One of the areas where this often shows is in actions where the "setup" way is different from the commonly-known way. So these areas might be useful to explore, such as (and assuming MSI):
How would you install a service? Start a service? Register a COM server, both Win32 and .NET? Install an assembly into the GAC? Install the VC++ runtime support? Create a shortcut? Locate the common files folder to install a file there? Search for an existing installed product or component? Or registry entry? Uninstall an older version of the product? Set the value of an environment variable? Install a file handler for a file extension? These are all areas where (regardless of what tool you use) the general correct answer is to use the built-in MSI capabilities instead of running code. Phil Wilson -----Original Message----- From: Nathan Stohlmann [mailto:nathan.stohlm...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 9:49 AM To: [Wix Users] Subject: [WiX-users] Interviewing an installation developer 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 *** Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail, including any associated or attached files, is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This e-mail is confidential and may well also be legally privileged. If you have received it in error, you are on notice of its status. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this message from your system. Please do not copy it or use it for any purposes, or disclose its contents to any other person. This email comes from a division of the Invensys Group, owned by Invensys plc, which is a company registered in England and Wales with its registered office at Portland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5BF (Registered number 166023). For a list of European legal entities within the Invensys Group, please go to http://www.invensys.com/legal/default.asp?top_nav_id=77&nav_id=80&prev_id=77. You may contact Invensys plc on +44 (0)20 7821 3848 or e-mail inet.hqhelpd...@invensys.com. This e-mail and any attachments thereto may be subject to the terms of any agreements between Invensys (and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates) and the recipient (and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
