The value of "practical skills assessments"
Currently, my team at LowerMyBills is operating without a MS SQL DBA. This fact is a daily concern for me, as our data warehouse is based on the MS SQL system, and we are only able to provide basic "life support" administration for it.
To resolve this issue, we are actively recruiting MS SQL DBA candidates, and have spoken with some very talented people who appear to be good, to great, fits. Only one issue stands in our way, the fact that it is very hard to assess the level of practical skills mastery during a face to face interview.
I have been bitten by this situation before by hiring people who look great on paper, but in practice, they fall short in their skills. Many times people "embellish" the level of skill that they possess, and turn "I have seen technology X" into "I am a qualified expert with technology X". The challenge is to identify when someone is trying to "puff up" in order to get the job.
In order to weed these people out, we have implemented a home grown "skills assessment" that consists of two parts, one written and the other applied. The written portion consists of a in-house developed skills assessment tests where we present various skills related questions to the potential candidate, and review the results as a team. This provides me and my team with a basic understanding of where the candidate is, and what they do/don't know.
One shortcoming of the written assessment is that often times you encounter an answer that appears to a "cut and paste" as it answers the question "too perfectly". Now I actually don't mind this too much, as long as the candidate does not answer the entire assessment in this fashion, as I value the ability to find the answer to questions that you may not have personal knowledge of.
In addition to the written assessment, we have also designed and implemented a in-house built "practical skills assessment" which is modeled after the Cisco CCIE practical exam. The exam consists of three parts: - System setup and configuration
- User/Database maintenance
- Break/Fix.
During the first part, the candidate is provided with a blank machine and asked to setup a MS SQL database based on minimal requirements. Once the configuration has been determined to meet the requirements, the candidate is then asked to setup user accounts and SQL Agent jobs to backup, defrag and monitor the database. These sections provide us with a better understanding of how the candidate handles often incomplete requirements and how they deal with communication and conflict.
In the final section, the candidate is given a lunch break, and the gremlins go to work breaking various parts of the system. Once the candidate returns, he is then asked to track down and resolve the various issues with the database in a predetermined amount of time. The outcome of this sections allows us insight into the level of critical thinking the candidate possess, as well as how they handle stressful situations.
It is expected that through the combined use of the written and practical exams, we will be able to target the qualified candidates much easier and will be hiring a MS SQL guru in the near future.
11:27:32 AM 
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