Questions for Entry Level PC Techs? 176
Rick Zeman asks: "For the first time ever, I have to interview and hire (I'm not management, so an exception is being made) what we call a 'PC Technician', which is an entry-level IT person. While actual computer knowledge and how we do things can be taught, how to think, and the aptitude for troubleshooting can't be. In the readers' experiences, what are the best (legal in the US!) questions to ask an entry-level candidate to really evaluate them? They don't have the resumes, the skills, or the experience yet, so I think they have to be judged on other factors that are harder to qualify."
Good Starter (Score:4, Insightful)
I kid you not... this one should filter out 95% of the cruft.
Re:Good Starter (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Good Starter (Score:5, Insightful)
Then I move onto buses. Most newbies will look at you funny because they don't know the term "bus", but that doesn't mean they don't know what a bus is good for. If I have to, I'll give them a simple explanation like, "They're the systems that let you expand the PC by allowing different parts talk to each other. For example, the IDE bus will let your hard drive talk to the rest of the computer." A bright guy will usually catch on and mention the AGP or PCI-E buses because he probably expanded his video card. They'll usually get the PCI and SATA buses too, and might refer to the IDE/ATA as PATA if they're especially young. For some reason, a lot of guys miss the USB, even though "Bus" is right there in the acronym. I think it's because they're thinking of buses as being inside the case only. For this reason, if they get USB I usually give them extra points for "thinking outside the box" (couldn't resist
I then go on to networking. I have them draw a simple network on the white board consisting of a server, a workstation a network printer and any other equipment they think is necessary to get them all to work together. They should show network cables going to a switch or hub. Wireless is also an acceptable answer. This shows me several things. Do they understand that there's a piece of centralized networking equipment involved? Can they take direction to do a simple task? Can they effectively communicate data to another team members? I've had coworkers who questioned this interview technique because they think the question is too simple. It doesn't seem possible that anyone could get this wrong. They were amazed to see so many candidates that couldn't handle this request, even going so far as to make wild networks with ring topologies or multiple routers. I had one guy draw a line from the workstation to a small box. When I asked him about it, he said "it plugs into the wall." I actually gave him credit for this (it was a tough call) because he said that that was his only exposure to networking instead of making something up. It's also increadible the number of candidates that blow this one just from giving pushback about getting up out of their chair to "work."
As far as technical aptitude is concerned, understanding their PC and simple networking shows that they care about computer equipment. Actual brilliance with technical stuff is difficult to gauge, so knowing they've taken the time to learn their way around the stuff they already have at home is sometimes all you can get. I've found these people tend to pick up on new concepts rather easily.
Communicating effectively both to and from other team members usually makes for a good employee that will learn rapidly because they know how to make the most of their relationships with people that know more than them. It also tends to show that they're more likely to get along with the staff in general.
TW
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My most recent experience came from the other side, hunting for employment. My most recent verifiable experience was a couple years for a small company in rural Illinois. The company was based in a town of about 20,000 people, and this was the county seat. The area is also financially depressed, so in terms of commerce the town is even smaller than what you would t
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I don't understand this. Not only should the hiring managers have better things to do, but they should have more respect for their potential employees. Three interviews says, "bureaucracy." Four says, "we will have no problem ignoring your personal life on
Re:Good Starter (Score:4, Insightful)
TW
easy (Score:2)
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This is exactly what they would do at the university's computer repair shop where I used to work. An applicant was given a box of parts and told to make a computer. Clones were easy, Macs were a huge pain in the a$$--I hated those cases!
Elimination! (Score:3, Funny)
What about locking all the 1st's in a single room with a pile of PC equipment, a webcam, and the diktat that the one to come out with the greatest number of working PC's wins. The result would be amusing to watch, I suspect, though cleaning the bloodstains off the floor later may be a bit messy.
-b.
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HelpDesk (Score:4, Insightful)
For hands-on IT, same thing, but let him sit in front of it.
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Dont worry about technical skills (Score:5, Insightful)
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It depends... for this sort of position most places I've worked do not have the time to take somebody for ground zero (i.e. a novice user) and train them up to technician level.
On the other hand, there was one place I worked (major university) where we needed a full time tech b
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Was very good for judging someons communications skills, especially when "the customer" is bing as unhelpful as possible.
