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Interviewing for a DBA/SQL Developer position

I have interviewed countless people for positions in my company. Here are a few pointers.



Applies to any position:
  • Don't be negative about your current boss. I will be thinking you cannot handle authority.
  • Don't be "over the top" such as pounding the table, telling lots of great jokes, etc. Pounding the table tells me you overreact and telling lots of great jokes tells me you would be a great fishing buddy...but not a great employee.
  • Don't apply for a job you are not qualified for. This can be embarrassing for everyone in the room.
  • Dress appropriately for the interview.
  • Be on time.
  • Bring extra copies of your resume.
  • Know what is on your resume. If someone prepared it for you...make sure you read it over and can speak to everything on the resume.
  • Make eye contact
  • If you don't know the answer say, "I don't know".

DBA/SQL Developer questions. I do very technical interviews. Here are some of my favorite questions:


  • How do you keep up with technology?
  • What does ACID stand for and what does that really mean?
  • Draw out normalization on the white board (I give a denormalized table structure and have them explain as much as they can about normalization).
  • What are the different kinds of constraints?
I have many others but the basic idea is, know what you are talking about when you walk into an interview.

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