Interview next week advice sort

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Well i've landed an interview next week for an ICT technician with the local high school. This would be the 2nd time in 3 years i've had an interview for the same post at the same school. However things have changed, the ICT manager for starters.

Last time i didn't get it as i had no qualifications other than the A+, and no real experience i could prove in an IT area. Now i only have the N+ as an extra qual, but also 2 extra years working ina broad IT area.
I've been working on PC's mainly using W2K and workgroups, repairing and fixing teh Hardware issues as well as some OS problems.
However i still don't have much in the way of Server, Domain, or anything else. While looking at the job description i feel i can fill in most of teh essential skills required and some of the desirable, i'm just wondering if they would really need some one with more Server side and network experience than i have?

Anyone who's worked in a school as an IT tech give any advice or suggestions on how i can prepare for this? Anything i should expect to be asked? What about AD (what is it exactly???)? do schools use it? I have no real idea about the network infrastructure of the school as it may have changed since i last had an interview. I knwo tehy were going wireless a few years ago but thats all.

(at least this time theres only 3 people on the interview panel not 6 like last time!)

 

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An interview in a school will quite often consist of a tour of the school, a techy test, and a formal interview. the techy tests, at least the ones I've had to do in the past, tend to be all about troubleshooting and fault finding. You may even have an 'informal' chat with your line manager to make sure that they feel comforatble with you, and you them.

AD = Active Directory. The vast majority of schools use windows domains, so therefore use AD. I'd suggest that you get yourself an eval copy of 2003 (since that is the OS they will most likely still be using) get it installed into a virtual PC and make it a domain controller. then do the same with an xp client vm, but join it to the domain. play around with AD users and comps so that you get to grips with the basics.

Although the school may have a wireless network in place you can bet that the backbone infrastructure of the network is hard wired, so all you would really need to know about wireless would be how to set an SSID on an AP and configure security, most likely WPA+PSK. Oh, and how to connect the client to it!

So long as you know the basics of domains, AD, wireless, and are honest in your level of knowledge all should be well.

Good luck!

 

Just noticed i can't spell. Threaf title should be sought not sort! Gah, hope they wont be too put off with my english lol.

thanks fer the advice Si, I'll look for W23K server to try some AD stuff.

I'm only really applying because i want out of my current job. I don't feel that we're paid enough for teh work we do, and the company keep trying to do things on the cheap to save money, yet seem happy to waste money on equipment for development that only ever gets used once. I have very little in the way of test equipment and tools including software, yet we have plenty of sat decoders, pattern gens etc that have been bought, used once and now sit in the corner never to be touched again.

The school job is a lrge pay cut for me (around £4k), but as its closer i save on the fuel bill (about £3k at the current costs), and i can work around the kids holidays better. And the main thng is its more IT based than what i do now. Definatley more involved in IT anyway.

 

Had the interview this morning. It seemed very brief to me, they didnt ask me to expand on any answers or give any thing technical for me to answer. Just asked if i had experience installing and configuring XP and Peripherals, How would i priorotise a list of jobs, and then a quick tour of the school.
Made me feel as if they already had someone else in mind for the job.

Ahh well Ce'la vie! I have another interview on friday for network support engineer (think my network experience or lack of, will let me down here) and at least i still have y current job no matter how much i hate it!

 

Hi Twiz, did they ask you any questions on the SIMS software?

The reason I ask is that I have two application forms (and another part drafted) out for IT Technicians in the local education system. All of the jobs list a knowledge of SIMS as desirable and just wandered whether it was something raised in your interview.

 

Nope didn't even mention it. But it wasnt listed on teh job spec either, i don't think thier using it at this school yet. Mind you they didnt ask me any questions regarding OS's apart from have i used XP. Not even a mention of W2K3 which they use on thier servers.

Better luck with your apps than i had with mine.

 

Just wondering if anyone has heard of these people?

http://www.netservers.co.uk

I've got an interview there tomorrow. Unfortunatley, as it seems very Network orientated, i'm not really sure i'm gonna be what they are looking for. While i have the N+ i dont think its enough for a job with them. But of course, i wont know that for sure until tomorrow. And stranger things have happened (though normlly not to me!)

 

I'd look at their web site as this can give away the type of person spec they are looking to hire. Look especially under the "about us" as well as the type of service they're offering etc. Best wishes

 

Already have done. Looked at thier careers page and its the description of the type of people on there taht makes me ask why they interviewing me.

 

The reason being you have potential and some experience that they'd taught would come handy in the role.

C'mon boost your confidence and go give the interview your best shot and if you don't like the company or environment then there you have it. Best wishes

 

Ahh well didnt get this one either. Did really bad in the interview. Just not enough knowledge of networking at a low level. Things like, if you cant ping due to a firewall what else can you use to check for a connection on a LAN? I had no idea.

They definatley wanted someone with more technical knowledge than me. But, not to be disheartened, i'll try somewhere else some other time.

 

nope! And already had a few

 

this may just be me with not enough experience but how can you have connectivity to a lan if the firewall is blocking pings?

or is the firewall blocking just the port used for ping (i forget which port it is)

you could also test your default gatway by attempting to access the internet?

try and access a router config page via http?

have a look and see if the link light is lit up on the ethernet card and check the activity light?

right click the network connection and choose status to view sent and recieved packets?

edit:

also, if they want you to manage the server (as an ict technician) , then what are they employing a network manager for?

 

Yeah well this one had me stumped too.

The guy interviewing me said the answer was to use ARP as this would show the MAC address and its assigned IP, even through a firewall.

Like i said they were asking, what i thought, were really tough questions. Now the job was advetised as 1st line support, but the guy told me in the interview that thier customers had thier own 1st line of support and this company was the 2nd and 3rd line support. If i had known all this before, i wouldnt have bothered wasting thier time and mine with the interview.

I mean, he even told me they had guys with no qualifications but had setup exchange servers, email server, web servers and full domain controlled servers at home. And that as i hadnt done any of this i wasnt suitable, but i should try to get experience in this sort of thing. And that to do that i should get SBS and try setting that up. While thats a good idea, maybe, i dont have the resources or cash to go out and get the equipment and software to do this legally. I'm a family guy on a very tigt home budget as it is, and teh missus would kill me if i spent any more on IT stuff (especially as its her birthday this week!!)

 

No need to worry, heres the Q: How can i get hold of this software free and legally:

This is answer 1

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/bb738372.aspx


Answer 2 is download vmware server and apply for 30 day trials of the various software you need (or most come with the MSPress books)

Answer 1 will get you up and running quicker, best of all none of this will cost you a penny

 

Isnt the Technet stuff time limited too? which is no good as i'd need more than 30 days.

now i do have a spare pc so i could install some stuff on that, but then i'd need the disks not VHDs.

 

you can get 180 day trial of server 2003 from MS directly, I have it.

 

Dude, you're being shortlisted for interview so they must see you as a candidate and able to do at least part of the job, even if you don't believe it yourself. As long as you're honest with people and don't claim for experience that you haven't got, and be confident that you can pick up the rest, you'll be fine.