I have an interview tomorrow. It's a system administrator position.
--- "responsible for systems management and development of our internal and client facing IT systems. "
What does it usually do?
Thank you for your help

7/7/2011 6:24:34 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_administrator
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/what-is-the-role-of-the-system-administrator/
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/careersintechnology/p/SysAdmin.htm

if you couldn't use google to get some answers, i think you might be in for some trouble tomorrow . good luck all the same.

7/7/2011 6:26:30 PM

I'm googling now. But if someone had taken the role before, it would be better.

7/7/2011 6:29:22 PM

After you don't get the job can you forward me the job posting?

7/7/2011 6:42:25 PM

Sure. I'll post it here

7/7/2011 6:49:57 PM

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 7:55 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2011 7:53:52 PM

7/7/2011 7:55:27 PM

I usually only apply to jobs that I understand, but good for you for trying to figure that out before the interview.

7/7/2011 8:23:34 PM

Quote :

"But if someone had taken the role before, it would be better."

huh?

7/7/2011 8:43:24 PM

If I can meet somebody on this board who is an administrator, it will save me more time.

7/7/2011 8:55:16 PM

It's an extremely generic job title, like "IT analyst" or "Systems Engineer." A systems administrator at one company will likely be a completely different job than the same title at another company.

The job description should be more telling-- i.e. whether you are qualified based on required skills and education, but ultimately you want ask a lot of specific questions about the day to day responsibilities and expectations to get a full understanding of the job.

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 9:20 PM. Reason : .]

7/7/2011 9:19:53 PM

Yes,that's what I'm concerned.

7/7/2011 9:32:12 PM

It's about database, sql server.

7/7/2011 9:43:20 PM

LOL.

7/7/2011 11:01:21 PM

It's rescheduled to Monday. Damn, they didn't tell me beforehand.

7/8/2011 9:04:23 AM

Oh so you're applying for a DB admin position? No thanks.

7/8/2011 9:06:57 AM

this will end well

7/8/2011 9:11:47 AM

How about we ask the interview questions, and you post your answers ... then we can tell you whether to bother showing up or not.

1)have you EVER used a DB before? If so, please tell us what kind and for what purpose.

7/8/2011 9:12:40 AM

SQL server, for storing data gathered from industrial oil field pipelines.

7/8/2011 9:39:46 AM

2) Did you set it up yourself, or just query it? ... if you set it up, explain some of the decisions you made from a data architecture perspective. What best practices did you use?

7/8/2011 9:42:13 AM

I just query it. But I understand how to build a database from a graduate class I took. What do you mean by "practices"?

7/8/2011 9:56:02 AM

This is a joke thread, right?

7/8/2011 10:03:01 AM

haha, wow. I don't know anything about any of this, but I know fail when I see it.

7/8/2011 10:10:30 AM

good luck to you, sir

7/8/2011 10:21:17 AM

By "best practices", he means understanding design considerations like normalization, keys, datatypes, etc. to optimize for space and lookup time.

Simply querying a DB and an academic understanding of DB design will not put you in a very good position for a DBA job, but I suppose you have to start somewhere. Ideally, you will need more than rudimentary experience with design and optimization in order to work with large, complex datasets.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:31 AM. Reason : .]

7/8/2011 10:29:57 AM

Quote :

"But I understand how to build a database from a graduate class I took."

Pretty sure that isn't going to prepare you for a DB Administrator job, but good luck to you all the same.

7/8/2011 10:31:55 AM

Database optimization is tough I think. That's what I'm worried about for this interview.

7/8/2011 10:33:24 AM

No reason not to show up since you've been invited, but be prepared for many things you may not know how to answer. Unless they are specifically looking for an entry-level candidate, you will probably get a barrage of technical questions relating to design and optimization, and very little about crafting queries.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:55 AM. Reason : probably]

7/8/2011 10:55:01 AM

This is which level they are looking for:

A college degree in fields related to Computer Science and/or Information Science is desired, but extensive and related work experience will be accepted.

