We interview a lot of candidates for developer positions at my company. I only look for three technical competencies: C++ programming, Windows framework programming, and SQL skills. Let me focus a little on the third trait.Now I don't need an Oracle expert for my team. We already have that. But I do need somebody who knows how to construct basic SQL statements. I need to see evidence of hands-on experience in this area. So I asked about the clauses in a SELECT statement.
I want to hear that a candidate knows that GROUP BY treats the rows selected as one record or group. I also get impressed if the candidate can explain that HAVING restricts the results of GROUP BY.
With that I have given away one third of the keys to our kingdom. Study up your C++ and Microsoft Foundation Classes programming, and you have yourself a job.
