SSWUGtv
With Stephen Wynkoop
Watch or listen (pod casts are available too) as Steve interviews Laura Rose on the show today talking about micro-managing… and specifically how and why to avoid it.
Watch the Show
Slow Drain Devices
This is not a term I dreamt up. While surfing the web for causes of high SQL Server disk queue wait times I came across this blog titled, “How To Deal With Slow Drain Devices.” https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/sanblog/entry/how_to_deal_with_slow_drain_devices20?lang=en While the blog did not deal with my particular situation I definitely found it interesting. The blog itself is specifically targeting SAN performance degredation happening over an extended period of time.
I have experienced slow drain devices in other scenarios. One such scenario is the performance of a stored procedure. It runs great for days, months or even years. Then, one day, it just won’t run. There are lots of causes for this such as index fragmentation, out of date statistics, a server running for months without the SQL Server being restarted (not recommending you restart your SQL Service, but there are things that get cleaned up sometimes after a boot), transaction logs growing without backups…on and on.
Do you have Slow Drain things in your environments that catch up to you? Share them with us by sending your Email to btaylor@sswug.org.
Job Interview Follow-up
Sosseh:
I have always read your articles but am a keen fan of software development but still on the amateur side.
I want to agree with your points or rather interview questions. But what if the candidate knows these aspects theoretically and not practically?
I may be wrong.
Editor:
I agree that knowing these things theoretically is very important. That is really all I think you can reasonably expect from a young programmer with less than a year experience. One thing I am surprised about is how much education is targeted towards specific languages rather than software development principles and practices. Some have never experienced version control after graduating from College.
Chris:
You asked if you are missing something regarding interview questions. I would say that what you ask is very subjective. In my world, we rely less on book knowledge and more on theory and the ability to figure things out.
When I am interviewing a candidate, I will ask a lot of theory questions surrounding OOP and Microsoft.Net in general. This is mainly because that is what we use in my organization. But ultimately, anyone you hire should be able to understand the basic theory surrounding the technology you are using. I am very particular about hiring colleagues who know how to think through problems. I am less concerned with things that can be taught, such as a particular language. This allows me to be more flexible when hiring a candidate. I would even hire someone with only Java experience, so long as they displayed the aptitude to learn and figure things out.. teaching a new language is not that hard. What is impossible to teach is that inner drive to understand what happens beneath the covers and how to manipulate it to serve the needs of the client.
Editor:
I quite agree. I think my questions reflect your points rather nicely. I don’t focus at all on a specific language. Instead I focus on software development techniques, practices, and processes. Those are things that are language/framework/library neutral. In fact, I would rather hire a Java developer with good skills for a C# job than someone who has been doing C# generated code. Syntax is easier to learn that good code writing skills.
Cheers,
Ben
$$SWYNK$$
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