DBA personality Traits

I’m just about to interview 2 candidates for a Senior DBA vacancy.   As part of the interview process

 1)       Technical Test

2)       Interview (Technical, Experience & Personality)

 The purpose of the Technical Tests is not to determine their memory of commands. Although , being able to recall and use basic database server commands is important. I focus on discussions around the Internals and problem solving approach.

 For non-technical  traits , I’m looking for high levels of the following personality traits for the DBA. Through the conversation I note examples of these traits

Detail oriented
Curiosity
Tenacity
Tactful\Politically astute
Self-starter
Self Confidence (some arrogance is OK)

If the candidate scores well on : technical, experience & Personality , there is a higher chance of receiving a job offer .

Excellent DBAs tend to display characteristics. Read my notes on 7 habits of highly effective DBAs  .