What to expect in a network engineer interview

Dieg0M

Recently had a job offer after an interview for a network engineer tier1-2 position in Canada. I had some questions during the process and got some pretty good feedback from the community, here's the original thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/94402-network-engineer-interview-advise.html
I created this thread to give back to the community by giving you an overview of the questions asked in the process. This does not include the phone screening interview and the 2 in person interviews I had with HR (language talked: french)

All technical phone interviews were calls from the US.

First interviewer(language talked: English):
A client at a data center says he has a problem with one of his server. He says it’s slower than usual. What do you do?
What else can you do?
How exactly do you do that?
What other methods or tools can you use?

Second Interviewer(language talked: English):
What are the different LSA types in OSPF? Explain them.
What are the different OSPF network types? Explain them.
What is the default network type on a point to point link in OSPF?
What happens when it is in this mode?
What are the default OSPF timers?
What does the command show ip ospf neighbor show?
What keyword do you have to never forget to use when redistributing protocols into OSPF?
Tell me a complex network problem you’ve ran into? (I assumed he wanted one concerning OSPF)
What’s the multicast address of OSPF? And EIGRP?
What’s the AD of EIGRP?
What is IGMP?
What command do you use to see if a server is subscribed to an IGMP group?
What is the difference between show flash and show disk on a 6500?

Third interviewer; he told me he was a CCIE R&S and Voice I believe (language talked: french):
What protocol would you use to interconnect 2 stock exchange networks and why?
In pim-sparse mode, what is a RP and what is it used for?
What’s a DR and what does it do?
Tell me about your previous network and how it worked.

So this is what you should be expecting for interviews for a network engineer tier1-2 position. Again, I'd like to thank the community for the support you gave me when I needed it.

Death Dream

Nice! Thanks! I was good up to the third interview questions. Had no idea about any of those lol

-hype

AWESOME!!

Thanks for sharing.

Snow.bros

Cool stuff, i have never been to an IT job interview before, now i know what kind of questions to expect thanks for sharing your experience.

fredrikjj

So what answers did you give on the open ended questions?

Dieg0M

I'd rather people make their own minds on what they would answer on these. The hardest question for me was the last question of 2nd interview.

pert

First interviewer is screening morons, fine. Second interviewer is terrible, period. None of that stuff matters 99% of the time. What do you get out of knowing if someone has memorized the default OSPF timers? When does this knowledge ever come up? Its actually useless, because the knowing the default is useless, knowing that two routers don't have the same timing is what matters. Compare him to the 3rd interviewer, look how much better those questions are. They evaluate how the person thinks, makes them explain their reasoning, digs into their background. The two trivia questions he asked are actually stuff that relevant to understand in a large network.

Dieg0M

pert wrote: »

First interviewer is screening morons, fine. Second interviewer is terrible, period. None of that stuff matters 99% of the time. What do you get out of knowing if someone has memorized the default OSPF timers? When does this knowledge ever come up? Its actually useless, because the knowing the default is useless, knowing that two routers don't have the same timing is what matters. Compare him to the 3rd interviewer, look how much better those questions are. They evaluate how the person thinks, makes them explain their reasoning, digs into their background. The two trivia questions he asked are actually stuff that relevant to understand in a large network.

I think you are being too harsh on these guys. First interviewer was testing more how I evaluate problems and troubleshoot. The second interviewer was testing my memory under pressure (a technical interview makes a lot of candidate nervous), also what kind of experience I actually have with these technologies(asking for a problem i've ran into) and finally asking questions that I likely don't know the answer to see how I react. I have to agree that the last interviewer asked very good questions and this is because he is a top tier engineer with a lot of knowledge and experience in networking.

olaHalo

Thanks for posting. I will save this thread for future reference

Zartanasaurus

pert wrote: »

First interviewer is screening morons, fine. Second interviewer is terrible, period. None of that stuff matters 99% of the time. What do you get out of knowing if someone has memorized the default OSPF timers? When does this knowledge ever come up? Its actually useless, because the knowing the default is useless, knowing that two routers don't have the same timing is what matters. Compare him to the 3rd interviewer, look how much better those questions are. They evaluate how the person thinks, makes them explain their reasoning, digs into their background. The two trivia questions he asked are actually stuff that relevant to understand in a large network.

I get that interview #2 is basically Network Jeopardy, but they are questions any self respecting CCNA/P should be able to answer without too much trouble. They are just saving time for the actual Network Engineer who is going to be asking the real questions. You don't want your Senior Network Engineer wasting his time interviewing some guy who doesn't know the stage #2 questions.

I'd be curious to hear how you answered Interview #3, question #1.

pert

Network jeapordy questions are not useful for evaluating ability. Let's say you want to know what someone knows about the areas covered by engineer 2. Look how much better information you can get when the questions are only slightly different than Interviewer 2, these questions cover all of the same ground, but actually show how well someone might perform as an engineer:

1. Explain to me the different types of OSPF networks, when you would want to use them, and how you would set them up?
2. You have successfully setup EIGRP, but the routes are not being used, how and why could this happen?
3. A server admin calls you to report that one of his servers is not receiving a specific multicast stream, but other servers are. How would you troubleshoot this?
4. Two OSPF routers are not forming neighborships, tell me how you would troubleshoot this issue, and why this could be happening

sizeon

wow most of those questions are tough. Definitely CCNP level.

sina2011

Those questions the OP has said I hope they are not ccna level questions because if it is im screwed.

