> Come back in 10 years and let us know if you still know it.
I've never taken a CS class, and I still know it. I've just stared at enough packet dumps and debugged enough issues that it happens to stick.
I think it's a stupid question to ask as a screener, as it tests familiarity with trivia. It's the kind of thing I'd be happy to see that somebody knew, but it's never something I'd downcheck them for not knowing. It could just mean, as in your case, that there deep knowledge is somewhere else.
> I've never taken a CS class, and I still know it. I've just stared at enough packet dumps and debugged enough issues that it happens to stick.
We are all a product of our environment. And there is certainly a chance in 10 years the OP will still know how many bytes are in a MAC address. I only mentioned computer science based on the "student" part of the quote.
Personally I've been spoiled by working on higher level stuff so if I do look at a packet dump I usually filter the packet headers out. But again, we're a product of our environment and asking questions that a reasonable skilled engineer might go their entire career without knowing the answer to except in that interview is a bit suspect and will likely disqualify people that would be otherwise great for the job.
I've never taken a CS class, and I still know it. I've just stared at enough packet dumps and debugged enough issues that it happens to stick.
I think it's a stupid question to ask as a screener, as it tests familiarity with trivia. It's the kind of thing I'd be happy to see that somebody knew, but it's never something I'd downcheck them for not knowing. It could just mean, as in your case, that there deep knowledge is somewhere else.