Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Businesses

Journal jawtheshark's Journal: Hmmm, that was again an odd interview 14

Journal by jawtheshark
So today, I went to the BCL to present myself. Grey-striped suit, white shirt, red tie. I got inteviewed by three people and they didn't seem to mind too much that I am in education right now. They mostly wanted to know about my languages (English being the most important since the BCL has to communicate with all other cental banks, and the common language is English). It confirmed to me that one of my biggest assets still are my languages.
They also wanted extensive information about my job experience while being a consultant. Of course, I have a big "palmarès" there too. Still, some things are long ago, so it's hard to make really good statements about those experiences.

On the technical side, they wanted to know about the applications I wrote about in the exam that I had taken part in. I mentioned things like tomcat, cvs, subversion, wiki software, bugzilla. A lot of open source stuff. They also seemed to want to see if I had any Unix administration skills. I told them about my networks (OpenBSD based), and how they had evolved. I know from experience that such "hobbies" are usually frowned upon, so I specifically stated that it was "only a hobby". Strangely enough they said, if you come to work here it won't be a "hobby" anymore. Interesting.

My impression was as if they already had decided to hire me. Very odd. Honestly, I wonder if it's just a trick to make you feel at ease. Apparently next week they have an exam commission where they will take decisions. We'll see then.

Positive, negative? I have no idea!

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Hmmm, that was again an odd interview More

Hmmm, that was again an odd interview

Comments Filter:
  • the man pages [freebsd.org]

    with UNIX seventh edition, plan9, ultrix, sun os, BSD, and several HP-UX versions available the freebsd manpages are a unix geeks best friend (not to mention open/netbsd, darwin and linux man pages)

    I'm sure you're one of their final level canidates, and it sounds like you handled yourself ok on the interview. so you could be looking at a nice, government carrer. Banks traditionally pay on the cheap side, however government jobs are almost always tied to some multiple of inflation, and are gen
    • Thanks for the link. I've been into Unix adminning in the last few years. The only thing is: never professionally. I know quite a deal and read man pages pretty much everytime I have a problem I can't solve with my (already quite large) knowledge of Unix.

      Best of luck :)

      Thanks :-)

      • They might ask you stuff about enterpise level junk (such as backups, change management, high availability, compliance with laws) same as you I have had unix/freebsd/linux hobbies but until I was faced with trying to come up with a really good backup plan for a mysql server I had never even thought about backup more than sticking a tarball of my ~ on a CD.
        • Evidently. Oddly enough, the "backup" thing is also covered in my server experience. Once a family starts to be so dependent on a server (which is the case at my parents), one has to consider these things. Beginning this year, I did implement a fully automated nightly backup of their machine. No, not on a CD. It is indeed "on the cheap" with an external USB harddrive, but it is done now. There are better ways, but within a family one also has to consider the cost/benefit ratio. Losing data is bad, wi
  • Keep it up- here's hoping you get the gig.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Assuming you want the job, that is. :)

        Well, of course I also like to slack at home and do nothing at all except surfing slashdot, but I assume my wife isn't going to like that. ;-) I assume this will not be the kind of job were I'll get an internet connection and can do whatever I want. This is a National Bank: the equivalent (but of course much smaller) of the US Federal Reserve.
        It's a stable job that's government backed. Can't be all that bad... ;-)

    • Yes, I think there is a good possibility in getting the gig. *crossing fingers*

  • At least, going by your impressions.. Strange how OSS is gaining ground rapidly in the job-interview space. Especially when it is about former Unix bastions trying to modernize. I had the same experience at the EC.

    Not that they know any of it themselves ofcourse, but just nodding if they mention a buzzword gets em wild enough to hire anyone. Personally I think there is reason to look at OSS, but there are also reasons to look at other commercial things. The whole thing is a bit over the top..

    Anyway, sou
    • Well, the thing with OSS is that you can get quality software (not always super-high quality) and educate yourself. You don't need multi-million machines and software to run a database anymore, for example. It gives the individual a possibility to teach himself.

      The BCL was founded in 1998 ;-) I don't think they have big old structures that can't budge :-D

      I agree that there is good commercial stuff, but I always evaluate OSS first because I don't have the money. In a business context that might of cou

  • I know from experience that such "hobbies" are usually frowned upon

    Really? I've never found them to be anything but beneficial. I've certainly never been interviewed by anyone that gave a negative reaction to stuff I hack around on at home. But then again, I've only had 2 interviews in the last decade, so perhaps I don't have the most statistically valid of samples to work with (and I got both of those jobs).

    Either way, it sounds quite positive to me, and I'd say you're probably at least on a shortlist

    • Well, I only had one case where it has been frowned upon. Actually the first time I tried to bring it up. It was at SES-Astra: a very high-technology company and I was there to present myself as an IT consultant (send by Fujitsu). During the conversation, Unix came up and I told them about my OpenBSD experiences.

      The looked quite odd at me. I don't know what they thought. I probably never will, but my idea was "high-tech-company" seeks "high-tech-competence".
      Perhaps it lacked professionalism. P

Slashdot Top Deals

I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

Close