Candidate #2 is our lucky winner for Windows Sysadmin Consultant. She'll be working with me at the CWRU School of Dentistry. Candidate #3 wasn't quite as good with Windows but impressed us for Unix, so we'll be considering him for that vacancy.

Incidentally, my manager (who continues to be super easy to work for) assigned me the task of preparing for and interviewing our Unix sysadmin candidates, starting with this guy. We have three Unix people who could have done it, but he wanted me to do it. Needless to say, I think this is awesome, and I prepared what I think are really good questions.

Okay, fine, I'll show you the questions. :-)

Unix interview questions

  1. Unices you've used. Pros and cons. Unices you haven't used but have heard about. Your favorite Unix.
  2. Improving the security of a system. A group of systems.
  3. Maintaining a system. A group of systems.
  4. Scripting languages you've used. Similarities and differences. Problems you've solved by scripting a Unix system. Your favorite scripting language. The scripting language you've been meaning to play with.
  5. Package systems you've used. Pros and cons. What to do when the package system gets in your way. Package systems you haven't used but have heard about. Your favorite package system.
  6. Popular shells. Similarities and differences. Interactive use “vs.” scripting. Your favorite shell. The shell maintained by someone in this building.
  7. Mail transport agents you've used. Mail delivery agents. Pros and cons of each. Your favorite MTA, MDA, and MUA.
  8. DNS software you've used. The three types of Domain Name Service. How each is used.
  9. Firewall software you've used. Pros and cons.
  10. The X Window System. Pros and cons. Other graphics environments.
  11. Methods for dealing with spam. Pros and cons.
  12. Hard links and symbolic links. Pros and cons of each.
  13. Configuring the kernel. Pros and cons.
  14. Unix security model and its ramifications (e.g. shadowed passwords, setuid programs). Pros and cons.
  15. Printing sucks. Next question.
  16. The boot process of your favorite Unix. Controlling it. Debugging it.
  17. Revision control systems you've used. Your favorite revision control system. Uses for revision control on Unix systems.
  18. Cool SSH tricks.
  19. The three books you'd have on your artificially tiny bookshelf.
  20. Difficult or interesting Unix problem(s) you've solved.