Why Resumes Are Useless Plus Links to Interview Questions
Resumes seem to be mostly useless, this is what Andrew Wulf thinks, and I can’t agree more. I have been conducting a few interviews lately to fill a PL/SQL contract position, and in almost all cases the resume was so overcharged with buzzwords and all kinds of technologies created in the past 10 years. However, when the moment of truth (the interview) comes, few candidates know the answer to very basic questions.
Moreover, the resumes I have seen were obviously made to order. I know that when I get the resume as an email file attachment and the Word document file name is something like: JohnDoeCompanyName.doc. This is an obvious hint that a different Word document (resume) is created for every company the staffing agency or the candidate submits the resume to. They basically tailor the resume to the specific job requirement the hiring company is looking for.
I totally agree with these quotes from Andrew Wulf’s article:
- Resumes become a kind of worm to dangle in front of the recruiter or HR fish, just enough to hook some interest.
- Tests rarely demonstrate ability other than memorization anyway; I’ve known people who aced certification tests and were utterly unable to develop any useful applications. Certifications themselves seem mostly ignored as well, probably for this good reason.
- It’s all in the way they communicate their knowledge, respond to specific questions on projects they claim to have worked on, and demonstrate a willingness to learn.
- Would you hire a homebuilder on the basis of ability to hit a nail into a board?
- The end result is not to find that one person with the exact resume matching a laundry list of technologies (they have 3.14159 years of JUnit!) but someone who can work successfully with the other team members, is capable of doing or learning anything required, knows how to think, and has some kind of track record of actual work.
In any case, here are a few links to Oracle interview questions:
- www.geekinterview.com/Interview-Questions/Oracle
- www.get-best.com/IT_Interview_Questions/oracleDBAQA1.htm
- www.techinterviews.com/index.php?cat=12
- www.kyapoocha.com/category/oracle-interview-questions
- dev.fyicenter.com/interview/oracle.html
- thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2007/06/sql-interview-questions.html
- www.oraclemusings.com/?p=61
How to Ask for Help the Right Way
Yesterday, I received the following email:
Hi, We’d bought oracle 10g with RH Enterprise Linux in 2005. After year of a smooth
operation we’re having following problems with Oracle 10g.
– system shutdowns once a day automatically
– listener could not find available handler for requested type of server .
Listener failed to start. But registered with the listener and that the
appropriate handlers are accepting connections.
We can’t figure it out why the server is suddenly shutdowns. Can you provide us
solution solving this problem.
Looking forward hearing from you,
Regards,
Now, how am I supposed to reply? I’m almost tempted to send him here, but this is not a “read the manual” issue, it is much worse than that. This is one example of how you ask for help the wrong way.
So, how to ask for help the right or the smart way. Well, provide details. Details like the type and version number for your database and operating system, error messages, test scenarios, test data, test scripts. Am I missing something?
In short, the more specific you are in describing your problem the better chance someone will respond with a solution.
I guess I will reply with the following two links:
- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen.
- How To Ask Questions by Tom Kyte.