Dieg0M

sina2011 wrote: »

Those questions the OP has said I hope they are not ccna level questions because if it is im screwed.

This job did not specify to have a CCNA/NP/IE but you are correct in saying the level of questions are not at the CCNA level. Although I'm sure some CCNA's with experience would be able to answer a lot of these correctly, you would find most of these questions in CCNP/CCIE level exams. I know for a fact that if you only have CCNP cert level knowledge you would struggle with the third interviewers questions concerning multicast.

Zartanasaurus

pert wrote: »

Network jeapordy questions are not useful for evaluating ability. Let's say you want to know what someone knows about the areas covered by engineer 2. Look how much better information you can get when the questions are only slightly different than Interviewer 2, these questions cover all of the same ground, but actually show how well someone might perform as an engineer:

1. Explain to me the different types of OSPF networks, when you would want to use them, and how you would set them up?
2. You have successfully setup EIGRP, but the routes are not being used, how and why could this happen?
3. A server admin calls you to report that one of his servers is not receiving a specific multicast stream, but other servers are. How would you troubleshoot this?
4. Two OSPF routers are not forming neighborships, tell me how you would troubleshoot this issue, and why this could be happening

Right, and you don't want someone from HR asking those questions. The way a question is answered could lead to clarifying remarks/questions that the Sr Engineer is qualified to ask. But to get to the Sr Engineer you want to at least feel like he has the basics down and isn't wasting his time interviewing some guy who doesn't even know what OSPF is.

No one said the Jeopardy quiz was there to evaluate ability; it's there to weed out the candidates who aren't worth interviewing. Just the other day dave330i was lamenting the fact that he (I'm assuming) was interviewing candidates for an engineering role who didn't know the basics of VMWare. There are other similar threads on this forum detailing similar scenarios.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/94526-interviewing-woes.html

I don't know what his screening process is so it's possible they got past the initial pre-screen, but you don't want to schedule a bunch of interviews with people who don't belong there. It's a waste of time for all parties involved.

To the other posters who are saying those questions aren't CCNA level, I'd disagree. I'd say at least half of the stage #2 questions are answerable by CCNAs. At least I teach all of my co-workers who are going for CCNA that material.

CCNA questions in bold:
What are the different LSA types in OSPF? Explain them.
What are the different OSPF network types? Explain them.
What is the default network type on a point to point link in OSPF?
What happens when it is in this mode?
What are the default OSPF timers?
What does the command show ip ospf neighbor show?
What keyword do you have to never forget to use when redistributing protocols into OSPF?
Tell me a complex network problem you’ve ran into? (I assumed he wanted one concerning OSPF)
What’s the multicast address of OSPF? And EIGRP?
What’s the AD of EIGRP?
What is IGMP?
What command do you use to see if a server is subscribed to an IGMP group?
What is the difference between show flash and show disk on a 6500?

So 8/13 of the questions come directly out of CCNA prep material. And with the new CCNA, even moreso. I'd expect a CCNP to give better, more detailed answers, but a CCNA should be able to answer the ones I bolded. If you can't, add the questions to your flash cards. You are still doing flashcards after you passed right?

pert

I don't remember questions 1/2 in CCNA. I didn't get introduced to LSA types / OSPF network types until NP Route. Is this the new NA?

Dieg0M

pert wrote: »

I don't remember questions 1/2 in CCNA. I didn't get introduced to LSA types / OSPF network types until NP Route. Is this the new NA?

I don't think LSA types/ OSPF network types were in CCNA either. I still believe a CCNA with experience in a production network would know the difference. I know I did before I became CCNP.

Zartanasaurus

I'm pretty sure Router and Network LSAs are covered in Odom's ICND2 book.

olaHalo

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

CCNA questions in bold:
What are the different LSA types in OSPF? Explain them.
What are the different OSPF network types? Explain them.
What is the default network type on a point to point link in OSPF?
What happens when it is in this mode?
What are the default OSPF timers?
What does the command show ip ospf neighbor show?
What keyword do you have to never forget to use when redistributing protocols into OSPF?
Tell me a complex network problem you’ve ran into? (I assumed he wanted one concerning OSPF)
What’s the multicast address of OSPF? And EIGRP?
What’s the AD of EIGRP?
What is IGMP?
What command do you use to see if a server is subscribed to an IGMP group?
What is the difference between show flash and show disk on a 6500?

Yikes!
Just passed ICND1 and I could only answer 2 of the bold questions...

CodeBlox

Good questions! I'd be good with interview #1 and #2. For #3 however... I don't even have the knowledge to answer those questions. I could however explain our current network.

miroa12004

Dieg0M wrote: »

I don't think LSA types/ OSPF network types were in CCNA either. I still believe a CCNA with experience in a production network would know the difference. I know I did before I became CCNP.

You're right, I was recently studying for my CCNA using CBT Nuggets and they didn't mention them