Security, certification, and Cloud Computing

[Dan Ritter]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 02:42:00PM -0400, Grant M. wrote:
> Laura Conrad wrote:
> > You should slap all the HR and management people who kept asking him
> > if he had TCP/IP.  That's why he put it there.
> 
> I'd say "touché", except I think they'd have to have gotten that sort of
> question from somewhere. That being the case, it's either an excellent
> opportunity to show off your knowledge of the subject, or explain why it
> has little to do with the position in question, or perhaps it's a real
> good reason to find somewhere else to ply your trade. The other
> possibility is that perhaps they truly need someone to understand
> thoroughly the TCP/IP protocol, in which case most of the folks on whose
> resume's I'd seen this very likely don't. It's a reasonably specialized
> skillset and although useful, typically isn't needed by anyone other
> than the most serious of network admins. But your point is well taken -
> HR does tend to latch onto random buzz-words, and then regurgitating
> them at a later date.

HR is almost always stupid. How can it be otherwise? In a large
company, they are handling a hundred different specialties. In a
small company, they barely exist.

(Now, a large company can assign an HR person to handle the
staffing needs of a particular group, and over time they can
grow into that position. That works very well.)

If there's a buzzword on a resume, you ought to ask a question
about it. For TCP/IP, I'd start with "Would you describe a
three way handshake?" and go from there. And if they are
bluffing, it will soon become obvious. I would prefer someone
who knows they are ignorant and is willing to learn to someone
who doesn't even know they are ignorant.


-dsr-

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