September Question: Tell us about your DBA interview experiences: good and bad.
Question of the Month | September 1, 2011 | 1:16 pmI have only interviewed for a handful DBA jobs over the years, but they have ranged all the way from very easy (I got the job with no problem); to horrible, where I was faced down by three DBAs who did their best to embarass me in front of them. I actually walked out of this interview before it was done. So, for this month’s question, “Tell us about your DBA interview experiences: good and bad.” Tell us about any good or bad DBA-related interview experiences you have had in the past, and while you are at it, perhaps you can include some helpful interviewing tips if you have any to share.
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Because there is no right or wrong answer, this month’s winner will be selected randomly from all the entries that are received.
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- February Question: If you weren’t a DBA, what would you like to do?
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I showed up for the interview in a conference room with two DBA’s sitting on the opposite side of the table. They asked some questions about my experiences, strengths, weaknesses, etc. And then to my surprise, one of them handed me a blank paper and pen and proceeded to give me a written T-Sql test to do right then. I was shaken a bit and my mind went blank. It was embarrassing. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
I am a DBA, but have also had the opportunity of late of being the interviewer (in the technical interview phase) for prospective new DBAs for my company. So I have gained some perspective from both sides of the process, of being the one interviewed, and of being the interviewer.
One idea I have tried to incorporate in my interviewing is not to focus soley on technical questions in the beginning, but to give a candidate a chance to present himself or herself and their experiences and expertise in their own words in the beginning of the interview. I appreciate Thomas LaRock’s article on this for some helpful suggestions, see http://thomaslarock.com/how-to-find-a-dba/. This part is more conversational and hopefully allows the candidate to relax a bit.
However, I also feel it is important to ask a range of technical questions, from basic to more advanced, to accurately guage a candidate’s technical acumen, and to get a feel for that candidate’s level of technical qualification for the particular role they would be put into. This is the part that is likely to be more stressful for the candidate, depending their level of knowledge and experience. It is the part where they may “squirm” a bit, but that is not the intent. The intent is just to get an accurate reading of where they are in their professional development.
Hopefully the end result is the finding of the right candidate who will have the combination of skills, experience, and traits to help your company. And hopefully the end result for the new employee is that they will also experience a high level of success and satisfaction personally. That becomes the win-win for all parties.
Doug, I think interviewers should tell the interviewee what to expect in the interview, as surprises are unfair. At the same, as I have now learned, if the interviewer doesn’t say much about what the interview will encompass, you need to ask ahead of time what will be expected of you in the interview, so you can be psychologically prepared for it. Like many people, I have test anxiety, and when faced with an unexpected “test”, I often fail miserably, no matter how well I know a subject.
Brad, here’s an example of an unexpected “test:” you’re sitting at your desk when all of a sudden the phone starts ringing. The production server is down, it didn’t fail over properly, it’s Black Friday, and because there’s no database back end the Web site is losing orders and thousands of dollars are being lost every moment. Fix it! Now!
How are you going to test a DBAs level of “calm under fire” if you don’t throw an unexpected twist into the interview. If you don’t like surprises, this may not be the right business for you.
Adam, Been there, done that; many, many times. That type of pressure is no problem. I just don’t do well with tests. Must be some phobia I picked up in grade school.
It was more of a general question. You said that you don’t want any surprises on an interview. How do you suggest that DBAs should be evaluated for their ability to keep calm in a stressful situation without introducing some stress?
I try to be as honest as possible and not afraid to question the people interviewing them. It’s a blind date… you can’t just let the other person ask all the questions. I like to ask things like ‘What were the last 3 technical challenges you faced and how did solve them’ or what open source projects they use or other things like that to get a feel how the place operates … and especially what hardware I can expect but that is also because I’m a hardware nut.
Adam, I don’t think surprises in an interview are a valid test of a DBA’s ability to deal with stress under real world conditions. Instead, I prefer to have the DBA describe how they have handled stressful situations before. Based on my real life experience, I think I am able to tell if a DBA is telling the truth or not, and I would be able to evaluate how they handled the situation. If they are novice DBAs and don’t have a lot of experience, I might suggest a disaster-type scenario and ask them how they might handle it. This is not a test question, but more of a general discussion. Instead of looking for specific answers, I am looking for someone with a “get it done” attitude. The right attitude is more important to me than pure technical skills. For example, I have seen very knowledgeable DBAs, who know a lot more than me, fail in the “get it done” area. I would prefer to hire a DBA with the right attitude. If that DBA is lacking in some skills, then I would mentor that person, bring him or her up to the necessary level. At least, this is my point of view. Of course, the first question I would ask is if they have read my book on “How to Become an Exceptional DBA”, and if they have, they would get lots of brownie points.
Since I’m not in the market for a long time and did not interview to hire the other since 2002, I has nothing much to say. I’m agree with Brad in
.
To me, a job interview is difference than a college exam or MCDBA certification.
I’ve been on both the giving and receiving ends of interviews in the past 3 years or so. The good: I agree that someone with a “Get-it-done” attitude is essential (As I’m one of those people myself). I prefer to have more than one interview with a candidate, the first is more an attitude and “character fit” exercise. The second interview is used for technical ability testing through a short practical test. Our company also does psychometric testing if you make it through the first 2 rounds.
The bad: At my previous employment I was part of a 2 man team and we needed to hire a 3rd resource, we interviewed and tested over 100 candidates in a 9 month process and couldn’t find a suitable candidate or skillset. (Please note, this is in South Africa, where there is a drastic shortage of skilled resources.) I eventually got so fed-up with the “CV Padding” and “Skill overstating”. This is a serious problem in the market today.
I’ve also walked into an interview before and, after being told I’d be taking a ‘basic skills test’, was presented with a 15 page ‘test’ that had questions copied verbatim from the SQL 2005 MCDBA Certification test ‘braindumps’. I was given 1 hour to complete it. Needless to say, I scored rather low because I couldn’t finish it. (Who in their right mind expects someone who works on computers 95% of the day to HAND WRITE 15 pages of technical information?)
Anyway, the subject of Interviews and tests has been a bit of a ‘scary deal’ for me, either giving or receiving. My advice is to relax and keep in mind “You have the skills, they may be a bit deep down and buried, but they are there. They won’t emerge if you’re worried and uptight. Be yourself because THAT is who these people will be dealing with on a daily basis.”
My oddest interview was my last one. The main person was the existing DBA and I had worked with him previously. The half to forty five minute interview consisted of a few minutes of chatting then him explaining their environment and current projects. I wasn’t asked a single technical question the entire time.
On the test front, I don’t think it’s legit but instead of having people write things out give them a computer and have them actually do it. It’s still a stressful situation but it’s one that more mimics what they’ll actually be doing.
Keithm’s reference to “CV Padding” and “Skill overstating” definitely struck a chord. We did about 20 interviews recently for a dba role and were astounded by the poetic license in the resumes. There were even several we read but did not interview thinking they were over qualified.
Many times a resume would say something like ‘have implemented and supported a SQL 2008 multi-node cluster.’ On asking the subject to walk us through the implementation and the types of problems they encountered we would get the response of ‘oh I didn’t implement it, it was there when I got there. We had a list of problems to expect but they were taken care of by a different team’.
I have found that asking about real-world experiences, eg what problems they have encountered and how they fixed them, or asking how they deal with day-to-day problems (‘the database is slow’) and how they troubleshoot them is the most useful.
And most importantly – you learn the most about a person – and get the most honest answers – from a relaxed, at ease, interviewee.
First, even before sharing my experience, I would like thank all you SQL Guru’s here…..it’s feels so read you thoughts (on non-technical things)…like this as this somehow gives me lot of direction in my work and life-conduct.
During my tenure as IT professional, I had a Chane of experience both giving and taking interviews.
Challenge as an interviewer: My biggest challenge is to how to NOT influence an interviewee with my own ‘technical’ skills and just get right answers as they them. I know cases where an an interviewer spends 75% of time boasting their own knowledge to the prospect.
Challenge as an interviewee: The challenge is to know “what is being asked and then why it is being asked”…..as that gives me background of the person, skills demand of a role and a bit culture. Once I was asked to draw a btree index diagram…….which i found silly.
I think that the biggest problem for recruiting a DBA is the difference in expectation of the employer and the understanding of what it takes to be the exceptional DBA. If you’re lucky the whole process will be with like minded professionals who are sympathetic to the role of the DBA who expect to see the right attitude. If the potential employer springs surprise tests, you should stay well clear because they are unlikely to have a good handle on their environment; why are they recruiting?
The test environment is very decisive and sterile, yet unrealistic. How many of you have actually punched out the solution without referring to Google first? Even the exceptional DBA will have gone the Google approach. As DBA’s the first step in any role is to understand the estate. Understanding the estate is half the battle whether your a contractor or a permanent staff. You don’t get that in a test environment.
If the prospective employer expects DBA’s who know it or Don’t, then you must know it; it’s more likely that they will want to know how you went about fixing the issue and have you seen the issue before.
Recruitment of a DBA is a Dark Art which is littered with time bombs or conditions of employment. We might have to live in the basement doing a thankless task; but we’re the last line of defense for the data that we’re looking after.
Mr. Brad,
I had attend one Telephone interview last month in India, First of all, they asking what are the different type of document maintain as a SQLDBA at your current company. I did answer, we have maintain Backup report, SLA document for ticketing issues, database document for production server like, table, SP, trigger, total users, function etc.., restore document if data recovery, server inventory both s/w and h/w and SQL SERVER BPA maintain document. then they are not asking any technical question. finally they asking any question?, I said No. thanks for attend this interview call that all.
Several years ago, when SQL 2000 was still cutting edge, I interviewed for my current job. One of the DBA’s who was interviewing me was well-known in the local SQL community, so I was already nervous and a bit intimidated. The interview was going well, and we were nearly done, when the bomb was dropped.
“When you rebuild a clustered index, what effect does that have on the non-clustered indexes on the same table?”
No problemo’, I thought to myself, and then my brain started to work. Hmmm, it worked one way in SQL 7, and I think it changed in SQL 2000, and there’s some problem with one of the service packs, awww crap, I don’t know the answer!!!!
The two DBA’s exchanged a glance, we wrapped up the interview, and I left thinking I had blown it. The next day I was offered the job, and learned that question was asked specifically because of the confusion around it. To this day, it remains a joke between us.
I have interviewed a number of candidates for DBA positions and I have been interviewed quite a few times myself.
One important aspect that I look for in a DBA Candidate is the DESIRE, ABILITY, and TENACITY to research solutions and solve problems. One response I hope to check in a DBA Candidate is how they react when they DO NOT know the answer to a problem. First they should be honest and explain they have not seen the problem and hence not solved it. Then secondarily and maybe most important they inquire how the problem was solved and seek to really grasp the full solution if provided. This I believe can be a very telling sign of future problems for the candidate (if they don’t ask for the solution). In today’s very complicated world of Databases and IT we very frequently come up against New Problems. We need to have both the Knowledge of the Domain and the Tenacity/Desire/Skills to research and find the answers needed.
What kind of questions should a DBA candidate ask the interviewer ?
On June 1st I took a job with a consultant company as a DBA. I was placed on project that does not need DBA or has any DBA work what so ever. So for 3.5 months I have been doing nothing but reading blogs and articles. Only good thing about the job I was able to get my MCITP for SQL 2008 BI.
I’ve been on both sides.
Interviewee about 10 years ago: I first met with the VP. Then I met with the Head of Databases where I was given an oral test. I wasn’t expecting it nor alerted about it beforehand but I’ve been in the biz long enough not to worry. After a few questions, it became apparent that I knew more than the Head of DB. It was very awkward to say the least. I think we both came to the same realization at the same time. I did get the job and after a few months, she left.
As an Intervewer: I always did have a skills test. I did tell the candidate during the phone call when I was setting up the interviewer. It was about 20 questions and went from simple to very complex. I didn’t use it for weeding out, because if I interviewed them, I generally felt they were hiring material. In fact, I would have been shocked if they would have answered all the questions correct. The interview was used to explain the job and see if the candidate would fit into the team. I used the skills test to gauge where they were in DB skills, so that I knew what challenges to present to them so they could get up to speed quicker.
I had been a MySQL DBA for a few months before I found my way back in the saddle with MSSQL. During the MySQL stint, I ended up using nothing but command line (obviously). So I interviewed for this MSSQL DBA position and I was asked to navigate my way through SSMS -_- I completely chocked, but I was able to do everything asked with TSQL lol. I did land the job, and naturally after a day all my SMSS skills came back. Other hilarious points in the interview, I was asked very abstract questions on scaling out, my experience with failover clusters, database development and indexing optimizations. I was able to answer them all fluently, correctly and with authoritar (respect it!)…but I was asked the difference between a clustered index and non clustered index…I choked (i do know the difference, I’m just a very introvertical introvert and I complete with paranoid delusions and anxiety disorders). I was able to answer the index question 15 minutes later, and very tactful I might add, I interrupted the interview in mid sentence to blurt out the answer
I did however get the job, no doubt exhausting my luck supplies for the entire year.
I was a programmer analyst for 3 years at a employer and one day my boss asked me into his office. He basically told me that because of budget cuts, employees might be layed off. I was one of the newer employees and if there were cuts it would most likely be me. My boss said that they never had a DBA and always felt there was a need and asked how I felt about SQL Server. If I switched to a DBA then they would cut a programmer but not a new position DBA that they needed. Of course at that moment it was the best thing in the world, if I had a job. To make a long story short, I am the DBA and am learning to be a better DBA each day. (And still employed.) And ironically there were budget cuts but no layoffs… so far.
So for my job as a DBA, the interview consisted of, “how do you feel about SQL Server”, “Would you be interested in being our DBA?”. Of course since I was already an employee for that company they already knew my technical skills.
I have only had a few interviews for the DBA position over the years…but the most memorable involved walking into the interview — and sitting on one side of the table facing 3 other dbas. After some very general questions, I was asked if I would take a test to demonstrate my level of knowledge. I said sure — thinking that I would be given a handout and be allowed to think on the questions. Not so. I was given the handout — and before I even had a chance to read the question, the three would take turns firing the questions at me. Only one of the questions stumped me. It was uncomfortable but I guess I showed them how I reacted under pressure. I was offerred the job. This experience helped me to be more compassionate when I became the manager.
Bad experience:
- I don’t have N years of experience of work with SQL Server 2003, and I never will.
- I don’t know when E.F. Codd created his relational model. I still think “in 70s” is a good answer.
- HR representative when DBA talk about technical staff at least can pretend that she\he is interested.
- T-SQL tests that no-one bothered to look at.
Good experience:
- Been asked some real life questions:” We have recently had the following problem… How would you approach it?”
- No nonsense HR questions. Anyway almost everyone knows how to answer those.
- Asking questions as if I am already a member of a team.
- People that actually read your CV.
The randomly selected winner of this month’s contest is Cayton Polen, who wins a $50 Amazon gift certificate and a single license for SQL HyperBac. Be sure to enter the October Question of the month.