This may be stupid but..

Mon Nov 10 21:02:07 UTC 2003

 Michael.Dillon at radianz.com wrote:
> > When I interview, I start out by asking one or two key questions that
> > help me quickly get to the truth. For instance at one company, when I
> > has hiring NOC folks, I started by asking them to explain traceroute
> > to me.
>
> "Which one? ICMP, UDP or TCP traceroute (to name the usual ones)?"
>
> <silence on other side of the table>
>

This would fall into the category of people being told to ask certain
questions without really understanding the material or the expectation of
the answer. A savvy, if ignorant, interviewer would say, "Explain the
difference between each". I can imagine that explaining the difference
between African and European would be a little tougher to stand up to a
(good) technical reviewer -- say who read the meeting notes.

Then again, anyone who really wants to work for a very savvy technical
organization should either put up with a few less clueful interviewers, or
ask that their clue-savvy contact sit in on the interview to translate.

I'm always a little concerned with very sharp guys (technically) who talk
down, even unintentionally to their superiors or customers. In a market
where smart guys are out of work, the smart guys with good interpersonal
skills have an advantage.

Deepak Jain
AiNET