job interview

ganjgrg

Hey Guys,
I have been called up for one-off interview for a networking job in 2 weeks time. The thing is I have only passed my CCNA and I am still reading the books to get the overview about networking. I did go for a similiar interview 3 weeks ago but I couldnot answer all of the questions they asked. So, I didn't make it.
I need your help guys. They said they will ask me 10 questions about networking. I don't know what kind of questions they will ask. One question I remember they ask me is
Q. If some other department wants to install a media box in your office, as a networking personnel, what are the 3 questions you should ask them about the possible issues in installing the media Box.
Q. A user at home who has a broadband connection could not log on to a particular website. Now, as a support staff, what are the things you would check about the probelm?

Please help me out guys. You can send me any possible questions and answers like this that they will ask me. ALso help me to answer the questions that I have listed above.
Let me know what are the possible questions they will ask me in the interview.
I need to get this job AND I am desperate for a career in networking.
so, help me out networking guru's.
thanks
ganga
hongkong

donnab

Hi,

It sounds to me like you are getting very nervous and worried about not being able to answer a question in the interview.

Rather than anticipate the possible questions they are going to ask which is going to be almost impossible just work out a step by step process for troubleshooting. They want to see what your thought processes are and how you would help and suppor the users.

I like to start with the basics like checking the cables are plugged in and haven't accidentially been knocked out. Are the interfaces showing as up and can you tell the user where to look to check. Can they ping their loopack, the next hop, the ISP and then your network. Was it working before? Has anything changed? Does the person sitting next to them have connectivity?

I feel that this would be a better use of your time than trying to anticipate all the possible questions. Also, I'm sure you have but:

Dress in a smart suit and ensure you look well groomed
Research the company and what they do and what they stand for
Write some questions to ask them about internal development processes and progression etc
Smile
Thank then for their time and at the end ask them if they have any reservations about hiring you that you can cover.

Please let us know how you get on.

mattsthe2

What more can you say - really. Listen to the last post.
Dont work yourself up to much otherwise when you step up to the plate you'll be walking.

kalari

Interviews can be intense. I think you just need to take some deep breaths and remember your basic Help Desk troubleshooting skills.

Even if you don't ask the questions they are expecting, at least you can give them a general idea that you know (somewhat) what you are talking about and are TRAINABLE: you can think like a network tech, you just might need some more pointers/less stressful interview!

"Q. If some other department wants to install a media box in your office, as a networking personnel, what are the 3 questions you should ask them about the possible issues in installing the media Box."

Some questions that popped in my head:

- What sort of "media" do they need the box for? Is that service/data/whatever already available or available through a more efficient manner?

- Who needs access to the box? As in internal LAN or internet?

- How many users are they expecting to use the box? What sort of throughput do they expect?

- Can the physical network support the box? As in are they expecting Gigabit speeds but plugging into a hub? Are there enough empty ports on your switches in that department?

- What ports/protocols need to be unblocked? How will this impact the greater network (do you need to worry about modifying ACLs, QoS and so forth?)

- What VLANs (if any) do they need access to?

- Do you have enough IP's for the box? Will it DHCP or need a static set?

- What OS is it running? Do you have licenses/support for it? HAS IT BEEN TESTED?

- Is all of the software they want on the box supported by your network team/policies?

- What security policies are in place? As in who will administer the box/software suite? Who has root access? Does the department need logins/reboot access? Should the box be physically accessible in the department or put in a closet/MDF for more security?

And so on...


"Q. A user at home who has a broadband connection could not log on to a particular website. Now, as a support staff, what are the things you would check about the problem?"

The most important step, in my opinion, is to try and assess the tech competence level of the user. If they know what they are talking about, give them credit and try some of the harder steps first. There's nothing quite like a tech support newb telling you to "Click Start - Run - cmd - release and renew your IP" when you've been doing it for the last 50 min while you were waiting for them on the phone!

- What website are they trying to access? Are they typing it in correctly? Can you remote into their machine and watch them enter it or enter it for them?

- If you have access to the same network, can YOU access the site?

- Can they access other websites?

- Have they tried a different browser?

- Do they have NoScript or any sort of Java/Flash blocker installed that they may have forgotten about?

- Do they have a valid IP? Did they release and renew that IP?

- Did they restart their modem and/or wireless router completely? Are all the lights back on as they should be?

- Did they restart their computer completely?

- After they restart, are there lights on their NIC? If not, a cable could be loose or bad.

- Do they have any sort of firewall running (including native Windows)? Did you try disabling all of them one by one and then accessing the site?

- Are they stuck in your company's Radius pool or authentication scheme? Can you see them from your end? Can you kick them off and have the re-authenticate/login?

- Are they coming over a "standard" connection or through something special like a VPN? Is that setup correctly?

- Are you seeing network problems/outages/issues in that area? Can you pull up your monitoring software and see the router/switch/interface that they are connecting to?

- Have you troubleshot everything the best of your ability? If so, have you escalated the call in the proper manner? What systems does your company have in place to manage emergencies?

- Have you given the user the best estimation of when they can access the site again?

Don't forget the last step! Don't get caught up solving the issues/working with the other network techs and forget the customer on hold!

man, i love procrastinating on my CCNA studying!


all the best

ganjgrg

hey guys, how's it going?
well, i went for the interview few days ago. the scheduled interview was at 4pm but i got there early and asked if i could take the interview earlier than scheduled. he agreed and passed me a questionaire, 3 pages 25 questions in total. I was completely shocked when i saw that about 95% of the questions were related to security. Now, i don't know anything about security and tried my best to answer all the questions. I was given an hour but I finished within 30 minutes and I handed the paper back to him. I figured if i don't know the answers to the questions, why stick around and waste his time.I tried to think and answer all the questions. He had downloaded those questions from the internet and checked the answers right away. He told me the result was okay and had to work more on security. I don't think I read anything about security on CCNA but still I got some questions right. I think I got 50% of the questions right. He said he will think about it and i am still waiting for his answer. it's been 8 days now.
i would like to thank all of you for giving me suggestions and boosting my confidence.