Over the top or a good thing (preperation for an interview) Updated

[Anybody]

I have an interview with an interntational company tommorow. I had a phone interview Friday that obviously went well enough to get me in for a face to face.

The position will be managing their email systems.

Over the weekend I did some research and found out where all their MX records send to. Telnet'ed into those boxes to see what sort of servers they have existing before their email servers. Found out the service provider they are using for thier wireless PDA"s and downloaded and read the manual for the server portion.
I also downloaded and studied up on the virus software gateway
I also found whitepapers at different service providers which outlined their network set up as well as all the different server types they are using..

What I was thinking of doing was when the interview asks me if I have any questions.. to draw a network map of the email network as I have discovered it and ask for clarifications on points are grey areas.

Is this over the top.... should I just stick with knowing what i know and answer his questions with answers based on the knowledge I have?

Thanks for your opinions ahead of time.

 

[Maetryx]

Hold it in reserve and make the map if it seems appropriate. Don't forget that you're interviewing them as well. You need to get a feel for the job and if it is something you want to do or not.

 

[memo]

depends on interviewer. you have to see whether you think he would be impressed or angered by this. maybe drop a line about how you researched their OS system somewhere during the interview and see how he reacts.

 

[Doggiedog]

I'd whip it out.

It shows initiative and that you really care.

 

[Yossarian]

I think that's great. If you care enough about the job to do all that research, make sure you let them know it in a tactful way. It would probably be better to have the map drawn up ahead of time so you can just whip it out and impress the hell out of them.

 

[Anybody]

Originally posted by: Maetryx
Hold it in reserve and make the map if it seems appropriate. Don't forget that you're interviewing them as well. You need to get a feel for the job and if it is something you want to do or not.

Oh .. never mind the fact that I've been out of work for a few months... I want this gig. The company is well respected and would get me back into the large company routine (the past few jobs have been smaller companies)

 

[Rainsford]

Not a bad idea, as long as you can pull it off without looking like a l33t haxor. Big companies are especially paranoid about people finding things out about their network, so I'd tread with caution. I'd also consider the interviewer. If it's some HR flunkie, they are going to think you broke in. Even an IT director/CIO might be iffy. Try to guage their technical understanding and paranoia level before going for it.

 

[Anybody]

I will be meeting with the technical person I spoke with for about an hour on Friday. He was very technical and we communicated on the same level.

 

[Anybody]

Thanks fort he input all. Wish me luck. I head in at 11am eastern.

 

[Anybody]

Well I went in and had an audiance of 3. Th hiring manager an ex MS employee expert in exchange and the VP of the dept and a big ole whiteboard. Started out the interview in the usual way and spoek about my history and how my job skills fit into what they need. After a round of questions or two.. I asked if I could ask some questions and if I could use the white board.

I then explained to them what I had done with my weekend and that I was going to attempt to draw their email network topology and had a few questions to help clarify the picture. They jokingly mentioned that I probably should sign an NDA before continuing. I then went about naming their points of presense around the globe and what country specifics went to them.. after that I started at the firewall and moved inward. Speaking about the sendmail relay that they had in place as the first hop ("I connected to your relay just to find out what your first hop in the MX record" them- "Did you try to send any mail through it?" me- "No I thought that would have been rude").. moving to their virus gateway then hoping to their network loadbalanced front end exchange servers... etc etc. By the time I was finished I had used the entire 6 feet of the whiteboard to map out their mail routes worldwide. The only thing that I did not have on the map were internal applications which I would have had a bitch of a time discovering in 3 days outside the company. It turns out my email network topology map was correct. Overall I was very pleased with the impact this had and I can almost be certain that no one else is going to go in there and do the exact same thing.. I'll know in a week one way or another..but even if I don't get the gig I'm rather pleased with the way I handled this.

 

[Talksmartz]

congrats, good job, and good luck.
Being out of work is never fun, I just picked up a job after 2.5 months of unemployment myself...

 

[HardcoreRobot]

back from the dead!

but so yeah, did you get the job?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Anybody
I have an interview with an interntational company tommorow. I had a phone interview Friday that obviously went well enough to get me in for a face to face.<BR><BR>The position will be managing their email systems.<BR><BR>Over the weekend I did some research and found out where all their MX records send to. Telnet'ed into those boxes to see what sort of servers they have existing before their email servers. Found out the service provider they are using for thier wireless PDA"s and downloaded and read the manual for the server portion.<BR>I also downloaded and studied up on the virus software gateway<BR>I also found whitepapers at different service providers which outlined their network set up as well as all the different server types they are using..<BR><BR>What I was thinking of doing was when the interview asks me if I have any questions.. to draw a network map of the email network as I have discovered it and ask for clarifications on points are grey areas.<BR><BR>Is this over the top.... should I just stick with knowing what i know and answer his questions with answers based on the knowledge I have?<BR><BR>Thanks for your opinions ahead of time.

Depending on who is interviewing you and their depth of knowledge, they might think you hacked into their company. Always reemmber the Dilbert principle

 

[Anybody]

I didnt get the gig... for those who were curious..but I did land a different job a couple weeks later. Thanks for the well wishes and advice