Advice

\_ SMTP quoth Gary Nichols on 3/21/2001 15:30 as having spake thusly:
\_
\_ 2) Second interview with candidate is the technical. I warn them ahead of
\_ time that I'm bringing them in for a grilling session. Sometimes I'll bring
\_ in other engineers that the candidate will be working with and let them ask
\_ questions. These questions are more theory and understanding, not anal
\_ things like "Which switch to you use with fsck to do this blah blah".

OTOH, when I grill people that claim to be "good" in perl, I expect
them to know what -T is, why it's good, and how to compensate. Not
knowing the answer won't disqualify them, but it helps to round out
the picture.

I also have some special winner questions that I like to ask. Either
they can 1) answer them or 2) I get to see them cope under pressure.
Both are illustrative. I've had one (1) person answer my special
happy question for Perl...he was offered that same day. Everyone
else got to perform under pressure.

I'm all for a low stress working place, but when the heat is on, it's
2AM, and you are responsible for the database being down, can you ride
or are you getting off the coach? So far, the candidates that have
come on board at various companies after fielding the winner have
proved their mettle.

\_ Those questions are worthless... anyone can use 'man' to look that
\_ up in a pinch. I will add though that people that can name [fsck
\_ opts] off the top of their head need to see my point#11 in my
\_ previous email.

No, it's when they know all the options to find.... :-)

David