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CSSUG

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Managed large cutting-edge SQL Server Enterprises. NASCAR fan. How to Hire a DBA ... Chris.Shaw_at_SQLonCall.com. Goal of this session ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: CSSUG


1
Meeting Date July 19, 2007 Topic How to Hire a
DBA by Chris Shaw
2
User Group Update
  • Charlotte is growing
  • So is SQL Server
  • Up 28 from 2006 (Gartner RDBMS Report)
  • Great opportunities
  • Admin, develop, support, etc
  • What about the group?
  • Over 350 registered users
  • Great response

3
Upcoming Meetings
  • Andrew Kelly
  • Performance expert SQL Server MVP
  • Brian Knight
  • Author and SQL Server MVP
  • Rick Heiges
  • Noted Speaker PASS Board Member

4
Todays Speaker
  • Chris Shaw
  • 1 rated speaker 2007 PASS
  • Managed large cutting-edge SQL Server Enterprises
  • NASCAR fan

5
Presentation Title
How to Hire a DBA
Chris Shaw Chris.Shaw_at_SQLonCall.com
6
Goal of this session
  • At the conclusion of this session you will be
    better prepared to go through the hiring process
    of a DBA as the employer or as the candidate
    looking for a new DBA position.

7
Why this topic?
  • Nightmare interviews I have had.
  • Mayo on my sandwich and its my birthday!
  • Im outta here!
  • Something more than over-the-counter
  • How many interviewers does it take to change a
    light bulb (or to hire a DBA)?

8
Hiring a DBA
  • Discussion Points
  • Defining the search
  • Posting the position
  • Resumes
  • Interviews

9
Define what the company needs
  • What is the needed experience level?
  • What is the workload?
  • What kind of DBA does the company need?

10
Experienced Employees
  • Positives
  • Learning curve is not as steep
  • Growth of current knowledge base
  • New ideas

11
Experienced Employees
  • Negatives
  • Cost
  • They may be looking for a promotion that is not
    going to be there any time soon.
  • Too many chefs in the kitchen.
  • Possibility of losing the employee to the
    consulting sector.

12
Workload
  • Have a predefined list of what will be expected
    in the first month of work.
  • Place clearly defined goals on the workload where
    the progression toward those goals can be easily
    tracked.
  • Decide within the first 30 days if the new DBA is
    the right person for the position they have been
    hired for.

13
What kind of a DBA do you need?
  • Database Administrator
  • Database Developer
  • Database Architect
  • Mixed Roles

14
Database Administrator
  • Backups
  • Restores
  • Installs
  • Updates
  • Configurations
  • Firefighting

15
Database Developer
  • Stored Procedure Writing
  • Performance Tuning
  • Index Tuning
  • Roll Scripts
  • Rollback Scripts

16
Database Architect
  • Database design
  • Future planning
  • Dataflow design
  • Data dictionaries

17
Posting the position
  • Make the posting clear on expectations and
    position tasks.
  • Highlight the benefits.
  • Highlight the history of the company.
  • Supply a link to the companys web page.

18
Resumes
  • Key items to watch for.
  • Key items to watch out for.
  • Cover Letters

19
Key items to watch for
  • Mission Statements or Objectives
  • Past Employment
  • Organizations
  • Certifications
  • Salary

20
Mission Statements or Objectives
  • With cover letters becoming a thing of the past,
    make sure that the Mission Statement has been
    customized.
  • Check to see if it is more creative than the
    standard develop a long term relationship with a
    company that is mutually beneficial.

21
Past Employment
  • Look for details on what they did in their past
    employment.
  • Look out for over-the-top dollar amounts
  • Ask questions during the interview about the
    accomplishments that are listed on the resume,
    for example
  • How did you save the company 10 million dollars?
  • How long did that take?
  • Did you manage that project?
  • What was managements reaction?

22
Organizations
  • Are they a member of any professional
    organizations?
  • PASS
  • Local SQL Server User Group
  • Other User Groups
  • Any organization where they hold a leadership role

23
Certifications
  • What certifications are listed?
  • MCSE
  • MCDBA
  • A
  • Do they have comparable experience to a
    certification?

24
Salary
  • If the salary is listed,
  • And the rate youre offering is lower than what
    they were receiving at their last place of
    employment, they may only be there long enough to
    find a new job.
  • And the rate youre offering is much higher than
    what they were receiving previously, pay close
    attention to where their last employment was and
    their experience.
  • If it looks to good to be true, chances are it
    is!

25
Key Items to Watch out for
  • Microsoft Office Products
  • Lack of information or filler
  • Address
  • Education

26
Microsoft Office Products
  • I call this the E-Mail bug.
  • if you list expertise w/ Outlook on your resume
    youre not the guy Im looking for
  • Exceptions
  • MVP Status on an Office product
  • Advanced Certifications
  • Advanced or pertinent knowledge
  • Mail merge
  • Access pass through queries

27
Filler
  • Too much formatting
  • Organizations other than professional where they
    are not in a leadership position.
  • Bird watchers
  • Marine Corp Veterans
  • Hobbies
  • Personal non-relevant information
  • My goal is to grow the largest African Violet in
    the world.

28
Address
  • How long will it take them to get to the office
    if there is an emergency?
  • Is there an extended commute? Will this lead
    them to look for a new position?
  • Are they planning to move if their address is too
    far away?

