Questions I had on a technical interview

[berderder]

Hey everybody,

 

I just thought I'd share some questions I had on a recent technical interview. Maybe you'll find it interesting. The position is IT support for an oil and gas company as provided by an outside technical agency:

 

1. You have a 3 monitor display that isn't working. What would you do?

 

2. You have a commercial, 1000 dollar printer type set up. There's a paper jam. What do you do?

 

3. Are you familiar with ticketing systems?

 

4. Are you familiar with front end database management?

 

5. Are you familiar with Server/Client Imaging?

 

6. Are you familiar with AV equipment? Could you follow a schematic?

 

7. Are you familiar with Active Directory?

 

Pretty basic stuff I thought. Maybe you all will find this interesting. I think I passed but haven't gotten a call back yet. Only been a day or two. 

 

I'll post more questions if I remember anymore. 

[Droidbot]

heck, most of these are easy, i'm just not familiar with AD/Front End DBM. or printers. fuck printers

[berderder]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

heck, most of these are easy, i'm just not familiar with AD/Front End DBM. or printers. fuck printers

Yeah, I don't like printers either.

 

I have to bone up myself on AD.

 

The database stuff they were referring to was mostly editing and populating entries in a database I think in something like Access. I don't think they were worried about you knowing SQL, creating relationships, etc. 

[porina]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

heck, most of these are easy, i'm just not familiar with AD/Front End DBM. or printers. fuck printers

What you do with printers in your own time is up to you, but that probably wouldn't get you a job. Unless, rule 34...

[Mike87]

1. "not working" heard that way too often when I get a call... and to 30% the monitor is not turned on *sight*

2. would it be ok to say "I read the manual"? I mean if they tell you it is worth 1000$ they might give you a hint like "be careful this baby is wort a lot" ^^

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, berderder said:

Yeah, I don't like printers either.

 

I have to bone up myself on AD.

 

The database stuff they were referring to was mostly editing and populating entries in a database I think in something like Access. I don't think they were worried about you knowing SQL, creating relationships, etc. 

Phew. Still don't know how to use databases lmao.. 

Shit like (Oh, my 3 monitor setup has stopped working!) - check connections, unplug/replug, reseat GPU (n/a if laptop). Basic stuff. 

2 minutes ago, porina said:

What you do with printers in your own time is up to you, but that probably wouldn't get you a job. Unless, rule 34...

I burst out laughing at this one. Well played, sir. 

[berderder]

1 minute ago, Mike87 said:

1. "not working" heard that way too often when I get a call... and to 30% the monitor is not turned on *sight*

2. would it be ok to say "I read the manual"? I mean if they tell you it is worth 1000$ they might give you a hint like "be careful this baby is wort a lot" ^^

Yep. They may have even been looking for something as simple as "Is monitor turned on" in the interview. I don't even think I said that! Haha.

 

He hinted that there may be field replaceable parts for the printer in the event of a broken roller or something

[Mike87]

29 minutes ago, berderder said:

Yep. They may have even been looking for something as simple as "Is monitor turned on" in the interview. I don't even think I said that! Haha.

 

He hinted that there may be field replaceable parts for the printer in the event of a broken roller or something

hehe, yeah I had to lern that while working 4 years in the IT Support... You need to think very simple 

 

Well then the manual is a good start  Modern big printers even have the labels on the inside of the printer, so even a child could replace parts

 

[berderder]

1 minute ago, Mike87 said:

hehe, yeah I had to lern that while working 4 years in the IT Support... You need to think very simple 

 

Well then the manual is a good start  Modern big printers even have the labels on the inside of the printer, so even a child could replace parts

 

I think what I told him was check plugs. check display properties for multi monitor, see if monitors are plugged in....but didn't say check if monitors turned on! heh

 

I haven't worked on big printers that much but I didn't feel too worried about it

[Mike87]

3 minutes ago, berderder said:

I think what I told him was check plugs. check display properties for multi monitor, see if monitors are plugged in....but didn't say check if monitors turned on! heh

 

I haven't worked on big printers that much but I didn't feel too worried about it

What did you answer to the printer question? 

[berderder]

4 minutes ago, Mike87 said:

What did you answer to the printer question? 

