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      Systems Administrator Interview

      4 Aug 2015
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Canonical

      Interview

      There were three interviews. The first was with a manager who I think was from a different section to the one I was interviewing for. It was ok, he was fine to talk to but he was very clear he likes to keep his interviews to a very set time limit and that was ok. Next I had a technical interview with two guys who would be colleagues if I got the role. It was terrific, I really enjoyed the mental challenge. I didn't have a lot of prior experience with Apache and there were a number of Apache pitfalls built-in to the scenario but I did it. I felt a little proud too because I could think of people I had worked with elsewhere who would have buckled under some of the problems and not known how to proceed. I liked that I was able to prove even if I didn't immediately know the technical solution or steps to some very specific scenarios that I had the ability to think quickly and figure things out and had a strong can-do attitude and drive. It must have gone ok because I went on to the third interview. This was with two managers. Or was supposed to be; we had the interview and one guy didn't show up. The other guy didn't know where he was and hadn't been able to reach him. This was a bit of a red flag for me; it made me question the organizational skills of Canonical's managers. In the end the guy cancelled because he didn't want to do it by himself.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Hint: know how to get Apache to reload its config without stopping.
      Answer question
      2

      Other Systems Administrator interview reviews for Canonical

      Systems Administrator Interview

      8 Oct 2014
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Perth, Western Australia
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Canonical (Perth, Western Australia) in Aug 2014

      Interview

      I applied online via canonical's website (which uses Taleo). Received an email several weeks later (that went to my spam folder, so I didn't notice initially). Received a follow up email a week later, which I noticed and replied to. Conference call was setup with a U.S. based hiring manager a week later. General questions were asked during that interview - personal preferences, logistical questions, etc. I did not hear back for several weeks (sounds like someone went on leave and no one picked up the application on their behalf). A technical test was finally setup a few weeks later. This was conducted over IRC and ssh (to a remote VM). I was a little rusty with apt-get (been with a Redhat company the last few years), but it came back quickly during the interview. The web service management was relatively easy (was a little difficult to assume the role of "this is a production machine" - found myself not treating it as such). Overall it went well. Again, took several weeks to hear anything further. Another interview was setup between the same hiring manager plus one of the IS managers based in the UK. This was done later at night due to timezone overlap. This did not go well - my fault. I found answering technical questions via a phone interview very difficult. Very likely due to lack of experience conducting interviews over the phone (face to face would have been preferred). Did not hear back for over a week. Finally received a response. I was informed that I was not the type of candidate they were looking for (depth of skills vs other candidates). I was pretty disappointed, as I knew I did not present myself well on the interview and knew I was far more capable than the impression I gave. I wrote a long email detailing where I went wrong with my responses and what I really wanted to say. That seemed to help, as another interview was scheduled. The final interview was between several IS managers. The pressure was really on now (since I'd been given another chance), which affected me negatively again. I was cut off during this call in the middle of giving a long answer (what happens during an ssh connection, etc) - I didn't even notice as the conference system did not indicate an issue nor had my phone disconnected. I reconnected, but already felt it looked bad - perhaps they thought I'd feigned disconnection to go check google ;). Answered a few more questions (most badly... nerves got the better of me after the disconnection) and finished within an hour. Got a response the following day with the same answer. I don't have the depth of skills vs other candidates. Very disappointed, but only with myself. Overall, the interview process was good and all the people involved were friendly. The big negative was the long wait between communication (I applied in early May. The whole process was wrapped up mid August!). Plus no face to face during the final interviews where pressure was an issue (something I deal with better if I can see the person) - but that is probably just something I'm not used to.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Describe in as much detail as you're comfortable with what happens after you type ssh and press enter.
      1 Answer

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