7/8/2011 11:05:07 AM

Good news is that you have all weekend.

My advice ... Read a good book on DB design, and TRY TO CREATE SOMETHING ... ANYTHING ...

At least then, you can get some of the stupid stuff out of the way and not look like an idiot. You may still not be able to answer most of their questions, but at least then you will look like you have put some effort in to learning it on your own (which is SUPER important when someone is hiring at the entry/college grad level)

Again, good luck

7/8/2011 11:32:52 AM

What robster said.

Everything you see on the job description that you don't know-- spend all weekend learning as much as you can. When asked technical questions that you don't know the answer to, be honest about it but try to use what you do know to rationalize as much as you can. If you do this, it's key that you are very clear that you don't _know_ the answer, but "this" is how you imagine it should work.

I just hired a guy who had zero experience with VoIP and came from an IDS/WAN background, and had a strong interest in learning Voice. I asked him to learn everything he could about SIP over a weekend, and scheduled a technical interview with a couple of my engineers the following Monday. He spent all weekend reading up on SIP, and even set up a SIP server and some phones, plugged in wireshark and captured packets to see how things worked at the packet level. The engineers that interviewed him stated that he already knew more than several other engineers on the team.

That's the type of example you want to follow if you're serious about this.

7/8/2011 11:51:47 AM

This is the technical requirement:

Experience in server configurations and processes, SQL Server 05+, SQL Server Reporting Services, SharePoint, Asp.Net and Microsoft Office are highly desired.
Experience in Service Desk Express (A BMC Product) is not required, however is preferred.

I think the most important tool they require is SQL server, right?

7/8/2011 12:00:36 PM

The requirements for this position sound really random. I'm curious who this is for.

SQL, Sharepoint, .Net, and Office?

7/8/2011 12:42:27 PM

Not sure it's *that* random... .NET and SQL go hand and hand, and pretty much everyone should know office. sharepoint is the only minorly random thing, but it's still .NET related. it's not like they asked for .NET, Java and FORTRAN

7/8/2011 12:48:01 PM

Is it just a random post? Maybe they already decided who to hire.

7/8/2011 12:59:01 PM

Quote :

"That's the type of example you want to follow if you're serious about this."

exactly.

7/8/2011 2:39:03 PM

Quote :

"I think the most important tool they require is SQL server, right?"

Why? Because that's the one you're familiar with?

If you want to go by order, they listed experience with server configurations first.

7/8/2011 6:19:26 PM

Sql server and report, this two are together. The other two, .net and sharepoint, are separated. So SQL is more important, probably.

7/8/2011 6:51:51 PM

Oh, so you've used SQL Server Reporting Services?

7/8/2011 7:19:42 PM

No,never.

7/8/2011 9:04:10 PM

This is the job posting

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/jobs/systems-administrator-1

7/9/2011 3:13:47 PM

Quote :

"This is a joke thread, right?"

7/9/2011 6:08:04 PM

Learn up sql db creation etc like others in the thread have said. Show enough interest and willingness to learn, on your own over this weekend, and you probably have a ok shot at it.

Good luck.

7/10/2011 2:30:30 AM

;;

[Edited on July 10, 2011 at 4:01 AM. Reason : ///]

7/10/2011 4:00:54 AM

If he gets this job, I will have lost all hope for the IT field. It's like anybody with Google and a weekend can get a system admin job now. And these companies wonder why they have so many vulnerabilities and inefficiencies....

7/11/2011 8:10:57 AM

Depends on who is hiring for the position. If it's a useless non-technical middle manager, he has a real chance.

7/11/2011 8:19:48 AM

It's my alumni, a senior doing a co-op.

7/11/2011 8:57:45 AM

It is sold out. They don't even notice me. It's a cheap company.

7/11/2011 11:05:19 AM

^ do you think maybe it is you and not them? you had no clue as to any of the job requirements, so why should you have been noticed?

7/11/2011 11:20:29 AM

For my side, I won't apply for position I don't understand again. But they also don't have a very clear job description.

7/11/2011 11:27:56 AM