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SoftLayer Interview Questions & Reviews
Getting the Interview 8 Interviews
Interview Experience 8 Ratings
Server Build Technician at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Houston, TX Aug 2011 – Reviewed Jun 6, 2013 New
Interview Details – I received an email from the site manager while I was still working at another job. After calling him and talking a little bit on the phone we realized that there would be no increase in my pay by coming to SoftLayer, but the location and benefits, as well as the type of work I would be exposed to were enough to make it worth my while. I came in for an interview and was impressed with the layout of the office and the datacenter as well as the relaxed mentality and attitudes of the employees. The interview went well and only took about thirty minutes. I emailed him later to thank him for the interview and he got back to me about two weeks later with a date he wanted me to report to HR.
Interview Question – "Tell me everything you know about computers" View Answer
Negotiation Details – starting pay for this position is non-negotiable but once you get in and prove yourself your yearly review is where you can re-negotiate
Helpful Interview?
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No
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CST at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Houston, TX – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013
Interview Details – Three managers will interview you and ask you different questions regarding hosting. The interview is fairly short and to the point. They need bodies in the call center to support their terrible service.
Interview Question – Do you know linux, cPanel/WHM and Plesk Answer Question
Negotiation Details – They going to pay you what they want to pay you, no negotiation
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
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Data Center Technician at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Oct 2009 – Reviewed Jan 19, 2013
Interview Details – I seriously laughed. It was two guys sitting you down in a room questioning you about the simplest technical questions. They try to intermediate you, I started laughing halfway through. I guess I'm just not used to Texas and how things are done there.
Negotiation Details – No negotiation allowed, I took my $12/hr since I was broke.
Helpful Interview?
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No
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Senior MS SQL Database Administrator at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Houston, TX Oct 2009 – Reviewed Jul 28, 2012
Interview Details – It involved a team interview in several parts that took several hours. 2 or 3 team members interviewed me at a time. Only one was a database administrator and all others were OS technicians, engineers. The network/OS people had easy questions. The DBA had a few tough ones but I thought then and now that he was wrong on most of them. The DBA acted very aggressively and I should have had a warning bell go up but didn't.
Interview Question – Detail what occurs during a DBCC CHECKDB command. In hind site this was rediculous because the DBA who interviewed me had turned off all database consistancy check jobs on all customer servers because he didn't understand what the previous DBA had done. It would up being an example of customers paying for something they weren't getting. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – My direct manager indicated that my rate was higher than they could pay. I indicated that it was a minimum for me. He asked they would like to make an offer but should he even take the effort to get it through HR since there was no way they could meet my rate. He asked if he should even make the call to me if the rate was lower. I told him not to bother and never expected a call with an offer at my rate. They escallated to the CEO prior to Lance and he approved it.
Helpful Interview?
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No
Problem with this interview?
Software Engineer I at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX May 2011 – Reviewed Jun 21, 2012
Interview Details –
I had an initial phone screen where they asked the general "why are you looking to switch" and other personality questions. There were some basic technical questions to make sure that I knew what I was talking about.
The in-person interview takes about an hour and a half. Half an hour is spent with managers and is more of a personality interview. I was asked stuff like "what book most influenced you" and some basic stuff about what I've worked on before and what was something challenging I've worked on.
An hour was spent doing a technical interview with the developers on whose team I was going to be on. I interviewed for the interface team, so there were a lot of general JavaScript, jQuery and PHP questions; one question I was asked is why I would return and/or consume XML over JSON when using XmlHttpRequest. I was also about some SQL, including the difference between JOIN and LEFT JOIN, etc.
My advise would be that if you put something on your resume, know about it.
Interview Question – Why would you use XML over JSON when using ajax. View Answer
Negotiation Details – Like any other company, they'll try to low-ball you. Do your research to know what you're worth and make a counter-officer higher than what you want so that you can meet them in the middle.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Problem with this interview?
Server Build Technician at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Apr 2011 – Reviewed Feb 17, 2012
Interview Details – It took them months between me submitting my resume, at the request of an employee, to actually interviewing me... and then took another 3.5 weeks between the time I interviewed and the time they made their offer.. and then there was a further 2 weeks after that before I started.
Interview Question – Do you have any certifications? View Answer
Negotiation Details – Negotiations seemed to be non-existent for this position. I was made to feel as if I didn't take exactly what they were offering, they would hire someone with no experience, straight out of ITT Tech.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Problem with this interview?
Regional Sales at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Mar 2010 – Reviewed Mar 5, 2010
Interview Details – Submit resume, phone call, then a phone interview with both manager and supervisor. Then a face to face. Then a lunch.
Interview Question – None really Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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No
Problem with this interview?
Engineer at SoftLayer
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Jun 2008 – Reviewed Sep 6, 2010
Interview Details –
There is phone screen that lasts from 20 mins to an hour (depending on who is doing the phone screen).
After the phone screen there is a group interview that consits of multiple groups. Look to spend at least 3-4 hours. They will ask you all types of questions.
Interview Question – Describe yourself in 4 adjectives. Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Problem with this interview?
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