Ask Slashdot: What Should a Unix Fan Look For In a Windows Expert? 454
andy5555 writes "I am hardcore Unix (and recently storage) fan responsible for our server department. Most of the servers run (you guessed it) different types of Unix. For quite a long time, Windows servers played very little role, but sometimes we get applications from our business departments which run only under Windows. So it seems that we have to take it seriously and hire a few Windows fans who would be able to take care of the (still small but growing) number of Windows servers. Since I am Unix fan, I have very little knowledge of Windows (some of my teammates may have more, but we are not experts). If I have to hire such a person I would like to find someone who is passionate about Windows. It is easy for me to recognize a Windows fan, but I don't know how to test his/her knowledge. There are some sites with typical Windows interview questions, but everybody can read them and prepare. How would you recommend the hiring process to proceed? What should I ask?"
Re:UNIX Differences (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Well, not calling them a "fan" might be a start (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Simple (Score:2, Informative)
No mention of Powershell? No mention of rolling out software / updates / OS images / workgroups / booting from the net / roaming accounts / mounted shares / active directory? Yeah, that's a useless list of BS you posted, primarily focused on irrelevant client side crap -- I mean: Drag and Drop File Transfer Speeds? YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
That, or it was meant to be funny. If it was, you're trolling pretty hard.
What we do when interviewing windows experts (Score:5, Informative)
Ask them what kinds of scripting languages Windows supports (Powershell, VB, JS etc), what does WMI do? How would you deploy a printer using policies?
A LOT of Windows admins know how to call for help and push buttons, but not so many know the backend stuff that makes Windows tick which is kinda invaluable as an admin.
Re:Well, not calling them a "fan" might be a start (Score:4, Informative)
Not only that, but the best people are those who have experience of multiple systems...
If someone knows only windows, or knows only linux, then that's what they will push for every time regardless of what's actually the better option. Just like there are plenty of people out there who will push for expensive oracle databases for even the most trivial of tasks.
Also find out what someone does at home, is it a purely 9-5 for them or are they interested in computing at home?
And for windows specific questions, see how they fare when something goes wrong and they have to venture off the mcse path, eg they have to resort to command line, registry hacks or recovery boot media to fix something... A lot of so called windows "experts" get completely stumped when faced with something that can't be done through the gui.
Also the term "windows professional" is pointless, it just means "someone who makes their living using windows" and has nothing to do with their competence at the job. Many people do such things for a living and are highly incompetent, they are professionals but i wouldn't want to hire them.