I interviewed for this position where the headhunter told me that they were being VERY picky. I met with 3 peer developers, the boss and his boss. We all hit it off. Then it was time to meet the peer-nerd from another team.
Him: Tell me about stuff you've done with Struts (Struts was not a skill requirement for the job) Me: I haven't worked with Struts Him: Discuss how Struts implements transactions Me: (uh oh) As I said, I haven't worked with Struts; I'd rather not make wild guesses Him: Ok, you have this system: web server outside firewall, firewall, app server inside firewall, database. Twice a day it's slow for 2 minutes. You can not touch any component of the system. You know nothing about any part of the system (all black-boxes). Diagnose what's wrong Me: Find which host(s) in the system is/are experiencing the delay Him: They are all running fine Me: Are there any big backup/ftp/transfers/cron-jobs going on during the slowdown? Him: No Me: Are any other processes on the same boxes interacting/affecting... Him: No Me: Get on the system when it happens and see what's going on Him: Can't be done Me: Check logs to see which part of the system is experiencing the delay, ... Him: The logs only indicate that transactions are being delayed, but don't indicate why Me: Based upon the log statements, look at the code between the statement that first shows slowness and the statement where things pick up again. Then see how that relates to anything else that's going on Him: You don't have access to the code Me: Since it's a black box, I have no way of knowing; call tech support Him: You are tech support Me: Then I should have access to it, and more than zero information about what the system does Him: So you don't know what is specifically wrong and how to fix it? Me: Not without more information. Will I be working with The Great Carnac?More than this idiot, I wouldn't want to work with managers who would have this guy doing interviewing...
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