A few years later I did the "the customer
Suggestion: (Score:5, Interesting)
They didn't care that I had any IT background; they could provide me the training to fix issues, but I needed first to have the skills to find out what they were. I would suggest following a similar pattern. You've got people with little experience, skills, and knowledge concerning the subject matter, but the basics of logical deduction will get you the most value as an employer.
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Did you try rebooting your computer?
When you first thought of this product, did you write it down somewhere?
Turn the product over. There should be a white box with some vertical lines and some numbers. Can you read those out to me?
- RG>
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To be fair, most of the callers you got couldn't tell their MSN Companion from an item you would find in a grocery store...
Why this won't work (Score:2, Insightful)
For example, what if the interviewer answered "guacamole", but was really thinking of wasabi? (I've seen people make this mistake in real life; it can be quite humorous.) In 4 seconds you got an answer, but it's the wrong one, so good luck doing anything useful with
Windows skills are a must (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Windows skills are a must (Score:5, Informative)
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But if you're running a support outsourcing business, you can make more money per hour supporting clients running non-standard platforms like OS X or Un*x. Or even getting into things like consulting for embedded systems (though if they're life-critical make sure to carry good insurance).
-b.
Have them talk about how to solve problems (Score:5, Insightful)
Entry level implies that you want someone who can grow, so try and find out where they started and how they got there. Should show you a little about their learning style and curve.
The rookies will also run into situations that they haven't been trained for. You need to see if they can step through it and get a partial solution before going up a level and that in the interest of customer service they can recognize when they're getting in too deep and need some help.
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True, but you're looking for someone who has a good chance of being able to do the job.
When hiring support techs for an ISP many years ago one of my favourite scenarios was to pretend to be a customer who has just migrated from another ISP and could't get their browser to connect anywhere: the modem would dial-up and connect, I could check
question I'd ask (Score:2, Insightful)
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box 0 junk (Score:4, Interesting)
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Actual problems from users (Score:2)
You might want to throw in some trick questions as well. Things that come up in the real world like users lying. My favorite case of a user telling a flat out lie was "I can't pri
Step 1 - Decide what you really want. (Score:5, Insightful)
I tried to think of a good answer, and had decided on "fix this PC" (where it has some glaringly obvious problem that should take any decent tech under five minutes to find and fix, such as a dead HDD), but then re-read the part I quote above...
What requirements does this job have, that you expect applicants lacking the skills and experience to do the job?
I would agree completely that overall familiarity with PC architecture and problem solving skills in general matter far more than having the LED error codes for a Dell Dimension 4300s memorized - But it sounds like you expect to not only interview, but hire, completely clueless individuals.
At the very least, you should have no trouble finding people who can demonstrate simple tasks such as installing RAM or setting up a modem connection on XP. Don't settle for less in the hope that you can train someone up the level of basic competency the job demands.
Unless, of course, you plan to have these people do nothing but take calls and read scripts - In which case, for all our sakes, just make sure they can read and speak reasonably clear English. Although that particular "test" would probably break the law, you can easily give it in a roundabout way that answers the question without raising any eyebrows.
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That's taken care of by the in-person interview. If you can't understand them, neither will your customers.
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Several questions I can think of (Score:5, Insightful)
1. What is the Device Manager and how do you access it? 2. What are the differences between IDE and SATA? 3. What is the process of installing Windows XP on a blank hard drive? 4. What is Safe Mode? 5. What does RAID stand for? 6. Why should a PC tech wear an anti-static wristband? 7. How do you reinstall a printer driver? 8. What is POST? 9. How do you access "msconfig" and why would you use "msconfig"? 10. How do you change the screen resolution?
Anyone who wants to be a PC tech should be able to answer at least 8 of these questions. You can train them, but they must have some basic knowledge. For entry level tech guidelines, I would consult an A+ certification guide. In fact, you should buy (at company expense) an A+ certification guide and use questions from there. After you hire one of the applicants, give them the guide as a reference for their job. You did say they were entry level after all.
