Michael.Dillon@radianz.com wrote:
When I interview, I start out by asking one or two key questions that help me quickly get to the truth. For instance at one company, when I has hiring NOC folks, I started by asking them to explain traceroute to me.
"Which one? ICMP, UDP or TCP traceroute (to name the usual ones)?"
<silence on other side of the table>
This would fall into the category of people being told to ask certain questions without really understanding the material or the expectation of the answer. A savvy, if ignorant, interviewer would say, "Explain the difference between each". I can imagine that explaining the difference between African and European would be a little tougher to stand up to a (good) technical reviewer -- say who read the meeting notes. Then again, anyone who really wants to work for a very savvy technical organization should either put up with a few less clueful interviewers, or ask that their clue-savvy contact sit in on the interview to translate. I'm always a little concerned with very sharp guys (technically) who talk down, even unintentionally to their superiors or customers. In a market where smart guys are out of work, the smart guys with good interpersonal skills have an advantage. Deepak Jain AiNET