Thanks Jon,

You're right on all points, but a couple were right on the target:

1) The second interviewer probably didn't want me as I came from a higher-paying company. I did partly answer most of his questions, but he wouldn't give me time to finish thinking them out, and would press the next one on me prematurely.

2) I didn't try too hard to sell myself too, basically because I learnt in the first interview that the work was purely in Alarm Annunicators... not AC drives, motors, and other stuff as they had advertised. I was looking for something with more variety, this didnt sound too exciting. Plus it was clear that the pay wouldn't be too good either :-))

It was what Dennis would call a "practice" interview... But I think I scored well on all the other points ( Communication skills, problem solving etc)

I realize that I made a mistake when I said I could learn on the job to update my skills... but coming from a software job, that is one of the more important things we are expected to have, and I suppose mine was an automatic response :-))

Steve,
you're right that I need to know my hardware, and I have most of the basic knowledge, but the second interview was a rapid-fire quiz that only an experienced candidate would have managed to handle well. As I don't have that experience, I need a job in that field to get experience, and to get a job I require experience. Chicken and Egg scenario :-)) Many of my friends face the same problem nowadays, but being employed, its not that accute for me. Employers may also look for qualities besides experience, but it is currently an employers market, and why hire a fresher when you can get an experienced guy to work for about the same pay?

Anyway I can learn whatever hardware-oriented knowledge is required (from the Great Internet, if nothing else), I just need to know what stuff interviewers consider absolutely-must-have, should-have, good-to-have and damn-this-guy-is-good :-))

BTW I am no stranger to hardware, I've done a little of all... analog and digital circuits, PCB design & fabrication, soldering, bad grounding (read nasty zaps !!), power supply problems (more nasty zaps !!), inexplicable noise and compatibility issues... I've just lost touch and need to know what to brush up on. So I guess I can catch most of whatever technical jargon u throw at me :-))

Hey can anybody tell me a bit more about my moving average code? Is it right, is it as innovative as I thought, or is it the normal way to go about it?

BTW Jon, I think you need to be logged in to enable HTML on your postings.

kundi