How to not get a sysadmin job

Posted by Simon Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:44:00 GMT

Following on from the last post, here is my favourite failing answer (so far)...

Details of how I formatted test.csv

Highlight I1 -> Insert Function -> Proper -> Text A1 -> Highlight Col I -> filldown
Highlight J1 -> Insert Function -> Proper -> Text B1 -> Highlight Col J ->filldown
Copy and Paste Special Col I into I using values
Copy and Paste Special Col I into J using values
Sanitise manually and then provided with an empty Col H
Copy and paste Col D into H
Copy and paste Col E,F and G to Col L & M
Delete columns D-G

Don't know how to do the last comparison

Apart from the "fixed" CSV they attached that was the complete response!

What's wrong with this answer...

  • it doesn't tell us what application to start clicking around
  • it (by self confession) doesn't answer the entire question
  • "sanitise manually" may work wonderfully for our small sample file, but we sepecifically state it's a sample from a larger file - I'd like to see someone manually sanitise a 6 million line logfile
  • we don't specifically ask, but do hint at wanting a script to solve this task (that is infact it's entire point, to test the candidates scripting abilities), even if we hadn't though, surely the fact that you're applying for a Linux sysadmin role should strongly suggest a scripted answer over a point and click one?
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