Day 8 - Too Deep

Friday, October 27th

On Wed I had a secret mission. It was to go to a competitor of Toxic for a job interview. It turned out to be a very informal setting, but with probing technical questions. There were 3 people - 2 techies and a manager. The manager started by explaining what the business was about and then handed over to a techy.

At this point I put my foot in it and offered to answer a topic that I am not terribly good on, GPOs. It was a very basic question and I should know, but it tends to be one of those things that doesn't stick, so I had to admit I could not remember. They followed with "policy blocking" (skip this if you're starting to feel sleepy) and I tried but again was on shaky ground.

The 2nd techy then took over and was very gentle with his questions and seemed to be helping me, giving big hints. I knew the answers, but am admitedly rusty for personal reasons, but got there in the end.

Finally the manager ended with that old chestnut, strengths and weaknesses. Again, I said something that went down like a lead balloon at first glance, but they seemed to turn it into a positive. (I said networking, and they added Cisco to the sentence).

I left extremely hopeful that 3 ex-acquaintance colleagues who worked there had more influence than my poor performance.

And then I waited for the result by phone. And I waited. and waited. and waited.
No-one rang. I guessed the outcome.

I rang them and was told "I'm afraid it's a no this time. They felt your knowledge was very deep but they wanted more of an all-rounder".

...I wasn't aware they wanted me to play cricket as well. Note to self: be shallow next time