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I hardly ever use a Windows machine. Doesn't mean I can't learn how, if that's what the job calls for. Five of your questions are very Windows-specific, and you're probably looking for a Windows-specific answer to the one about "safe mode". Yet, even not using Windows much, I can guess at most of the answer to most of those questions, which means they aren't very useful (and give me 5 minutes in front of a Windows machine, and 10 minutes to read the documentation on installing Windows XP, and I'll answer
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Ask questions they don't know the answer to.... (Score:5, Insightful)
You first ask a few simple questions so they relax a little - repeat that if they don't know its alright - just say how you would figure it out... Then you move on to questions you're certain they don't know... and ask how they would troubleshoot it. There are always the basics - like ask the user when this first happens, ask exactly what is slow and so on - that shows how they go about a new problem - and in the end, that's what matters. Don't go by how correct their answers are - but how they answer it. If they try to BS their way around it. If they admit they don't know or if they come up with a million different answers. You want the ones that come up with many different things - even if many of them are wrong - it proves that they have the right attitude.
Peter.
Its not about what they know, but how they learn (Score:5, Interesting)
I suggest you give them a problem which they probably don't know how to solve and ask them to talk through their process. This could involve some quick research on google or using common sense, etc etc. Its feasible that someone with very little tech experience could do this job as long as they have a quick brain and good common sense.
The next most important thing is social skills and the ability to get on with their users. I know how common it is to have to deal with people who know nothing about computers. You could play the role of a retarded user, or even better, get someone else involved who really is a novice and get your interviewee to train them to do something. You observe their social skills and how they interact with the novice.
1) Ask them hard question, get them to talk through their process of trying to solve it
2) Give them a task of training a novice to do something, or act as a novice yourself. Ask very novicey questions to see if you can frustrate them. Patience is a virtue needed for IT tech jobs.
3) Get them to talk through a spyware infestation, a virus infestation. Make up some hypotheticals to ask them. Example: Someone calls you up and say's their internet is broken, what do you ask them first? Go through the scenario step by step and see what they do.
It's fairly easy to see quite quickly who are the people who are sharp thinkers with good inter-personal skills. It's also fairly easy to pick those people up who know what they're talking about. Ask them to recommend a virus scanner, if they say Norton, kick them out of our office immediately! They should know about programs like AVG, Avast, Stinger.
Some ideas (Score:2)
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are they capable of saying "I don't know, I need help here."
If they do answer this correctly, it also helps to ask some follow-up questions about where or how they would go about getting that help. I wouldn't expect most techs these days to know how to make a Centronics to RS232 printer cable from the components. There hasn't been a need to do that in a long time. But I would be able to explain how I would start to find information on how to do it - including finding out what a Centronics plug was.
Who did you vote for last election? (Score:2, Troll)
Gague the person, not the responses. (Score:5, Insightful)
You are correct, computer knowledge and how things are done in your organization can and should be taught. This means that the individual you are going to hire needs to have a good work ethic, troubleshooting skills, and have excellent customer service skills. This individual is going to be the physical representation of the IT department for the majority of the company. You want someone who is going to come off as courteous, intelligent, and hard-working.
What questions you ask are not as important as how the candidate answers the question. Are they confident of the answer they provide? Are they too serious, or are they friendly in their interview? Are they able to create a rapport with you during your conversation? Do they come across as someone who knows what they are talking about? Would you want this person to represent your department to all the other employees in the company?
Ability to give directions. (Score:2)
An important skill is the ability to give instructions without actually physically SHOWING how to do something.
For instance, teach them how to do some simple Origami (better yet, use something they already know how to do). Then have them write out instructions on paper and have someone not experienced in the process use the instructions to complete the task.
The ability to communicate a step-by-step process is critical, in my opinion.
Where are... (Score:2)
Proper tech interview process... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ask how they decided to do what they do (Score:2, Insightful)
Ask them how they decided on computer technology as a job, or as a career path.
I've found people are surprisingly candid when you ask this - some will tell you straight up that it was a good-paying job they thought they could do.
Others will tell you that they've been tinkering with c
Apprentices (Score:5, Interesting)
In case you're unfamiliar how an apprenticeship works:
It's part of one of the possible education roads in switzerland. At age 16, you start an apprenticeship in a company, which usually is 2-4 years (depending on the amount of skill of the job required). An apprenticeship requires attendance at a public school for one or two days a week. The pay is usually very weak, from 450 - 1000 CHF / Month. At the end of the apprenticeship, there's a standardized test.
