Hello,
The following quiz is designed to test your aptitude for the kind of work a
Helpdesk Technician at the MJCCA might be expected to perform on a daily basis.
As this is an entry level position, the quiz does not assume too much prior
knowledge about very specific IT skills, but it does ask that the candidate
demonstrate a very high level of resourcefulness and a bit of ingenuity in
independently researching technical issues and presenting solutions.
It is not specifically required that you answer all questions, or even that you
complete the test within a certain time period, just that you do your best. Please
keep in mind however, that most candidates for this position will certainly try to
answer as many questions as possible. Most will likely have submitted their
answers within 24-48 hours of receiving the quiz. That seems reasonable, and
you are competing against all other applicants.
There are no real “trick” questions per se, but neither do any of the questions
necessarily have a single answer that is perfectly right or wrong, and they all may
contain irrelevant information.
As you take this quiz, also ask yourself whether or not you enjoy this kind of
challenge, and whether or not you would be comfortable performing similar tasks
with little assistance, as these issues are fairly representative of the type you
might encounter daily in the role of a Helpdesk Technician at the MJCCA.
If this stuff just isn’t for you, then quite frankly, you probably wouldn’t be a great
fit in this role. That’s O.K. If however, you find these sorts of challenges
compelling, and you believe you’ve done a reasonably good job with these tasks,
please submit your answers and a current copy of your resume to:
[email protected].
Good Luck.
1 . There is a video available here: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/video11.html#Step. It is 1
minute and 20 seconds long. Locate it, and using whatever freely available software that you
can find, convert it into .wmv format. Save the file as: answer_1.wmv.
2. Your aunt is frustrated because she is having a hard time sending an email to the head of the
homeowner’s association. She does not know if the problem is his computer or her computer.
She has recently upgraded her Mac to run Snow Leopard, but she has no problems emailing to
anyone else on the homeowner’s association board. Take a look at the two bounce messages
she’s provided below. Have a guess at what the problem might be, and suggest what to try
next. Save your answer as a file named answer_2.txt
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended
recipients.
Subject:
Sent:
Hi there.
3/18/2010 9:52 AM
The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:
[email protected] on 3/18/2010 9:52 AM
There was a SMTP communication problem with the recipient's email
server. Please contact your system administrator.
<webmail.auntserve.org #5.5.0 smtp;551 not our
customer>
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended
recipients.
Subject:
Sent:
Hi There (Again)
3/18/2010 9:58 AM
The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:
[email protected] on 3/18/2010 9:58 AM
The destination server for this recipient could not be found in
Domain Name Service (DNS). Please verify the email address and
retry. If that fails, contact your administrator.
<webmail.auntserve.org #5.4.0>
3. Use a .jpg named answer_3.jpeg to show me something interesting about the following:
N 37° 14.304’
W 115° 48.711’
4. Create a document showing my grandfather how to change his desktop resolution. My
grandfather has explained that his operating system is probably Microsoft Office 2003 by
Compaq, but he’s not 100% sure. It could also be HP. Make sure your document is in .pdf
format and named answer_4.pdf
5. Sally wants to get the printing situation sorted out for a new business unit she is running.
Her department currently has no printers and she needs to find an economical solution. During
most of the year, Sally expects her department will print about 4,000 pages per month of tax
manuals and attendance sheets which are black and white, but during the summer they also
need to quickly print lots of color thermal iron-ons for all the t-shirts they plan to sell.
Given Sally’s situation above and the device choices below, briefly recommend a solution and
an explanation of your rationale. Save your solution as a Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Word
compatible document called answer_5.doc
Printer Model
Printer Cost
Pages per min
Media
Prints between
refills
Cartridge refill cost
Foobar Magica II Photon Steelhead
$88.00
$450.00
5ppm
45ppm
Color Inkjet
B/W Laser
120
$60
1100
$100
Rainbow Engine IV
$650
25ppm
Color Laser
800
$120 Per Color (C,M, Y, K)
6. James always forgets to spellcheck his Microsoft Excel documents. If he submits one more
budget analysis with the word “buget” in the title, his supervisor is going to squash him. Make
James something he can print out and tape to his monitor that shows him the keyboard
shortcut for spellchecking in Excel so he won’t forget. Include a few other helpful shortcuts if
you like. James has some strange ideas though, and will only tape things to his monitor that are
sent to him in bitmap format. Make sure your file is in a bitmap format and named
answer_6.bmp.
7. James is also extremely worried about viruses on his Windows Vista home computer, but he
doesn’t want to pay for antivirus software. Recommend two different reputable antivirus
products for him to try at home that that are free. Casually and briefly explain some
differences between the two. Save this in a rich text file called answer_7.rtf
8. James has officially become very annoying. He is now taking up all of your time at work with
his obsessive questions about his home anti-virus. He brings his girlfriend’s computer in to
work twice a month and leaves it on your desk with a note that says FIX ASAP. Your supervisor
would like you to send James and his department head an email explaining that this is uncool.
Your supervisor wants you to be firm, but diplomatic. Incidentally, James’ uncle owns the
company. Write this email. Save it as answer_8.rtf
9. Figure out how to determine the public IP addresses of the following servers:
www.atlantajcc.org; blackbird.atlantajcc.org; webmail.atlantajcc.org; and sivan.atlantajcc.org.
Using whatever spreadsheeting software you prefer, (or have available.) Organize the IP
information above into two columns with headers and save it as a .csv file. Your file should be
named: answer_9.csv. Include a very brief summary of how you determined the IP addresses.
10. If you are still interested in this position, take all of the above files you have created and zip
them up along with your resume into one file called Firstname_Lastname.zip.
Find any free file sharing site on the web that is reasonably secure and upload your zipped file.
When you are done, email instructions for accessing your file to [email protected]