interesting interview question?

Jet-Fighter7700

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This one will blow @eg2505

Q : How do you connect 4 analog phones with one Cat5 cable?

A : The exact same way as the example above. You only need two wires for an analog phone so you can split 4 pairs into 4 RJ11's on each end.

ok, now you just showing off....

did you work for Telkom at some point? seriously

I bet telkoms main hub looks like a rats nest of wires, if people keep connecting more than one port with 1 cable to save cables.....
with the slightest breeze disconnecting thousands of people.....
 

DMNknight

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To be honest though, my follow up question would be along the lines of:
Does this question reflect the business practices this company adheres to?

If you've got time to fix something, you've got time to do it right the first time.

While it reflects ingenuity on the one side, it shows lack of planning/preparation on the other.
It also reflects that the company is prepared to accept sloppy work in order to get work "completed".
 

Jet-Fighter7700

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While it reflects ingenuity on the one side, it shows lack of planning/preparation on the other.
It also reflects that the company is prepared to accept sloppy work in order to get work "completed".

thats a correct assumption I must admit,
another more deeper logic to things, then again maybe its kind of how would you act in an emergency kind of question
 

SauRoNZA

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id agree there, I mean it looks very jury rigged if you see something like that sticking out a router.....
so its a "temporary" solution, not for long term use, at least not if anybody likely to complain about cables any time soon.

Not always.

Did it with intent in some cases, especially when it comes to analog phone lines as it's just a waste to do it otherwise.

What is the difference really from a "looks" point of view whether it splices at the very end of you have a neatly sheathed wire from start to finish?

If it's crimped properly it works the exact same. And it's not something that gets moved or worked on once it's in a rack so it doesn't really matter at all.

It's a good interview question because a networking geek really should know this stuff. What was your buddy applying for? Because if he didn't know this and was applying for a networking or related position I would be seriously worried about his solution finding ability.
 

SauRoNZA

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ok, now you just showing off....

did you work for Telkom at some point? seriously

I bet telkoms main hub looks like a rats nest of wires, if people keep connecting more than one port with 1 cable to save cables.....
with the slightest breeze disconnecting thousands of people.....

Don't need to work for Telkom. I expect theirs to be quite neat actually.

Just go to any corporate that has say 200 odd staff and each with a phone. You are looking at 200 cables coming into a PABX (well before the VOIP era anyway).

That 200 would become 50 and infinitely neater for it if you used CAT5/6 and spliced 4 lines per cable.

Also much much cheaper, which matters to SME's etc.
 
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Jet-Fighter7700

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It's a good interview question because a networking geek really should know this stuff. What was your buddy applying for? Because if he didn't know this and was applying for a networking or related position I would be seriously worried about his solution finding ability.

he mentioned something related to networking, although I must admit I don't know a whole lot,

he just sent this to me as said, lets see what you say, me I said wifi, as I tend to think what most "correct"
and stable and meet standards,

if you threw out the rule book, I guess anything possible then....
even something like this jury rigged example, that Im sure will work perfectly, but will look really ugly

I mean yes if it sits in a network cabinet and nobody touches it, its fine, but somebody might complain at a later point.
 

PsyWulf

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Not necessarily. If you make a small slice into the cable and pull the required pairs out and jack it,then run the remainder of the cable and sleeve to its neighbour if the pcs were side by side you'd save some cable mess
 

SauRoNZA

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Not necessarily. If you make a small slice into the cable and pull the required pairs out and jack it,then run the remainder of the cable and sleeve to its neighbour if the pcs were side by side you'd save some cable mess

Works especially well where you have a PC and a VOIP phone at the same desk for instance.
 

infscrtyrisk

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:eek::eek::eek: I'll confess to doing this, about 16 years ago.

In my defence, my client was a lawyer, and anyone who has done any IT work for lawyers know that they are really, really cheap, even cheaper than doctors. And it worked.
Even then, my conscience still bugs me... :eek::eek::eek:
 

Willie Trombone

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My follow up q would be... why, can't the company afford 2 cables?
But as pointed out, it's easily done with one cable - just split it at the ends on both sides - 2 pairs per plug.

I do this at home mostly. It's best to use some self amalgamating tape or heatshrink around the bare ends so that the crimp plug has something to grab onto. Normally it will grab the sheath of the cable but you can't do that on both ends.
 

HavocXphere

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These types of questions are interesting, but frankly I'd be wary of companies that use them as part of their main interview.

Establishing technical competence is fairly easy in most jobs as far as I can tell. Determining whether the candidate has a good work ethics, has integrity, social skills etc...that's the tricky bit.
 

Willie Trombone

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These types of questions are interesting, but frankly I'd be wary of companies that use them as part of their main interview.

Establishing technical competence is fairly easy in most jobs as far as I can tell. Determining whether the candidate has a good work ethics, has integrity, social skills etc...that's the tricky bit.

100%
That's absolutely it. Nothing worse than finding you hired a lemon in that department 3 months down the line. You can't (easily) teach life.
 

SauRoNZA

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100%
That's absolutely it. Nothing worse than finding you hired a lemon in that department 3 months down the line. You can't (easily) teach life.

Reminds me of the time my colleague employed a new team member all in the name of equality.

Come the first morning she rocks up at her desk and first thing she does it plonks down a monstrous coffee mug that says “Jesus Saves” and I just knew with that as the first priority she wasn’t going to last three months.

It just went from bad to worse and quickly at that.

Fortunately my own appointments although not many have been quite successful but there is always a degree of gambling at play.
 
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