Asuragen Network Administrator Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jul 2011 in Austin, TX (took 2 days)

Got a call back to schedule a 30 minute phone screening with their IT director about two weeks after applying. The phone screening went well, mostly covering my work history and experience and goals. The only odd things were when he asked what salary I was looking for upfront and I was told they were looking to replace a Database Administrator. They wanted someone with networking experience for the job as well, but weren't getting any suitable candidates with that job title, so they changed it. This is weird because I AM NOT IN ANY WAY A DBA. But the rest of the interview goes well and we agreed to schedule a 2 hour interview a few days later.

I arrived and was promptly met by the IT Director who showed me around the facility, the server room, wiring closet and IT area before we went to his tiny cubbyhole office for a 1:1 interview. We mostly discussed our respective backgrounds in more detail. Then I met with two scientific computation developers while the IT Director sat in and we talked about managing Ubuntu desktops with puppet and grid computing management. I thought it went OK, but they seemed to be looking for someone with, yet again, more database administration and development experience.

Next I met with two members of their IT team; a windows admin and I believe the other guy was a front end web developer. The windows admin said very little, and the other guy almost nothing. I had to really lead the conversation, but I'm fine with that and just started asking them questions about their network and infrastructure. I thought this part went pretty well.

After that the IT director showed me around the rest of the office, which was lots of medium height grey cubicles. I should also mention at this point that the IT offices were assymetrical trapezoidal tiny rooms about the size of a master bedroom's closet.

We shook hands and when I asked when I'd hear back he said that the thought the interview went really well and I should hear back some time next week.

About a week later with no word later I send him an email thanking him for the interview and asking him if there were any more questions I could answer, how the hiring process was going, and with a list of specific technical questions I would have asked, time permitting. He says we should schedule a lunch interview that Friday, so we work out a time and place.

Now this is where my only real complaint comes in. A few hours before we're supposed to meet on Friday he emails me to cancel saying they're being audited, and can we reschedule for next week. I say no problem, I completely understand, next week is fine with me. A week goes by and I don't hear from him so I send him an email asking how the audit is going, if the hiring process is on hold because of the audit or if there's a problem and I CC the generic HR address. Maybe he's busy and they can answer.

A week goes by with not a word back, and I've got another job prospect that's looking good, so I send another email asking how things are going, and tell them without some kind of communication soon if I get an offer from this other job I won't be able to wait on them to make a offer. I get a canned response email back an hour later saying I wasn't chosen.

I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the last two weeks of that, but I was legitimately interested in working there.