O/T : Looking for an entry level LAMP developer for contract work.

[Steve Litt]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2015 22:35:14 -0700
Sesso <sesso at djsesso.com> wrote:

> 
> > 
> > On Wed Jul 29 15, Steve Litt wrote:
> >> On Tue, 28 Jul 2015 20:30:31 -0700
> >> Sesso <sesso at djsesso.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >>> "Companies should focus a little less on buzzwords, and a lot more
> >>> on someone's ability/desire to learn, ability to think critically,
> >>> and ablility to solve problems.”
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> I have a hard time finding candidates with all 3 of the above. I
> >>> have met many that have a strong desire to learn but lack problem
> >>> solving skills. Now for a shared hosting company, this is fine.
> >>> Dedicated/Cloud infra. won’t work out.
> >>> 
> >>> jason
> >> 
> >> What are both of you meaning by "problem solving skills?" What,
> >> exactly, would the work of someone with "problem solving skills"
> >> look like?
> >> 
> >> How does "problem solving skills" differ from "thinking
> >> critically?"
> >> 
> >> I'm not asking out of idle curiosity, this is actually part of
> >> what I do.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> SteveT
> > 
> 
> Mine is: 
> 
> We have to migrate IP addresses from one server to another with
> minimal down time. How would this be accomplished?  This 15 min
> process of moving 10 IPs took the tech 7 hours because he took down
> the server, didn’t change the MAC binding of IPs, and didn’t use a
> temporary IP on the old server. Some of it is education but most of
> it is the fact that he didn’t have a plan of attack.

I'd classify the preceding question as pure subject matter expertise.
Your tech didn't know the right process to do a specific task.

> 
> Second. A server is under high load? Why? How can the issue be
> resolved?

I'd classify the preceding question as problem-solving, and would be
looking for the applicant to articulate *the process* by which s/he
identifies the root cause, and how s/he fixes that root cause.


SteveT

Steve Litt 
July 2015 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century
http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21