Re: job screening question

["Nick Olsen" <nick () flhsi com>]

+1
I have people waive the "I'm Cisco Certified" flag in my face all the time. 
Then proceed to ask me if we have a T1. To the point that it's no longer a 
valuable achievement in my eyes.

I'm certified to perform CPR in the state of Florida... I should go apply 
for a surgeon position at the local hospital.

Nick Olsen
Network Operations (855) FLSPEED  x106

----------------------------------------
 From: "James M Keller" <jmkeller () houseofzen org>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 1:19 PM
To: "Oliver Garraux" <oliver () g garraux net>, nanog () nanog org
Subject: Re: job screening question

On 7/5/2012 1:11 PM, Oliver Garraux wrote:
> Seems fairly straightforward to me.  It'll break path MTU discovery.
>
> I would hope someone applying for an "IP expert" position would know 
that.
> Could HR be mangling the question or something?
>
> Oliver
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Oliver Garraux
> Check out my blog:  www.GetSimpliciti.com/blog
> Follow me on Twitter:  twitter.com/olivergarraux
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 1:02 PM, William Herrin <bill () herrin us> wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I gave my HR folks a screening question to ask candidates for an IP
> > expert position. I've gotten some "unexpected" answers, so I want to
> > do a sanity check and make sure I'm not asking something unreasonable.
> > And by "unexpected" I don't mean naively incorrect answers, I mean
> > oh-my-God-how-did-you-get-that-cisco-certification answers.
> >
> > The question was:
> >
> > You implement a firewall on which you block all ICMP packets. What
> > part of the TCP protocol (not IP in general, TCP specifically)
> > malfunctions as a result?
> >
> >
> > My questions for you are:
> >
> > 1. As an expert who follows NANOG, do you know the answer? Or is this
> > question too hard?
> >
> > 2. Is the question too vague? Is there a clearer way to word it?
> >
> > 3. Is there a better screening question I could pass to HR to ask and
> > check the candidate's response against the supplied answer?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bill Herrin
> >
> >
> > --
> > William D. Herrin ................ herrin () dirtside com  bill () herrin us
> > 3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
> > Falls Church, VA 22042-3004

You would be surprised by some of the people I get off the street
applying for senior network engineering positions who couldn't connect
up a SOHO router and a dumb switch and make them work, let alone
understand how PMTU discovery works.

-- 
---
James M Keller