Field Service Technician Interview Questions And Answers

This is a fairly large topic but the essentials to know is understand the power supply wattage's and voltages:

☛ Have an understanding of motherboard and CPU socket types.
☛ Understand different RAM types and speeds.
☛ Understand motherboard slot types (AGP, PCI, PCI-E etc..)
☛ Understand hard drive types such as IDE and SATA and understand hard drive jumpers and their configurations.
With these skills, you need to be able to assemble a computer. I am not just talking about putting one together, but building a good one by knowing their part speeds, compatibility and possible bottlenecks.

Experience in computer repair and networking is a common requirement for a computer technician. Repairing a computer or small network typically involves substantial troubleshooting skill, and many employers seek a balance of academic study with experience in curing computer ailments.

Although this would seem like a simple question, it can easily become tricky. You shouldn’t mention salary being a factor at this point. If you’re currently employed, your response can focus on developing and expanding your career and even yourself. If you’re current employer is downsizing, remain positive and brief. If your employer fired you, prepare a solid reason. Under no circumstance should you discuss any drama or negativity, always remain positive.

This is kind of a trick question. If you say you prefer to work alone, then you may come across as a loner. If you say you prefer to work as part of a team, then you might come across as incapable of working on things independently.

So the safe bet here is to say both, even though that may feel like a cop-out. Express that you’re happy to dive into team projects, but you also like to work on aspects of projects alone to get things done quickly. The ideal employee in almost every tech company is one who can work well with others while also being able to take on projects solo without handholding.

I’ve told you that my work history is mostly in accounting. Earning this human resources technician position would be a step into a new field. I intend to make this transition permanently, and I hope to be able to maintain this position for at least five years. I believe that my future is in human resources, so earning this position would be a big step for me. Additionally, I’ve told you that I have experience in leadership. I do intend to pursue managerial positions while I am working in the human resources department. I can confidently say that I will be with this company for a long time.

If you’re applying for a development or design job, you’ll almost certainly be asked how familiar you are with a particular programming language. Unless you’re applying for a senior developer position, you don’t necessarily have to be an expert at the particular language in most cases to get hired.

What you do need to show is that you’re very comfortable with it, and that you’re happy to dive in to learn what you don’t know. It’s more important that you show that you’re familiar with coding on a conceptual level, and have good problem-solving abilities. But just because you’ve worked more with Rails than Python doesn’t mean you can’t get a junior developer job if you show that you can quickly figure out problems and how to solve them.

As Randle has mentioned here before, whatever you do, please don’t answer this one with “I’m a perfectionist” or anything else along those lines. Sure, it might be true, but it’s also so commonly heard that it‘s completely unoriginal, and in fact, it’s more of a strength than a real weakness. Rephrasing it as “paying attention to detail and wanting to get things right” doesn’t sound like much of a weakness, does it?

To become a computer service and repair technician, you will need:

☛ A thorough knowledge of operating systems, hardware and commonly used software.
☛ Good communication and customer service skills.
☛ Excellent problem-solving skills.
☛ A patient and organised approach.
☛ The ability to meet deadlines.
☛ A willingness to keep up to date with IT developments.
☛ An awareness of electrical safety issues.

Many tools are needed to perform this job. A computer technician will typically need an anti-static wrist strap, power supply tester, cable crimping tool, cable tester and a variety of screwdrivers. There are several software-based troubleshooting tools offered in this field which may require a subscription for professional use. Storage devices such as an external hard drive or large USB drives often prove invaluable. Other tools may be required within specific positions and they may be listed in the job notice.

I have experience in the accounting department. My responsibilities while holding this position included risk analysis and making decisions based on the numbers we had. Obviously, the analysis we had to do in accounting was much more mathematically based than the employee performance analysis of the human resources department, but I extensively developed this skill and can confidently say that I am prepared to apply it in a new context. I am excited to shift my focus and expand this skill even further.

You need to be able to remove data from a non-booting operating system by either using a boot CD and an external hard drive; or by putting the bad drive into a good system of your own and recovering it that way.

Private clients usually have single separate computers to troubleshoot. Larger companies usually have computer networks on their premises. It requires a special sort of expertise to know how to handle interconnected systems. It might take some research and understanding of the specific companies' infrastructure and information technology needs.

Hopefully when you applied for the job, you included a link to your portfolio. But that doesn’t mean an interviewer won’t ask you about specific projects you’ve worked on. They might ask for examples of your most successful project, your favorite project, your most challenging project, or just for a general example or two.

