Back in 2003 I was living in Virginia. I had about 5 years of InstallScript and build automation under my belt.
I was really busy doing a build when I received an unexpected phone screen. I was really distracted when the interviewer asked how InsallShield handled locked files. Now I knew all about MoveFileEx() and PendingRenameOperations but for some reason my mind blanked and I gave some generic answer about black boxes and white boxes and that you just select the potentially locked attribute and debug/profile if it ever becomes an issue. The call was my only interview and I ended up getting the job ( in Texas ). I later asked my boss why he hired me when i really didn't even give him a good answer for the question. His answer was telling: "Because you actually *wanted* to write installs." Passion for setup plays a big part when I'm interviewing someone. Chris --- On Sun, 1/31/10, Sascha Beaumont <sascha.beaum...@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Sascha Beaumont <sascha.beaum...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Interviewing an installation developer > To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010, 10:04 PM > When I interviewed for my current > position I was asked about > familiarity with InstallShield, no questions about MSI > itself. I > responded honestly that I had no idea, had used it once > many moons ago > and found it complex, horrible and a pain to understand. > What I didn't > realize for another 6+ months was that I needed to > understand and > learn the MSI fundamentals - your real question to any > potential > employee should be "are you willing to learn?" > > The hardest part about Windows Installer is the debugging, > not the > writing. Rather than having your interviewee write a quick > installation package, how about having them open an > existing package > in ORCA and review/debug/explain it? Maybe show them an > error log and > ask them what could be causing the issue? (e.g. > non-deferred CA trying > to write to HKLM has problems with registry > virtualization) > > Scripted custom actions are a no-no, I would say anyone > with any > "real" setup experience knows this... within 6 months I > noticed > problems with scripts written by my predecessor and within > 12 months > I'd pushed to eliminate them completely. (was still using > InstallShield at this stage) -- I admit I still use > VBScript in > controlled environments such for our build process, however > our > released products are all native MSI with C++ CA's as > required (I now > use #define _USE_RTM_VERSION for all C++ CA's, something > that was > overlooked initially) > > I think the best setup developers are not the best > programmers, > Windows Installer is all descriptive, not procedural. This > is a *very* > big generalization based on my own experience... but > programmers are > more likely to write a quick and dirty CA to "get it done" > than figure > out why things are breaking, or suggest to the developers > that certain > tasks be done post-install rather than during install. > > Windows Installer is easy to learn, just read "The > Definitive Guide to > Windows Installer" and subscribe to the wix-users list and > you're on > your way. The problem I've found is that everyone else who > doesn't > have to write, maintain or debug installation wants to do > *everything* > in the MSI, being able to push back and suggest > alternatives to doing > something "in the MSI" is a huge part of my job. > > Most people who *think* they know setup, don't. Consider > hiring > someone who can admit they don't know, but is willing and > eager to > learn... training from scratch is easier than retraining > someone with > bad practices ;) > > Sascha > > > P.S. Anyone who believes disabling UAC is an acceptable > workaround for > a broken CA should be escorted off the premises immediately > :P > > > On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 4:49 AM, Nathan Stohlmann > <nathan.stohlm...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > This is probably a little bit off topic but I was > thinking that this > > list might have the right people for the discussion. > > > > We are doing some interviews for an installation > developer position at > > my company pretty soon and we got pretty burned with > the person who > > was previously in the role since I think we thought he > had a better > > handle of some of the fundamentals of installation > development than it > > turned out that he did. In an effort to keep that from > happening again > > we were thinking of coming up with some sort of > exercise that could be > > done during the interview that would show some level > of proficiency. > > Kind of like the classic "Write a sorting algorithm" > sorts of > > questions that are pretty common for more general > development > > positions. > > > > Has anyone had any really good installation > development focused > > interview exercises? > > > > My initial thought was to write up an installation > package for some > > sort of dummy software that had a few little > requirements and have the > > candidate verify the requirements were met by being > able to point to > > various points of the actual MSI where the requirement > was > > implemented. It's tempting to take that a step further > and put a few > > not so subtle bugs in the package to see if they catch > them or not. > > I'm not sure I can get a machine for the interviews > though, but I'm > > not sure if printing out a table dump from the MSI > through something > > like Orca would translate well enough. Thoughts? > > > > Thanks in advance for any responses. > > > > (And if you're in the Twin Cities metro area and are > looking for an > > installation development position, ping me privately > and I'll see > > about getting your resume to my manager) > > > > -- > > --Nathan Stohlmann > > Minneapolis, MN USA > > nathan.stohlm...@gmail.com > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference > consistently attracts the > > world's best and brightest in the field, creating > opportunities for Conference > > attendees to learn about information security's most > important issues through > > interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and > established companies. > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, > colocation > Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best > network in the business > Choose flexible plans and management services without > long-term contracts > Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a > phone call away. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
