Crystal reports interview question and answers

Let me preface this by stating that I never look for individuals that are pure Crystal Report Writers.  I need individuals that are Business Analysts/SQL Writers/Crystal Writers.  Even though the primary job is to write reports, I expect the incumbant to understand project management methodology, be able to clearly communicate both verbally and in writing to customers, gather requirements, document their work and write SQL to both test and implement their work.  In short, I expect them to be professionals, not amateurs...

That being said, here are the types of plain-English questions that I ask when I interview 'experienced' Crystal Report writers:

1)  What versions have you used and can you describe differences between the versions? - speaks to familiarity and experience with the tool.  Also tells me whether the person is a programmer that's dabbled with CR in .net, but may not know the actual tool, which is different, or vice versa - depending on my needs.  In my experience, most (but not all) .net CR writers don't really know Crystal Reports and don't understand the most basic functionality of the tool.  Of course, most (but not all) die-hard experienced CR writers don't know anything about .net, it depends what you're looking for - the skills tend to be very different even though the tools share the same name of 'crystal'

2)  What is 'Set Location' and when would you use it? - speaks to knowledge of very basic functionality

3)  Explain the pros and cons of basing a report off tables, Views and Stored Procedures - speaks to knowledge of performance and optimization techniques, as well as understanding of SQL concepts.  If an incumbant has only ever report from stored procedures (which he/she may or may not have written), then the interviewee probably doesn't understand basic Crystal Reports Functionality and/or performance and optimization.  Likewise, if the interviewee has only every built reports from tables, then he/she probably doesn't understand performance and optimization and my not understand SQL.

4)  Describe subreports - when would you use them and when would you avoid them - speaks to knowledge of performance and optimization techniques, data access techniques and functionality

5)  What is 'Show SQL Query' and what is it good for?  speaks to knowledge of performance and optimization techniques, as well as understanding of SQL concepts

6)  What is a 'SQL Expression' field and what are the pros and cons of using one?  Nobody knows - seriously - speaks to experience and advanced knowledge (in many cases), as well as understanding of SQL

7)  What is a 'SQL Command Object' and what are the pros and cons of using one - speaks to experience and SQL understanding

8)  Have you ever built a parameterized report?  If so, describe the function of parameters and ways that they can be used to enhance a report's performance or look?  How can they be used to optimize report maintenance  and reduce redundancy?  Speaks to knowledge and experience in true production environments.

9)  If a user were to ask you to build a report for them, what types of questions would you ask the user in order to ascertain the true requirements?  Speaks to experience and analytic skills

10)  What would you do if a user wanted a report that could be exported to excel in spreadsheet format, but the user wanted it to look graphically presentable in Crystal Reports and why?  Speaks to experience and creativity

11)  Describe the most difficult or complicated report you've ever created.  What made it either difficult, complicated or both?  Speaks to overall knowledge, experience, creativity, etc...

etc....

I'm a tough interview and these are samples of the types of questions I ask, but not all the questions.  I ask questions that allow the interviewees to explain themselves in their own manner so that I can see if they understand both the question and the concept, whether or not they explain it perfectly.  I also have years of experience and I can filter out the bs very quickly...  I don't believe in yes/no, mutliple choice technical interview questions because I don't believe they are reliable.

~Kurt