Prepare a mental list of different types of projects you’ve worked on, as well as your favorites. This is particularly important if you have a large body of work. When I’ve been asked about examples of things I’ve written, it’s sometimes a struggle to think of specific pieces since I have over 350 articles in my portfolio (not to mention pieces I’ve written that aren’t included for one reason or another). But I can name off a handful of examples of specific pieces off the top of my head if necessary. Be sure you can, too.

I do. In fact, this was my focus for many years. I absolutely have more than enough mathematical skills to tackle this human resources technician position head-on. While I was working in the accounting department, it was my responsibility, as well as the rest of the team, to work the numbers out on a daily basis and suggest the best approach moving forward. The HR department incorporates mathematics to a lesser degree, but the approach is very similar. I understand that we will be working with the employees’ compensation more than broader forms of math, so I am fully prepared to begin work.

This is a great time to emphasize the parts of your job that you like that will carry over to your new position. If your dream tech job will include working with clients, and you’ve been working in retail, you could say that you’ve loved building relationships with your regular customers. Of if your new position will include a lot of data organization and reporting, you can talk about how you loved organizational tasks at your old job (even if they weren’t data organization).

Think about ways that general tasks from your last job could roughly translate into tasks you might have at your new job and go from there!

Adaptability is vital in this field. Computer technology is constantly changing and evolving, with the average lifespan for a particular model of technology standing at around two years. Always keep abreast of the latest advances in technology and stay ahead of the curve as much as you possibly can.

I’ve told you before how strongly I prioritize communication. I believe this also applies to collaboration. The only way a team is able to work together efficiently is if they are communicating efficiently. Otherwise, you are left with a group of people that each is doing their own tasks and it isn’t even collaboration at all. I absolutely believe that the key to succeeding as a team is to be able to communicate.

Be careful with this one. You don’t want to come across as negative, or disparaging to your current company, boss, or coworkers. Instead, put a positive spin on why you’re leaving. Instead of saying “I’m bored out of my mind,” you could say that you’re looking for new challenges at work.

When asked on a recent interview why I was seeking out a more traditional job after freelancing for years, I answered that I was looking to be part of a team again, not that I was tired of feeling isolated and cut off while working. It means the same thing, but it’s all about how you express yourself! Hiring managers will almost always prefer someone who answers with a positive statement rather than a negative one!

Here’s another place where you don’t want to be too negative. Instead, look at the frustrating things from your old job that will be less likely in your new position. The last thing you want to do is complain about something that isn’t going to disappear in the job you’re interviewing for.

For example, maybe part of the new job is diving into the data that drives the company (sales, visitors, etc.), while at your old job you had no access to information about what was happening behind the scenes.

The biggest experience I have had that has contributed to my communication skills is my time as a team leader. To succeed in leadership, communication is a must, but I took special care to prioritize communication when I was working in this position. I can say, with certainty, that my choice to emphasize communication is why I succeeded. In fact, my performance inspired the management to update the training process to include a bigger focus on the leaders’ communication skills.

☛ Know to setup a network with a modem, router and a few client computers.
☛ Understand how IP addresses work in a private network vs public Internet situation.
☛ A general understanding of masking/subnetting.
☛ Understand what your Gateway is.
☛ Understand how DHCP works and also know how to setup a basic computer to computer network.
☛ Understand how and when to use static IPs.
☛ Know how to forward ports.
☛ If wireless is involved, know how to apply encryption, understand signal strengths and how it can be improved.

The requirements to become a computer technician vary, but there are a few things that will afford you the best opportunities:

☛ Education
☛ Certifications
☛ Experience
☛ Equipment

This question needs to be carefully answered as it is your opportunity to stick out from the rest of the applicants. You should focus on skills that you have, including those not yet mentioned. Simply responding “because I’m really good” or “I really need a job” isn’t going to work. You shouldn’t assume the skills of other applicants or their strengths, focus on yourself. Tell the interviewer why you are a good fit for the position, what makes you a good employee, and what you can provide the company. Keep it brief while highlighting achievements.

