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jimf
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2875 Posts |
 Posted - 2008-03-07 : 07:21:42
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| My boss asked me to interview 2 people on Monday for a programmer/developer position. They say they are gurus, but my boss wants me to find out for sure. I thought a question about bitwise operations would be good, maybe one about semi-joins. Are there any questions you can think of that will spot the phony pretty quick? Thanks,Jim |
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khtan
In (Som, Ni, Yak)
17689 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 09:38:32
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ask for their member name in SQLTeam and check if it is listed here 
KH[spoiler]Time is always against us[/spoiler] |
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DonAtWork
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2167 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 09:45:16
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| Plow through some of our guru's blogs here (like Mahdi and MVJ to name 2 ). They have some awesome code tricks that any "guru" should know.[Signature]For fast help, follow this link:http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/brettk/archive/2005/05/25.aspxLearn SQL or How to sell Used CarsFor ultra basic questions, follow these links.http://www.sql-tutorial.net/ http://www.firstsql.com/tutor.htm http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp |
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jimf
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2875 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 10:10:39
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| Thanks,Those are great places to start. I've picked up a few tricks here myself, but am way short of a guru. I also want to make sure that I can understand the answer so I don't fall for a lot of hooey. Since this is a programming position, the answers right on this forum are also a good resource.Thanks,Jim |
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Michael Valentine Jones
Yak DBA Kernel (pronounced Colonel)
7020 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 10:23:13
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quote:
Originally posted by DonAtWork
Plow through some of our guru's blogs here (like Mahdi and MVJ to name 2 ). They have some awesome code tricks that any "guru" should know.[Signature]For fast help, follow this link:http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/brettk/archive/2005/05/25.aspxLearn SQL or How to sell Used CarsFor ultra basic questions, follow these links.http://www.sql-tutorial.net/ http://www.firstsql.com/tutor.htm http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp
I would just like to point out that I don't actually have a blog.However, I do have a lot of posts in the Script Library forum.CODO ERGO SUM |
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harsh_athalye
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
5581 Posts |
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jimf
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2875 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 12:01:23
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| That's a great thread Harsh! I'll spend some time understanding the questions, then some more time trying to understand the answers!Jim |
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Bustaz Kool
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1834 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 18:31:50
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| One of my favorites is, "What's the difference between a cross join and a full outer join...or did I just make a term up?"=======================================Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965) |
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Will H
Yak Posting Veteran
56 Posts |
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dataguru1971
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1464 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 18:49:12
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quote:
Originally posted by harsh_athalye
This is true GURU questions:http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53085&whichpage=1Harsh AthalyeIndia."The IMPOSSIBLE is often UNTRIED"
THat is a very enlightening and informative post. Awesome resource of information and discussions.
Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. |
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rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
7266 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 23:09:24
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| Take look at this: http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1450 |
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Jeff Moden
Aged Yak Warrior
652 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-08 : 16:17:40
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I hate tests/verbal questions like this because they're normally written by some book-read prima-donna that's out to impress him/herself rather than finding out how qualified someone is for the job. For example, the following question has the wrong number of correct answers... BCP is not a T-SQL command... it's an external program. But, if you allow BCP as an answer, can you think of any other ways to "import data directly without using DTS or SSIS"... I can think of at least 3... capture the output of the DOS "Type" command using xp_CmdShell, use sp_ReadErrorLog with the -1 option, or capture the output of OSQL using xp_CmdShell.Question 3: Is it possible to import data directly from T-SQL commands without using DTS or SSIS? If so, what are the commands? Yes - Six commands are available to import data directly in the T-SQL language. These commands include: BCP Bulk Insert OpenRowSet OPENDATASOURCE OPENQUERY Linked Servers The following answers are also wrong... "Writing a query with parameters" is NOT considered to be dynamic SQL.Question 4: What are the three ways that Dynamic SQL can be issued? Writing a query with parameters. Using EXEC. Using sp_executesql. Also, the question is wrong here...Question 2: Please name 5 commands that can be used to manipulate text in T-SQL code. For example, obtain only a portion of the text, replace a text string, etc. Those aren't "Commands"... they're functions. It's a misleading question because the person who wrote the question doesn't know what the heck they're talking about. Might as well ask someone how many "fields" there can be in a table...And you're telling me that knowledge of the DATALENGTH function is considered "Advanced knowledge" but knowing how to "Delete dupes without a primary key" is only moderate? And what about the fact that my answer would be to simply and temporarily add a surrogate column as a temporary primary key so we could actually get the dupes to delete sometime in the same bloody week? Who said their answer is the best answer?Besides... most of those questions/answers can be found in Books Online... anyone can spend some time memorizing and many of them do. If you really want to find out if they're trully Gurus, ask them some questions that can't be found in Books Online. For example, ask them how to do a running total on a million rows that actually finishes the same day. Ask them how to "count" from 1 to a million and display the count in SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. Ask them how to return "0" value SUMS for dates that don't exist in a table. Ask them what a "Tally" table is, what it's used for, and what it's meant to replace. Ask them what a "Nested Set" and "Adjacency" hierarchy is. Ask them what 2 to the zero, 2 to the 8th, and 2 to the 16th is. Ask them what the decimal value of 16 base 16 is. Ask them for all the ways they could optimize the following without changing the original function of the code and then ask them why those changes shouldn't actually be made in existing code...SELECT * FROM yourtable WHERE MONTH(somedatecol) = '1' Then ask them to explain when and why a Table Scan can actually be better than a Clustered Index Seek and when they think a cursor is justified.And just for a tie breaker, ask them what single command is best for both incrementing and returning the NextID from a sequence table without the possibility of a deadlock or a duplicate ID understress by thousands of hits per second.--Jeff Moden |
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jimf
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2875 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-10 : 08:19:59
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| Those are great questions, Jeff! Thanks for pointing out the flaws in the other questions. One thing I am trying to avoid doing is asking a question I don't know the answer to. For select * from yourtable where MONTH(somdatecol) = '1' I would replace the * with column names and index somedatecol. I'd like to take the function off somedatecol and change it to somedatecol >= 01/01/2008 and somedatecol < 02/01/2008, but that only works for 2008. I think that this question is definitely one I want to ask.Thanks,Jim |
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