What is 'FizzBuzz' for system administrators? [closed]

FizzBuzz is a simple test of programing ability, often used by employers to weed out people who can't actually program. Is there an equivalent test for system administrators and general IT guys?

Clarification I'm looking for things that can be tested in an interview setting with some accuracy. Obviously, this isn't going to clearly determine the right person, just as FizzBuzz doesn't for programmers. I'm just looking to weed out people who think they can work as a system administrator/IT Person because they can surf the web.

Solution 1:

I don't think you are going to come up with a single test like this for administrators because the definition of an administrator (for purposes of this site) is much too broad. The FizzBuzz test can be implemented in any programming language, so it doesn't matter if you are hiring a PHP developer or someone doing embedded C.

On the administrative side, you could be hiring a network admin, storage admin, server admin (further broken into Windows, Linux, *nix, mainframe), desktop admins/support, service desk or even specific application administrators (Exchange, Lotus, SAP, etc).

Sure, one area you could touch on is TCP/IP and CIDR as network communication is a fundamental skill of most positions but even that may not be necessary for entry level potions (unlike FizzBuzz for developers).

Personally, I prefer to use open-ended scenarios to see an applicant's troubleshooting process and how well they can analyze a new situation. An even better extension of that is to have the applicant work directly with an internal customer on a real issue. Not only do you get to see the above in action but also see their customer service attitude.

Solution 2:

I think you'll find FizzBuzz is very rarely used at all and then only by very poor interviewers with minimal knowledge of programming principles. Any common testing method like that is completely defeated because the solutions are widely publicised and memorised by anyone who even considers themselves qualified for an interview. Any such test for a sysadmin would be equally useless.

Standardised test questions are and always have been worthless. No less so in a job interview than having the same questions every year on a school exam. They work just once.

What you need is the interviewer to be skilled and have an ability to "read" people. There's more to be learned about how a candidate answers questions than there is about the answers themselves. There are no shortcuts. At least none of any value.