☛ What development tools have you used?
☛ What languages have you programmed in?
☛ What source control tools have you used?
☛ What are your technical certifications?
☛ What do you do to maintain your technical certifications?
☛ How did your education help prepare you for this job?
☛ How would you rate your key competencies for this job?
☛ What are your IT strengths and weaknesses?
☛ Tell me about the most recent project you worked on. What were your responsibilities?
☛ From the description of this position, what do you think you will be doing on a day-to-day basis?
☛ What challenges do you think you might expect in this job if you were hired?
☛ How important is it to work directly with your business users?
☛ What elements are necessary for a successful team and why?
☛ Tell me about the project you are most proud of, and what your contribution was.
☛ Describe your production deployment process.
☛ Give an example of where you have applied your technical knowledge in a practical way.
☛ How did you manage source control?
☛
☛ What did you do to ensure quality in your deliverables?
☛ What percentage of your time do you spend unit testing?
☛ What do you expect in the solution documents you are provided?
☛ Describe a time when you were able to improve upon the design that was originally suggested.
☛ How much reuse do you get out of the code that you develop, and how?
☛ Which do you prefer; service oriented or batch oriented solutions?
☛ When is the last time you downloaded a utility from the internet to make your work more productive, and what was it?
☛ What have you done to ensure consistency across unit, quality, and production environments?
☛ Describe the elements of an in tier architecture and their appropriate use.
☛ Compare and contrast REST and SOAP web services.
☛ Define authentication and authorization and the tools that are used to support them in enterprise deployments.
☛ What is ETL and when should it be used?
☛ You have been asked to research a new business tool. You have come across two solutions. One is an on-premises solution, the other is cloud-based. Assuming they are functionally equivalent, would you recommend one over the other, and why?
☛ What do you do to ensure you provide accurate project estimates?
☛ What technical websites do you follow?
☛
☛ Have you used Visual Studio?
☛ Have you used Eclipse?
☛ What is a SAN, and how is it used?
☛ What is clustering, and describe its use.
☛ What is the role of the DMZ in network architecture?
☛ How do you enforce relational integrity in database design?
☛ When is it appropriate to denormalize database design?
☛ What is the difference between OLAP and OLTP? When is each used?
☛ You have learned that a business unit is managing a major component of the business using Excel spreadsheets and Access databases. What risks does this present, and what would you recommend be done to mitigate those risks?
☛ What automated-build tools or processes have you used?
☛ What is the role of continuous integration systems in the automated-build process?
☛ Describe the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking.
☛ In databases, what is the difference between a delete statement and a truncate statement?
☛ What are transaction logs, and how are they used?
☛ What are the most important database performance metrics, and how do you monitor them?
☛ What is the role of SNMP?
☛ What is a cross site scripting attack, and how do you defend against it?
☛ In network security, what is a honey pot, and why is it used?

☛ Compare and contrast REST and SOAP web services.
☛ Define authentication and authorization and the tools that are used to support them in enterprise deployments.
☛ Describe the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking.
☛ Describe the elements of an in tier architecture and their appropriate use.
☛ Have you used Eclipse?
☛ Have you used Visual Studio?
☛ How did you manage source control?
☛ How much (what percentage) of your time do you spend unit testing?
☛ How much reuse do you get out of the code that you develop, and how?
☛ How would you describe the ideal working environment?
☛ If you know you aren't going to make a project deadline what will you tell your manager and/or the client?
☛ In databases, what is the difference between a delete statement and a truncate statement?
☛ In network security, what is a honey pot, and why is it used?
☛ What are the most important database performance metrics, and how do you monitor them?
☛ What are transaction logs, and how are they used?
☛ What did you do to ensure quality in your deliverables?
☛ What do you consider documentation and why is it important?
☛ What do you do to ensure you provide accurate project estimates?
☛ What do you expect in the solution documents you are provided?
☛ What elements are necessary for a successful team and why?
☛ What have you done to ensure consistency across unit, quality, and production environments?
☛ What is a cross site scripting attack, and how do you defend against it?
☛ What is a SAN, and how is it used?
☛ What is clustering, and describe its use.
☛ What is ETL and when should it be used?
☛ What is most important - quality or quantity?
☛ What is structure?
☛ What is the difference between OLAP and OLTP? When is each used?
☛ What is the role of continuous integration systems in the automated-build process?
☛ What is the role of SMNP?
☛ What is the role of the DMZ in network architecture? How do you enforce relational integrity in database design?
☛ When is it appropriate to denormalize database design?
☛ When is the last time you downloaded a utility from the internet to make your work more productive, and what was it?
☛ Which do you prefer; service oriented or batch oriented solutions?