Friday 17 November 2017

Interview advice for DBAs?

Earlier today I saw an interesting book being advertised on a social media channel I use regularly. The books subject matter was around interview questions for the DBA and had been gathered by a bunch of people who had interviewed at various organisations and presumably the book (because I haven't read it) is being aimed as the how-to-get-that-DBA-job manual.

I'm not going to single the book out because I hope that the author had genuine good intentions when writing it however having on been on both sides of the interview table I can honestly say that an interview guide for this type of role isn't actually going to help as much as having two particular things; relevant skills and experience.

For a technical I'm sorry to say that is all you need. If you've simply studied on the "popular" interview questions and their corresponding answers and you don't have any technical understanding then I'm afraid to say you'll be worked out in a matter of seconds by whoever is conducting the interview and it's probably going to end very quickly.

The other thing to bear in mind is that no interviews are ever the same. Some favour intensive technical tests whilst others can be very informal but in both cases they're designed to and will assess your actual abilities and no matter how hard you try, you cannot take any shortcuts, no matter how well they're advertised!

Sadly this particular book isn't on its own; there are quite literally hundreds of books, ebooks and web articles out there that quite frankly are setting you up to fail and it's wrong. So if you are looking for a new role in the SQL platform please avoid the temptation for taking the fast route, because it's not going to happen.

Now it's fair to say actually preparing for an interview is very different and there are certain things you can do to help your cause, it's pretty high-level advice though; make sure you can talk about (and back-up) your skills listed on your CV, give examples that relate to your previous and/or current job(s) and research the subject matter that you might not be as clued up on if the job description asks for it.

The last point is crucial. I don't mean look into the top 5 interview questions about Always On but if the job asks for it and you haven't had too much exposure then look into the technical guides that are out there and spin up some test scenarios. You can't know everything, the interviewer should be aware of that and a candidate who makes that sort of effort does stand out in an interview, that I can assure you.

So if you are looking for a role right now in the data platform don't forget there are also a wealth of people in the community that there to help just avoid anyone who is offering a clear short-cut that will only end up leading to a dead end.

9 comments:

  1. I read 'SQL for Dummies, 8th Edition' from front to back five times before my interview. The interviewer was impressed with my knowledge of SELECTS and different backup strategies.

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    1. Haha! I'd like the book back too if you don't mind.

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  2. Lucky you !!! Besides, let me tell you ... You read really fast!!!
    Best regards !!!!
    :-)

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  3. I've always thought that our interviewing methods should be reversed. We should first find out the person's interests and then look at their skills. Yes, that requires analyzing unstructured data before looking at skills that are quantifiable. However, isn't checking out people who like what they do more important than checking people who claim to have the best skills? The key question is checking if what people tell you they know versus what they do know. Anyone can lie on an application...

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    1. While I absolutely agree that someone that likes what they do will usually be very good at it, I think the premise of the company having to find out what an interviewee is interested in an shaping a job just for them is wrong. If a person has no interest in a job that a company needs to fill, why would anyone in their right mind apply for it?

      Heh... and, yes... not only can anyone lie on an application but they frequently do (to be fair, it's usually not a lie... just an over estimation of what they think they can do based on their prior experience, which is frequently insufficient for the job). That's one of the purposes of an interview; to find out if the person actually knows what they've claimed to know on their resume. There's also a really good chance that if they do really well on the interview, that they also actually like the job because they took their own time to become practiced at the job.

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  4. We use a practical exam following an interview; so, good luck.

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