Since people start at age 16, they have no qualification whatsoever (except that they finished public school), and as an additional drawback, you can't fire apprentices unless they SERIOUSLY fuck up (stealing from the company or something like that, or fucking up in school several times in a row).
The only thing i've paid much attention to is interest. Interest in IT can vary, e.G.:
An avid gamer, maxing out the performance of his video card, by working with lots of settings? Creating custom ini files for you game?
A young Linux zealot, telling my windows is a bad thing.
Writing programs?
Young, interested people are raw diamonds. They don't understand professional IT yet, and they have a lot to learn. While it is my job to help them to learn, the bunch of stuff is what they have to do alone. Just provide the infrastructure and support. It doesn't matter much what kind of skills they already have, since most of them don't help on their job - but most of my apprentices are more up to date on PC/Consumer hardware than iam.
Interest is all that matters. Someone who is willing to learn will be able to do everything you want him to, it just takes some time.
There's an important second skill, and that is social skills. You always have customers, be they internal (like in an enterprise) or external (in my case, SMB support).
An apprentice will have to learn how to deal with customers. In my case, i go to customers with them, let them stand aside (for about half a year). After that, they will have the skills to solve small problems on their own. The next step is to learn to deal with the customer. Delegate tasks, have them solve the problem on their own, report to the customer. And as a last step, send the on their own way.
This process takes about 3 years with an apprentice - you can shorten this ALOT if someone has at least a bit of previous experience.
And another tiny bit i've learned. Never solve a problem for your apprentice, if time is not critical. Give hints, push them in the right direction, let them figure out the solution on their own.
Never lie to them - while it is sometimes necessary to adjust the truth for a customer, never lie to your apprentices - there's nothing worse than learning the wrong things.
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They can learn a lot in a year or two. If the apprenticeship is (say) 4 years, can't they just go off on their own freelancing way once they hit age 18? Or are there
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The apprenticeship is still the standard way to enter the job market in switzerland, about 60-70% of swiss kids enter the job market using this education as a starting point. The Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship) explains the system in more detail, Switzerland system is is quite similar to the German one.
This system sounds probably sounds as strange to you a
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Of course. But you can't just register as a corporation or self-proprietorship with a tax ID number and thus be self-employed? Possibly hire other techs as well. If you advertise and seem like you have a clue, people will use your services, at least in the US. Or is Switzerland that much more of a rigid society that that isn't a possibility?
-b.
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You can.
a) Einzelbesitzer / Einfache Gesellschaft
+ Doesn't require anything
- Full personal liability
- Personal taxes apply
b) Gesellschaft mit Beschränkter Haftung (GmBH)
+ Limited personal liability
+ Company taxes apply
+ Needs registration
- Requires 20k CHF capital
Possibly hire other techs as well.
If you want to hire people (instead of starting the company together with the other people) yo
Q's (Score:4, Insightful)
Simple Debug Question (Score:2)
Imagine you live in a shared house, with a shared computer. The computer using dial-up (POTS/PSTN) to connect to the internet. You come home and there is a Post-It note on the computer saying 'Internet Not working'. Talk me through the logical steps you would take to solve the problem.
The correct answer I use is 'Password has been corrupted'. But we are really interesting the steps. They can use any operating system they
Ask what they would do when Google fails (Score:2)
I would ask them how to do the task, and invariably they would immediately come up with Google. And I would reply with "you can't find that", now what would you do?
I'm hoping they head in either or both of two directions:
1- Find web sites related to that specialty, and do some reading in there to try to understand more about the knowlege domain
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Google knows all.
Google turned up nothing in the first ten entries of the query you proposed.
You see, the problem is that you assume too much. You assume that you operate a Model T the same way as you operate a modern car, i.e. three pedals = clutch, brake, accelerator. Not so with a Model T.
The three pedals on a model T are: Low gear, reverse, brake. The accelerator is on the steering column. Google didn't tell me that; my grandfather did.
Step on the low gear pedal, then release the hand brak
My two favorites (Score:5, Insightful)
I've had to interview folks for this position several times. The most important thing to me is that they don't create more work for me than they'll unload off of me.
I like to (in sight of the candidate) create a new account and login under that account. Then I reach back and unplug the keyboard right in front of them. "Can you browse to www.cnn.com now?" is the question after that setup.
