to do the technical side of the interview and check if the candidates are OK. I've had the pleasure of interviewing 2 so far and they were pretty weak technically. I am not sure if I have been spoilt by
the creme-de-la-creme here but I did check them a little thoroughly especially with the candidate who was bold enough to mention under key skills very strong knowledge of windows 2000/2003 Active
Directory. Now I am definitely no expert, but if someone is bold enough to claim that, he better not buckle up under pressure and reply that the questions I am asking are
only worthy knowledge to those working at Microsoft. And this is the reply I got when I asked him what the FSMO roles did. Actually, I got a little miffed as the guys had the audacity to demand pretty much twice the
pay I am getting and were paper MCSE's. The feedback we received from the candidates afterwards said the interview style was . aggressive.
So, my question to you guys is, if you interviewing someone for a Windows tech-lead position (with focus on AD), how technical would you want him to be? This is a guy who would be steering the design of an
infrastructure to support tens of thousands of users. Cheers Mudha {Newbie AD Guru wannabe ;0) } __
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