Job Interview - Technical Questions

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T05:14:21.000Z

I have a difficult time answering the technical questions during interviews for system admin positions. Is there a way to prepare for these questions? I don’t think there is but would the fast way to prepare to get a certification in this area or build a home lab?

Neally · 2017-01-28T05:39:18.000Z

Jimmy,

why are you having difficulties?

Of course it depends on the level of details they are asking but in general, it comes with experience. the more things you have seen and worked on and messed with the better you’ll be in answering technical questions. Also, when technical questions are asked, to me anyways, it is totally ok to say, I am not sure, I’d need to look that up, as that is what we do in real life.

You can prepare for common questions such as ports, basic AD, DNS, DHCP etc questions, but if questions are asked about something specific, it is tough to prepare for, that where you have to swing the gut hammer and either try to answer it, or just be honest that you are not sure and would look it up.

Not to talk down on you but in other posts we have covered that you make a good income already, and you were thinking about starting your own MSP service, so you should have a good chunk of experience and be able to gauge what the interviewer is looking for.

Can you give an example of what kind of question you are having difficulties with, and why you are having difficulties with it?

Also see your previous post: Common Interview Questions

And no, a certification only covers a certain aspect of a certain technology, it is usually very specific and does not help too much answering technical questions, unless it is about that specific topic that the cert is about.

This happens to a lot of people who are certified in things they don’t use, including myself
(I have a CCNA but I don’t do networking really)

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T05:52:58.000Z

My current income is decent but I am realizing how far behind I really am since I can’t answer technical questions “what is an SPF record?” “do you need to turn off a virtual server when you expand the C drive space?”

I guess I just need to do more of it to learn. I haven’t interviewed in many years.

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T05:57:08.000Z

I got 3 interviews with no technical questions. I need more of those

Neally · 2017-01-28T06:00:40.000Z

Well a SPF record is a specific record that tells which mail servers are permitted to send on behalf of your domain. i forgot what it stands for, I think something something framework.

And the other one is no, you can usually expand just fine without having to reboot.

I know those because that is both stuff I have worked with.

May I ask, what do you do in your day to day job? What are your responsibilities and tasks?

Neally · 2017-01-28T06:02:30.000Z

Jimmy2009:

I got 3 interviews with no technical questions. I need more of those

What kind of position are you interviewing for?

Nearly all technical position, usually, have technical questions, or a technical interview or some technical part to make sure you at least somehow know what you are talking about.

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T06:04:10.000Z

I’m a one man show at my company. The issue is that I don’t do much system admin/networking tasks on a day to day basis. It’s mainly help desk, keeping expenses in check, projects, hardware/software inventory, licensing, etc.
I got interviewed for a IT Management position and did very well in the interview. The interviews for system admins with technical questions are killing me. I just need to do more of it

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T06:05:35.000Z

The smaller companies may not have a technical person interviewing. My last interview, the lady was in IT but did not ask any technical questions. She said everything will be taught to me so don’t worry.

Neally · 2017-01-28T06:46:49.000Z

Jimmy2009:

I’m a one man show at my company. The issue is that I don’t do much system admin/networking tasks on a day to day basis. It’s mainly help desk, keeping expenses in check, projects, hardware/software inventory, licensing, etc.

I got interviewed for a IT Management position and did very well in the interview. The interviews for system admins with technical questions are killing me. I just need to do more of it

You are a one man show but there is not much sys admin stuff to do? Is it a tiny company? I mean yeah, if you do helpdesk work mostly, I’m not surprised you have a tough time interviewing as sys admin.

Right, if are in management you manage people and thus do not need the technical skills to do stuff, but you have your minions to do it for you. Yet it is needed at you have at least a high-level overview and understanding of things.

Jimmy2009:

The smaller companies may not have a technical person interviewing. My last interview, the lady was in IT but did not ask any technical questions. She said everything will be taught to me so don’t worry.

I know you keep saying that, I personally have not encountered it. Either there was IT and you talk to them, or if not ‘IT’ it was still the people who do data entry or whatever who are the ‘most’ tech savvy, and they ask you questions.

If everything will be taught to you, that sounds like a help desk or super junior role. if you hire a sys admin, you expect him to know AD, etc. not having to teach him.

Have you ever hired a mechanic that needed training how to fix a car? No, not unless he’s new or an apprentice.

Have you thought about rather going into a management track than sys admin? Maybe project management and such?

Robert5205 · 2017-01-28T12:11:59.000Z

Jimmy2009:

My current income is decent but I am realizing how far behind I really am since I can’t answer technical questions “what is an SPF record?” “do you need to turn off a virtual server when you expand the C drive space?”

I guess I just need to do more of it to learn. I haven’t interviewed in many years.

I see a lot of this during interviews. Everyone knows what they know, but they don’t know anything else - including things they think they know.

I believe the cause for this can be traced to the fact that no one “reads” anything anymore. The idea of “reading the manual” is laughed at, even here on Spiceworks. We’re told, “Just Google it.” Instructions have been replaced by “our online user community” and guesswork.

When was the last time you read a magazine? (Even an online one.) We used to read all sorts of publications, tech notes, and newsletters. We read about software, hardware, and operations that weren’t specifically what we were working on. The experience broadened us.

You may not have had a reason to work with DNS, but let’s say you read an article about it. In that interview, you might have said, “I’ve not had a reason to work with SPF records, but I know it’s associated with DNS and is used for email verification of a sender.”

Magazines are gone. So are books. But there are a lot of other ways to broaden yourself. One is here on Spiceworks. I read nearly every post - even for things I have no current interest in. Many times I’ve thought, “I don’t know what that is, but I do remember reading something about it. It has to do with .” And that gives you a way to build associations.

Read. Read. Read.

johnmctaggart5616 · 2017-01-28T12:56:37.000Z

Amen Robert5205!

I estimate that on any given day I’ll read around 400 pages of information on dozens of different subjects. I may not remember every detail of what I’ve read, but I’ll remember enough of it to make the connection later if I see it again…

jimmyl2 · 2017-01-28T15:29:45.000Z

You made you a great point Robert. I don’t read much. I will be changing my habits starting today

da-schmoo · 2017-01-28T15:45:02.000Z

Can’t spice up enough Robert’s comments above. Most people in a support position these days seem to not even have a basic understanding of what they are supporting. They just google and throw whatever they find at the problem. That may fix the problem at hand but they have no idea why. Look at the number of posts here with people having very basic problems and are lost. Workstation getting a 169.x.x.x address? Well, if you understood how DHCP worked, you should be able to easily fix that in most cases. Can ping by IP address an not by name? Well, if you understood how DNS worked, you should be able to easily fix that in most cases. Etc., Etc., Etc.

There is an old SNL skit from many years ago with two morning talkshow hosts and the teleprompter broke. They were unable to function and couldn’t even speak in complete sentences. I envision a lot of that in the IT world when the Interwebs break some day.