The correct answer is for the tech to reach to plug the keyboard back in or ask if they can. That's full credit there. Tell them that, and then ask them if they can think of any other ways. Since its a new account it won't be in the browser history -- but seeing them check is extra credit. Finding a textfile and copy/pasting the characters out of it or using charmap is also good for extra credit, along with a remote desktop connection, ... (as an interesting side-note I developed this test before being assigned a Pri1/Sev1/Blocking bug by an overzealous tester at Microsoft which I root-caused as her unplugging her keyboard cable).
For my second question I like to (again, in plain view of the technician) edit the boot.ini file on a system in such a way that it rendered unbootable. Then shutdown/restart, and ask them how they'd fix it. Yank the HD and put it in another machine, alternate boot media, ...
If there's any chance they'll ever work on hardware set them up in front of a junk PC (make sure it's an easy one to take apart/put together -- not some obscure system of latches to get the case off -- they can learn about those guys on the job and should not be graded on never having opened some vendor-specific box). Tell them to pretend that the simple NIC on the table is a prototype board the developers need installed, and as such is very expensive. Ask them to handle the physical install of the card, and talk you through what they're doing. The big thing is they should either ask for a static strap or mention that "it's just pretend so I'm going to just ground myself to the chassis before I pick up the card..."
If your entry level tech can get full credit on all of these they're probably safe to turn lose without supervision. Partial credit for good attempts and thinking aloud about the problem (ask them to when you give them these problems) should mean they need a minimum of supervision. If they bomb out on all three then they need a babysitter and you should probably move on to the next candidate since they're gonna break more than they fix.
Don't be concerned with trivia (Score:3)
When I interviewed for my current job as an ISP Technical Support Representative, I completely forgot what DHCP stood for. But I did remember what it did. "What does DHCP stand for and what does it do?" would be a good question, and give far more weight to the "what does it do" part. Only worry about the "what does DHCP stand for" part if you have to decide between two closely matched candidates - the one that remembers that may be a little better when under real world pressure.
I agree with the comments about being social. You could train a monkey to do most entry level tech jobs. The social part of interacting with the customers is a lot harder to train for.
good questions are... (Score:5, Insightful)
- Do you have a PC at home? More than one PC? Did you assemble your PCs yourself?
- Do you have a laptop? Have you ever serviced its interior yourself?
BUT take care not to fall into the Expert Junior Trap: Companies look for talent, they find the talent and hire it to a junior position, but leave the talent in their junior position for months or even years. In the end the talent gets mad from boredom and does one of the following things:- Learn slacking skills to avoid the boring work and do something else with their 9-5 time instead, like e.g. contributing to open-source. This is common among underpaid or demotivated expert-junior staff (they would resign professionally if the company were paying them enough). Sometimes the expert-juniors may try to communicate their thoughts to the management in various ways, but they get either ridiculed or ignored.
- Resign or cause you to fire them and get a better position elsewhere or start their own company.
- Leave their brain at the gate at 9am and regain it at 5pm, usually for contributing to open-source.
Employers must understand this expert-junior complex and deal with it. Someone with no work experience, even without a degree, may be more skilled than their managers. Also note that the performance of an employee at work depends on pay, the other employees and managers, position, expectations, economic level, and the presence competitors in the job market. Even if they don't show their expert self at work, they may be experts in their own projects where they are intrisically motivated. The management must seek to create such an atmosphere where employees, even junior ones, can be intrinsically motivated to do their job. (BTW I study for an MSc in Management, including a good amount of HRM)Re: (Score:2)
Someone with no work experience, even without a degree, may be more skilled than their managers.
Gee, I hope so. Management is a lot different skillset than most tech/development stuff. Or are you implying that the managers they'll be under are tools?
skill vs talent (Score:2)
You can teach it - but it takes strong deductive reasoning, curiosity, and imagination. They probably need to bring those things to the table, because training those skills takes longer than it's probably worth. If someone has those three things, and NO knowlege, but access to information, then that person will make a good PC tech. Training them in the knowledge and domain experience is more practical.
That's basic troubleshooting.
BOFH (Score:4, Funny)
"Ok" I say "I'm just going to ask you some simple questions to guage your knowledge of Computing and Networking in relation to the Operations Field"
"Sure"
"Right. Question One. What's the best way to stop an individual posting nasty articles to news?"
