Tips for a Successful Interview

I've posted a few pointers recently in answer to some questions I have fielded from people who are preparing for interviews. I thought it might be useful to have a quick list of a few ideas that I have found useful in interviews:

1. Be enthusiastic, positive, and pleasant. Employers are looking for someone who is going to bring positive energy into their workplace. This is the time to explain what you like about the new position, as well as to catalog the positive aspects of your current and former positions. Be likable and friendly throughout.
2. Bring solutions to the employer's problems. Do your research, ask questions, and listen to the answer. Apply your experience and expertise to the employer's problems, and engage in a dialog about how to solve them. Show your prospective employer what you bring to the table, and set a solid tone for your future relationship.
3. Bring your full attention to the interview. Whatever is happening at home or your current job, it needs to stay outside the room. Listen to what your prospective boss is saying--and listen to what is not being said. Your full attention needs to be here, now, in the moment.
4. Be strong. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged. Be relentlessly positive, even when the interview hits rough patches. Some interviewers deliberately inject difficult questions or sections into their interviews to see how you react to adversity.
5. Prepare good answers. Examine the job listing for clues about what the hiring manager is looking for. Research common interview questions as well as guessing what questions you will be asked, and prepare good answers. Practice them with a coach who can suggest how to improve your answers.
6. Prepare good questions. When the interviewer invites you to ask questions, know what you are going to ask, and ask it in a positive way. Your questions should be on point and professional.

Critical Thinking

One of the most important characteristics of a good IT professional is an ability to think critically.

Mature IT professionals will understand industry best practices, but will also understand why those practices are widely adopted. Professionals will discover the needs of their organization, and will analyze the available tools and practices to adapt them to the current situation.

Cookbooking an IT environment is easy. Analyzing the challenges in the environment and creatively applying solid structures and processes is the mark of a mature IT professional.

Is It a Quantum Computer?

I ran across an article on the new Dwave 2 "quantum" computer.

Some specialists are expressing skepticism about whether or not what is happening in the box is truly "quantum" in nature or not, but it does seem clear that something unusual is happening. The issue is that direct examination of a quantum system leads to a collapse of the wave function, at which point quantum effects are no longer observable.

As these machines are built and tested, it will be interesting to see what types of problems are solved more quickly with this device. The types of problems that are solved may help to indicate whether or not "entanglement" is being used in the way that the manufacturer claims.

Negotiating Service Level Agreements

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are increasing in importance as enterprises rely on vendors for more and more services. Especially with the penetration of cloud computing in the enterprise, organizations need to protect their reputation by setting clear expectations with the vendors.

Vendors have to protect their own interests, so good vendors are not going to accept any agreement proposed by a single customer. Reaching a SLA will be a tough negotiating process, but it should be done as part of almost any contract negotiation.

There will be a lot of exceptions listed in any detailed SLA. This is the time to identify the exceptions that are of the most concern to your organization, and to demand mitigating actions to be taken by the vendor. (Keep in mind that the cost of these mitigations will be transferred to you in your bill from the vendor, but your organization's reputation needs to be protected against major risks.)

One of the attractive features of cloud computing in particular is that the costs can be spread out over time and across the vendor's customer base. To the extent that you request industry-standard protections, you may be able to spread the costs across your utilization rather than having to pay a lump sum or fixed fee.

A well-designed SLA will contain allowances for necessary maintenance activities and for force majeure. It is common for penalties to be granted as service credits, and it is also common for penalties to be capped at a fixed percentage of recurring costs.

Easing Pain from Office Work

Baseline recently published a slideshow based on an American Osteopathic Association study of pain among office workers. The leading causes of pain for office workers were:

• Sitting for extended periods: 64%
• Posture at the desk: 61%
• Uncomfortable seating: 58%
• Extended computer screen viewing: 46%
• Extended mouse usage: 38%

The study also suggested several tips to help office workers ease some of the causes of physical pain that come from office work:

• Stand up and move every 30 minutes or so. Set a calendar or cell phone reminder if you aren't remembering. When youneed to talk to people in the office, stand up and walk over.
• Excercise 30 or more minutes per day. Find an exercise routine that fits your schedule and life so that you will be able to maintain it over the long term. Even things like using the stairs instead of the elevator, parking a long way away, or taking a lunchtime stroll can make a big difference over the long term.
• Make sure you have a comfortable seat. Some companies will provide an improved seat with a doctors' note; others may allow you to bring in your own seat.
• Adjust your monitor so that the top of the monitor is at eye level when you are sitting up straight.
• Develop good posture. Sit up straight. If you keep your feet flat on the ground, the rest of your body will tend to follow.
• When you mouse, keep your elbows close to your body and try not to flex your wrist. You may need to adjust your seating area to make proper mouse usage easier.

Emphasizing the Value of Your Experience in a Job Interview

I recently sent some advice to someone who was trying to maximize the value of her experience in a job interview. This is the advice I gave her:

Apply your experience to specific problems faced at the company. If you can engage the hiring manager in a back-and-forth dialog about an intractable problem, then make workable suggestions based on your experience, you will set yourself apart from the competition. And you will be demonstrating the value of your experience in a way that is likely to stick in the hiring manager's mind.

The better the research you can do before talking to the hiring manager, the more likely you will be able to engage him or her in a dialog. Figure out what is happening in the group, think of a creative way to address it, and show the hiring manager why your experience is crucial for the team's success.