Why do employers focus on theory?

Question

Career in IT

I would like to know from the employers themselves or people who have gone through many interviews.
I wanted to improve my position and applied for several vacancies, everything was fine, the practice was on the level. I knew what I was doing, but here's the theory ... I may have forgotten it altogether, I don't know, but I couldn't explain how udp differs from tcp. Debility.
As a result, 50/50 for the vacancy ...

Answer 1

To immediately weed out weak applicants who do not even know the basics.

Answer 2

Because there are "tykers" who remember several buttons. And there are specialists who know what is happening in the system and understand what buttons should be.
First, a step to the left, a step to the right and everyone has arrived, in development it is a "stack of overflow developers", in operation "enikey workers".
Both are needed, but these are somewhat different levels of vacancies. In order to quickly separate the former from the latter, theoretical questions are well suited.
By asking purely practical questions, you can get into the "skills" of a non-specialist and take him for a specialist, similarly, you can miss what the specialist has been setting up lately and he will not be able to give you an answer to the location of the buttons.

Answer 3

1. The theory is much easier to evaluate than practice
2. It is assumed that a good specialist should know the theory well.

could not explain how udp differs from tcp

Looks very strange, in fact. It seems not difficult:
TCP has a delivery confirmation, but UDP does not, but then all sorts of nuances go.

Answer 4

humble yourself. it's like that here. as in Pelevin's famous passage about the Upper Middle Siberian.
part of the cargo cult. partly it replaces the values/education filter. part - because the interviewer knows it and you can be flunked by it. part of the CHSV. partly because no one knows how to test you. learn theory to pass interviews. there is a book - "Theoretical minimum", it is funny.
charter, a monastery - that's all.

Answer 5

what is the difference between udp and tcp

You should google pre-interview questions popular questions for your position (and mb one position up and down). You may never even need this knowledge, but I recently read an article where the interviewee compiled a list of questions for the system administrator and called this question (about tcp udp) "humiliating" (in the sense that it's a shame not to know, although a decent percentage did not answer it about 30-40% like), maybe he thinks so, because in any of those. the university should tell something about the OSI model and protocols, unfortunately I did not find a link to the article.

I may have forgotten it altogether ... Debelism

Well xs I haven't met such people (only those who said they didn't know). But seriously, you should definitely read something about networks (at least 300-400 pages of a book).

Answer 6

Well, if the work is connected with networks and heavy loads and a person simply does not know what UDP and tisipi are, well, this is beyond the bounds, I don’t understand at all how you can code something in practice in the form of a server on UDP for many threads?

Answer 7

practice was up to par.

Practice what? Enikeya? Yes, he doesn’t have to know how TCP differs from UDP ... And let’s say, an admin-networker or an IB-shnik who confuses them (unless, of course, it’s from nerves) is a state of “chickens laughing”
Such questions are asked to immediately shoot those who are "button pushers". For example, I can ask something like "tcp / ip - what goes on top of what?" :)

Answer 8

knew what he was doing, but here's a theory ... I may have forgotten it altogether

So did you know or didn't you know?

could not explain how udp differs from tcp. Debelism.

I agree.

Answer 9

The search for a candidate takes place in two versions:
First - Need_urgent_work_burning!!!
In this case, if the interviewer is not completely stupid, he will guide only one question - whether this candidate will be able to perform the required work. The number of questions at the same time can be minimal, and, most likely, the decision to hire was made on the basis of a resume (if you need to maintain a site on Ruby, and you have a person who has been doing similar work for 3 years, then what is there to ask especially )
Second - Needed, but not urgent
In this case, everyone is carried anywhere. One started programming with assembler - he will ask about low-level programming and the PC device (and will find 100500 reasons why without knowing this it is impossible to work as a programmer at all), the other by education is a mathematician - he will ask appropriate questions, with appropriate arguments, what kind of programmer without mathematics. The third one - he doesn’t know anything, got into IT by acquaintance - he will ask for soft skills, because apart from them, the interlocutor himself has nothing. Etc.
Trying to logically understand the interviews from the second group is just wasting time. Kill it.
What is important : is to understand who you want to become and develop in this direction.

Answer 10

Yeah, they made some kind of scapegoat out of me. In principle, I’m not surprised, it’s always been like this here and 50% of them won’t be able to get up on a devops junior, but that’s not the point, I heard the answers, thanks to
everyone
) Enikeyshchik"
"Kapeeets, he doesn't even know the basics"
The message was written in stress, otherwise everything is fine. I got to a new place. :)
For myself, I noted that it is necessary to repeat the theory, because in my own words I can express everything, but in a "literary" form - in no way. Yes, and I myself have a very bad attitude towards IT education, and there we have more theory, but less practice, although in my self-education it was a little different)