"Close their account"
"Good - But can you elaborate?"
"Delete all their files, Change their password to `Knobhead' and Erase any backups of their account"
"Excellent. What is a killfile?"
"Uh. It's a list of usernames/topics/news items etc that you wish the news- reader to automatically skip so you don't have to wade through rubbish"
"Uh No. Remember I said pertaining to Operations. A killfile is in fact a file with a list of names of people you are going to kill."
"Oh. Of course."
"Never mind. What is DCE?"
"Delete, Close and Erase"
"Good. DTR?"
"DON'T TRY to RING. The Operator's watchword"
"Well done. DBMS?"
"Dont Bug My Supervisor. Probably the most important acronym around"
"You betcha. Ok. A user comes to you with a complaint about another user sending sexually explicit email messages to them. What do you do?"
"Take a copy of the messages, close the complainant's account (by accident) and extort money from the mailer by threatening to show their parents"
"Good. I think you'll do nicely. Hang onto this wire..."
"I don't think so."
"Excellent. You passed the final test. You start tommorrow. Please leave by that door so as not to disturb the other applicants."
BZZZZZEEEERETTT!
Electrified Door Handle. Gets them every time. I think it's the "Complaints Dept" sign that draws them to it like moths to a globe...
I push the body out onto the fire escape.
"NEXT!"
I'm not sure if this one is legal, but... (Score:2)
"You're in a desert, walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling towards you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back.
"The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
"Why is that?"
I use the "box" test (Score:2, Interesting)
I explain that good guesses are as revealing to me as actual knowledge or experience.
This is the only way I have found to determin apptitude for troubleshooting. I have had several "A+ certified" graduates fail the box utterly. I have seen MCSE's who could not tell a modem from a network card. And I have trained those who showed good deductiv
Patience! (Score:2)
Einstein's Puzzle (Score:2)
The page I linked to claims a 2% success rate among college students.
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I went through all the 'this is a cool network' phases already and I'm back to 'it works, and it does what I need' and that's it. The wireless is only there for a couple devices that NEED it, and the rest is just ethernet. (And not even gigabit.)
Also, PC Techs don't necessarily know much about networking. Maybe if you said 'explain your home computer setup', I'd agree. Every PC Tech has a kick-butt setup. 'I have
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-When was your first experience with a computer - what kind of computer was it?
-Whats the most complicated thing you've done on a computer, even if it didn't work?
-(as stated above)Describe your home network and computers.
-What kind of experience do you think you'll gain and what type of experience do you want to gain from this?
-Lets say we work with you and get you a Microsoft Certifi
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If you were going to buy a PC, would you go for a big-name supplier like Dell, or a home-built system from a smaller shop?
The correct answer is any, or none! But you learn a lot from it. If they want a big supplier like Dell, you can ask them why; it's because of a large technical support base, corporate contracts and so on, and some guarantee of reliability (i.e. maybe the laptop battery would explode but they can do a recall).
If they say a small in
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I still build all my PCs myself. Why? Because I -care-. I care about the parts chosen, I care about making sure every piece is put in pro
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"I want to build every PC personally and fuck Dell and all the bignames, they SUCK! And let's migrate to Linux.." for example doesn't go down well in corporate environments especially if you are going to be responsible for purchasing decisions, or general upkeep of an existing network with the users in mind.. expanding your job prospect beyond what they're hiring you for into 'PC builder and Linux migra
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I think at Microsoft. The interview ended when he got his meal on the table and immediately put salt on it without even tasting if it needed it. That would be a bad trait.. if you consider for a moment how that kind of attitude affects the way he'd develop software. I have no idea if it's truly true or not, but it's a good example.
There are lots of reasons why someone would do that unrelated to his competence at a job:
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I'd be careful with this one - it could be construed as sexual harassment or sexual orientation discrimination.
Re:The only question I ask... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, certificates aren't everything. In fact, i don't think they have much value (though i have my share of them, as long as my current employer pays for all the expenses).
However, there are a few things which you seem to forget:
* People entering the IT industry don't know professional IT yet
They have built their own PCs. Fine. But in a corporate, professional setting, you don't build your own PCs. You don't build your own servers. And the "why" is what people entering the industry have to learn (sometimes painfully so).