29
Education
  • Did the candidate receive the degree that they
    started courses for?
  • What was the major?
  • Do they have a Masters degree in biology? If so,
    why are they not working in the biology field?

30
Cover Letters
  • With growing popularity of some web sites that
    auto submit resumes, I have been seeing a number
    of resumes come in without a cover letter.
  • If a hard copy of a resume is turned in, I always
    look for a cover letter.

31
The Interview
  • The I dont know answer
  • The trick questions
  • The scale of questions
  • Examples of questions
  • The hard questions
  • Grading the interview

32
The I dont know Answer
  • This is an acceptable answer, and that should be
    made known to the candidate during the interview.
  • How does the candidate handle not knowing the
    answer? Did they stumble and get frustrated, or
    make something up?

33
The I dont know Answer
  • Did the candidate get nervous and let it
    interfere with the other questions?
  • Did the candidate tell you they didnt know and
    then shared how they would research the question?

34
The Trick Questions
  • I place 2 trick questions in every interview
  • Many questions could have multiple answers. I add
    these to see how someone handles the I dont
    know answer, or to see how creative they are.
  • I am also looking to see if they start making
    something up. If I have clarified the I dont
    know answer is acceptable, this counts against
    them.

35
The Trick Questions
  • Examples
  • What steps would you take before creating a
    server level role?
  • What is the sysPW table used for?
  • What is the difference between SQL Server 2000
    Developer Edition and Enterprise Edition?

36
The Scale of Questions
  • Group your questions into levels of difficulty.
    This will give you an idea of the candidates
    knowledge.
  • I have 5 to 6 questions in each group.
  • There should be some very difficult questions to
    answer.

37
Scale 1 Examples
  • What is RAID? Give an example.
  • What are a couple of the differences between DBO
    and SA?
  • Give an example of a built-in Database Role?

38
Scale 2 Examples
  • What steps would you take to improve a poor
    performing query?
  • What is the difference between the sysusers and
    the syslogins tables?
  • What DBCC commands do you commonly use? What do
    they do?

39
Scale 3 Questions
  • What is De-Normalization and why would you use
    it?
  • What are your thoughts on Embedded SQL vs. Stored
    Procedures?
  • Describe the different kinds of replication that
    you can set up in SQL Server. What are the agents
    that are involved?

40
The Hard Questions
  • What would your previous employer say is your
    best asset?
  • What would your previous employer say is your
    area that needs the most improvement?
  • When you are presented with a stressful
    situation, how do you handle it? Give an example?

41
Grading the Interview
  • I personally dont like the candidate to know how
    they are doing on the interview while I am asking
    questions.
  • I dont mind letting them know how they did after
    the interview is over.
  • I believe that it adds to the nervousness.

42
Grading the Interview
  • Use a scale to record whether an answer is
    correct or not. This will save you time in having
    to grade it after the interview.
  • I use 1-10
  • Or , or 0

43
Your Reactions
  • Your reaction may cause stress in a candidate.
    That may be your goal, however, if this stress is
    created, there is a chance that the candidate
    will start missing questions they may normally
    answer correctly.
  • However, this is a good preview on how they may
    handle stress.

44
Your Reactions
  • I prefer not to correct a candidate during an
    interview. If they ask me if they responded
    correctly to a question, I tell them I am willing
    to discuss it after we have completed the
    interview.

45
What you should look for during the Interview
  • Focus
  • Personality
  • Where is the candidate in their professional
    growth?
  • Would employment be a Win/Win situation?

46
Focus
  • Did they stray away from the questions?
  • Where the answers too crisp and short?
  • Where were they looking? Were they focused on the
    interview? Were they bored or watching the clock?

47
Personality
  • If there is more than one DBA in the group, a
    second interview with the other DBAs present may
    show how the candidate will work as a team
    player.
  • If there is a second interview, I do the
    introductions and then let the candidate ask
    questions to the team. If they have no
    questions, I ask about the candidates background.

48
Where is the candidate in their professional
growth?
  • What are their goals?
  • Do they take part in Pass Conferences, Read
    articles, write articles?
  • Are they a leader or a follower?
  • Are they over-qualified?

49
Would it be a Win\Win situation?
  • In every interview I give, I explain that I want
    the candidate to be in a win/win situation.
  • The candidate needs to be able to further their
    career.
  • The employer needs to be able to fill an open
    position.

50
So how do you decide?
  • Do they meet the companys needs?
  • Will they fit in with your group?
  • Is it a Win/Win situation?

51
Your Actions and Reactions
  • Shake hands
  • Dont fidget
  • Keep eye contact
  • Show interest

52
If you get the chance, ask questions
  • Asking questions shows your interest.
  • If bonuses are part of the compensation package,
    how many times have they paid bonuses out in the
    last 4 years?
  • Can you meet the team?
  • Can you tour the work area?
  • How does the management work on team building?

53
Questions
54
Thank You
Chris Shaw Chris.Shaw_at_SQLonCall.com
55
CSSUG Follow Up
  • Email survey
  • Thoughts on the virtual format
  • Suggestions for meeting topics
  • Suggestions for future speakers
  • Check the web Site for meeting updates
  • www.Charlotte-SQL.org
  • Thanks
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