IT interview questions

Usually, you go through a non-technical personality type interview and a technical interview. The non-technical stuff is pretty typical, so we’ll be skipping over those and focusing on the technical Jazz. The examples below are either things I have been asked or things I have asked in interviews.

Standard questions

In your own words, describe Active Directory.
Can you recite the OSI model?
How would you change the ipv4 ip address on a computer if you needed to?
How would you figure out an ip address on a computer?
Do you know how to map a network drive? Describe the process.
How would you troubleshoot a docking station?

answers: standard questions

Google it. All the answers to the questions above are on google or YouTube. This also brings up the point that you shouldn’t be afraid to say you would “google it” in your job interviews. Everyone in IT resorts to it when we don’t have the answer, so it’s acceptable in interviews. This doesn’t mean you should use that as every answer.

scenario based questions

Someone is claiming that there is an issue with their docking station, what are your troubleshooting steps?
Someone calls saying they are not able to print anymore, what do you do?
We had someone move to a new cubicle and now the mouse doesn’t cross the screens correctly, how do you fix it?
An executive is joining a new company and they’re requesting to get a copy of their work email contacts, how would you accomplish this?
An employee is working from home today, but they suddenly can’t log in to their work computer. How do you proceed?

answers: scenario questions

Take these answers with a grain of salt. When these types of questions are asked its usually not to see if you know the answer, but to get a feel for your thought process when it comes to troubleshooting. There are several ways to answer and several ways your interviewer can spin the scenario. Below are just some ways I would go about it.

Someone is claiming that there is an issue with their docking station, what are your troubleshooting steps?
1. Start from layer 1 of the OSI model and check the hardware. Make sure the cables are connected properly or reseat the cables anyway.
2. If the issue persists, I will check for driver or firmware updates for the docking station.
3. If the docking station drivers don’t help, I would either swap the docking station or check for updates on the laptop depending on which one is easier to pull off at the time
Someone calls saying they are not able to print anymore, what do you do?
1. The first thing I do is ask the user if anyone around them is having the same issue. If no one else has a problem, then that tells me it’s something on the laptop. If other users are having the same problem, then I would look at the printer first.
2. In the laptop case you can take several routes, so I’ll just list a few things to try:
  - Ping the printer
  - Check if the laptop is connected to the network
  - Uninstall and reinstall the printer
  - Use “print manager” to delete the print drivers and try installing the printer again with new drivers
  - Restart the print spool service
  - Stop print service, delete files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\printers, then start print service (may need to reinstall printers as well)
  - Try to connect to another printer for the time being and escalate issue to level 2 support.
We had someone move to a new cubicle and now the mouse doesn’t cross the screens correctly, how do you fix it?
1. Check the display settings and re arrange the screens to match what the user wants.
An executive is joining a new company and they’re requesting to get a copy of their work email contacts, how would you accomplish this?
1. Export the contacts as a csv file (spreadsheet) to a usb and instruct them to have their new IT support import it to their new email account for them.
2. If they requested emails as well, then you would export it as a pst file (outlook emails).
An employee is working from home today, but they suddenly can’t log in to their work computer. The laptop is at the logon screen, it just doesn’t accept their credentials. How do you proceed?
1. I would ask if they recently changed their password while working from home (in this case that’s exactly what happened).
2. Instruct the user to log in with their old password (works)
3. Log in to the VPN with the new password (works).
4. With the VPN connected, lock the computer then log in with the new password (done).

final thoughts

I want to emphasize something one more time. Technical questions are usually meant to test your troubleshooting skills when you’re met with an unfamiliar issue. When answering, try to ask logical questions to narrow it down.

Examples: