1/10    I haven't done technical interviews in a really long time and
        now they make me nervous. I already screwed up one, not because
        I didn't know how to answer the questions but because I was so
        nervous. Is there any way to "prepare" for a technical interview?
        any advice?
              \_ Don't get nervous. Do more interviews, do more practice.
                 Plenty of jobs out there. Relax, think positive, it'll
                 \_ plenty of jobs?  apparently you are employed.
                 happen when the time is right. Don't focus on yourself.
        \_ bring a breath mint, wear some deoderant, and calm down.
           \_ it wasn't a matter of hygiene, but thanks for the advice i guess.
              \_ Don't get nervous. Do more interviews, do more practice.
                 Plenty of jobs out there. Relax, think positive, it'll
                 happen when the time is right.
                 \_ plenty of jobs?  apparently you are employed.
                 happen when the time is right. Don't focus on yourself.
        \_ Did you forget things you learned in school?  Did you lack
           enthusiasm for the job or were unable to feign it?
           \_ yes, part of it is i've forgotten some stuff from school, which
              is why i'm so much more nervous now than i was when i
              interviewed right out of school. plus the market was hot
              then. is it really starting to heat up again? -original poster
           \- i did a bunch of interviews recently including interviewing
           some pretty nervous people. all i can say is "if you dont know,
           dont ramble. say i dont know and move on." --psb
                \_ what kinds of questions do you usually ask people?
                   \- it depends whether it is a sysadmin job or a programming
                   job. usually i dont ask about general programming questions
                   like basic familiarity with hashes and linked lists but
                   more conceptual stuff about networking and reasonably
                   deep familarity with things like signals, processes groups,
                   streams, maybe some stuff on memory, tcp state diag. of
                   course if it is for a junior sys admin maybe a question
                   on regexps, icmp, dns. i also dont ask logic puzzles,
                   although i am tempted to ask one like "you are in a canoe
                   with a bowling ball on a lake. you throw it into the
                   water. does the level of the lake go up or down". --psb
                   \_ I think the level of the lake goes down, assuming the
                      bowling ball sinks.  Correct?
                      \_ it does go down, but only because the splash from
                         the ball will increase the surface area, increasing
                         the evaporation rate.
                         \_ My reflex is to say that it would go down because
                            the bowling ball's weight causes the canoe to
                            displace more water than the bowling ball's volume,
                            but I haven't really thought about it.  I'd be
                            interested in hearing the answer.
        \_ read up on something technical that your interviewers likely
           forgot about, and then say "that question is analogous to..."
           subject x. then they'll feel too embarrassed to admit
           you know something they don't!
           \_ Whenever I hit situations like this while conducting interviews,
              I simple say "I don't know that" and ask the candidate to
              explain it to me.  So he has no way out.
        \_ The last time I interviewed, I worked up a set of questions
           for the position and had someone interview me with them.
           It really helped keep me comfortable when many of the
           same questions came up in the interview.  -tom