Well, actually, he never prefaced that it was a commercial, expensive printer. He just said "What would you do in the event of a printer jam," so I went ahead and answered as if the printer were a small consumer grade printer, which may have been silly of me.

 

I said to use the printer utility on the desktop to manage any sort of self cleaning tool, to set the ink cartridges back in their default space, to pull the paper out slowly, and just replace the printer if cost of time and parts were greater than the printer itself! Again, probably silly of me to answer it as if it were a small consumer grade printer, but oh well. It felt like I still won some points. He seemed sort of pleased either way.

 

Really glad I had this tech interview though. If I don't get the job I'll have a much better idea for future interviews

[SageOfSpice]

1. You have a 3 monitor display that isn't working. What would you do?

 

Did you try turning it off and on again?

 

2. You have a commercial, 1000 dollar printer type set up. There's a paper jam. What do you do?

 

Join in.

 

3. Are you familiar with ticketing systems?

 

Yes, but it was an emergency.

 

4. Are you familiar with front end database management?

 

Front end, rear end, I've got them all covered.

 

5. Are you familiar with Server/Client Imaging?

 

Yes, I did quite a lot of that back in highschool.

 

6. Are you familiar with AV equipment? Could you follow a schematic?

 

I know better than the instructions do.

 

7. Are you familiar with Active Directory?

 

I thought that was what I was doing?

 

 

I can't see how anybody could fail this.

[Mike87]

you probably did fine. I think they take much more notice of anwers to ambiguous questions if it is a high paid and important job. They then want to know how far your self thinking is and how fast your react. (don't know if this sentence makes sense ^^, sorry for the bad english)

[berderder]

3 minutes ago, Mike87 said:

you probably did fine. I think they take much more notice of anwers to ambiguous questions if it is a high paid and important job. They then want to know how far your self thinking is and how fast your react. (don't know if this sentence makes sense ^^, sorry for the bad english)

No, it makes sense. Thanks. I won't take the job unless it pays enough. It is a really bad traffic commute and I'm not desperate. 

 

I didn't get an answer on how much it pays yet! Silly me

[Mike87]

2 minutes ago, berderder said:

No, it makes sense. Thanks. I won't take the job unless it pays enough. It is a really bad traffic commute and I'm not desperate. 

 

I didn't get an answer on how much it pays yet! Silly me

No I am talking about the really big wages, like for site or teamleaders. prob. 100k$/year and more 

[berderder]

2 minutes ago, Mike87 said:

No I am talking about the really big wages, like for site or teamleaders. prob. 100k$/year and more 

Yeah, I'd only do this job if it pays at least $25/hour which is about 50k a year

[Mike87]

14 minutes ago, berderder said:

Yeah, I'd only do this job if it pays at least $25/hour which is about 50k a year

yeah then they shouldn't be so selective. 

 

I can give you also the following advice's I learned in my career:

-Stand up to the wage you wan to have (but of course be reasonable ^^). You could also say something like you got 40k at your old work and you now want 10% more because you have developed yourself more with knowledge since then. 

-If you don't have an answer to a question, don't just say you don't have an idea. Say that you are not sure but you know a great forum or site where you can read about it an give sure answers.

-Bevor you have the job interview, ensure that you know about the company you are applying to and what they do!

-Don't over or underdress to the job interview

-You can show that your have a high interest in the company if you ask questions yourself. Something like: I've seen on the homepage that the company is producing the product XYZ, I've some of them at home and am very happy with them

 

Just keep this in mind

 

[berderder]

9 minutes ago, Mike87 said:

yeah then they shouldn't be so selective. 

 

I can give you also the following advice's I learned in my career:

-Stand up to the wage you wan to have (but of course be reasonable ^^). You could also say something like you got 40k at your old work and you now want 10% more because you have developed yourself more with knowledge since then. 

-If you don't have an answer to a question, don't just say you don't have an idea. Say that you are not sure but you know a great forum or site where you can read about it an give sure answers.

-Bevor you have the job interview, ensure that you know about the company you are applying to and what they do!

-Don't over or underdress to the job interview

-You can show that your have a high interest in the company if you ask questions yourself. Something like: I've seen on the homepage that the company is producing the product XYZ, I've some of them at home and am very happy with them

 

Just keep this in mind

 

Thanks!