* People entering the IT industry won't be the "know it all" anymore
Most people with a serious interest into it, were the one with the most knowledge in their circle of influence. When entering the IT industry, that's usually no longer the case. Even if you're socially top-notch, it will take some time to adjust to this change. If being social isn't your one of your primary advantages, it will take even more time.
* People entering the IT don't know lots of technology yet
You've built your private exchange server at home. It worked fine. Now you have 100 exchange servers, distributed across the globe. At home, you had your own domain. You experimented with Group Policies. It worked fine. Now you have 100 domain controllers, 10'000 clients, and 200 GPOs. Even if you understood the basic concepts, you will need to learn that with a different scale, there is a different responsibility.
In the end, even the most gifted child without a life will have to adjust to the pace of the company, and all its quirk. It takes time.
And most people that are looking for an entry level pc tech job don't have the qualifications, nor the interest in the field. Weeding out the trash is the difficult part of doing job interviews.
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The reason I wrote out an interview process like that is because your r
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~And The Universe Is In Balance~
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Remember that they're also interviewing you. If they think their future boss will be a fuckwad, then they probably won't come work for you or will demand higher compensation.
-b.
Re:Patience (Score:4, Insightful)
Been there, done that. I ran a help desk for an ISP overseas on a military base who overcharged customers like no one's business, and continued to charge their credit cards even after they'd left and cut off their accounts. The head of AT&T Asia-Pacific came over to straighten up the mess, chewed out the entire organization, and then presented me with an award. "Customers chew us up right and left, but *invariably* complimented us on the help desk. You guys are a bunch of thieves, but we've never had better tech support."
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If a help desk interviewee couldn't even take that small amount of harassment (yes, I said small) you mentioned above then the interview is over. I took a *lot* worse than that in my former life, and once the problem was solved and the customer was happy, almost invariably got apologies, appreciation expressed to my boss (sometimes verbally, sometimes in writing), often a personal visit to the boss by the "asshole" customer, and some nice pay raises.
Customers with problem
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An asshole boss is another.
I'd politely bail out of the interview as soon as it became clear the dickishness was chronic, rather than just him having a bad day, because I don't want a total dick to have that much power over my life.
This whole idea is dumb, and I really hope that no one takes this advice and fucks around with their interviewees.
I've done my share of help desk. I'm cool as hell when talking to customers, and, unlike most people, even very large amounts of abus
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Stupid italics.
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If nothing else, have someone from outside the tech department who clearly will not be someone that your interviewee will have to report to or deal with on a regular basis play the asshole. Have them call you with some made-up, pre-arranged problem partway through the interview, and bring the interviewee along.
Get creative. For the love of god, don't make
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Really? I have an SMB support business in NYC. Demand is high, word spreads by mouth to some extent so I need to advertise less and less, and I'm not charging my clients anything like minimum wage. More like more than an order of magnitude greater per hour.
-b.
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Any major city has lots of wealthy people without time to DIY stuff, simple because they're better off spending their time making $300+/hr[1]. Also, a lot of IT people seem to be too concentrated on getting a "job" rather than simply finding ways to make money. Had your used-car guy gone out on his own, he'd likely have found work. Risky, "crunchy", but profitable nonetheless.
Go to health care or something--this is a warning to people considering this as a car
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Was he looking in the right places, though? It's a common fallacy that if you can't find a job *exactly* in your field, you need to look for a shitty temporary job. With a degree from MIT, if he couldn't get a processor design job, don't tell me he couldn't have got something as a tech financial analyst, a network admi
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In my area, there are a few trends I've noticed. Either the jobs require 5-10 years of experience with software/operating
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Out of curiosity, are all the people talking about "awful" markets from California? Maybe there's just an overload of qualified people there and in some other places.
-b.
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Don't know if you can, but you might be better off renting something short-term there for a month or three or at least using a local address. Employers tend to be allergic to candidates that need to relo. unless they have some very specific skills that they need, and I'm sure that there are plenty of available *local* candidates.
Have you considered Minnesota (quite a bit of medical/biomed stuff + IBM has an
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1) Do you wear sandals to work?
2) Name a major food group other than pizza.
3) In the name "C++" what is the second "+" for? Isn't "C+" good enough?
4) Would you have preferred the picture or the GUI Programmer's Guide?