BizTalk: Interview questions and principles

 
This is the questions for a BizTalk developer position during a technical interview.
Interview can be very intensive and scheduled for 1-1.5 hour.
 
The main principle:
quick question - quick answer/demonstration.
 
The main goal:
range the main skills in all areas of the BizTalk generic development
 

General questions:
How does contender understand:
* the general architecture of the BizTalk:
= enumerate the main parts of the BizTalk system
= describe the main intentions of the BizTalk
 
* artifacts, terms (enumerate them):
= quick description
 - application
  - ports, groups, locations
  - pipelines
  - schemas
  - maps
  - orchestrations:
   - shapes
   - transactions:
     - atomic
     - long-running
     - compensation
     - exceptions
     - persistent points
  - assemblies
  - helper .NET classes
  - data bases, servers
  - hosts, instances
  - adapters, handlers
  - subscribers, publishers
  - parties
  - EDI, AS2 system
  - rules, vocabularies, policies
= What contender likes/doesn't like in this artifact/tool. (Don't laugh, it is a silly and VERY tough question.)
 
* What's going on inside BizTalk? 
* How do you study BizTalk? What are the main sources of the information?
 
Development of the BizTalk applications:
= Describe creating a full-featured BizTalk application.
= Create an artifact, show what is the most interesting thing inside the artifact and/or inside the tool.
= What contender likes/doesn't like in this artifact/tool?
* VS, TFS
* Schema editor
 - Flat-file Wizard
* Mapper
 - Xslt
* Orchestration Editor
* Business Rule Composer
* Tracking Profile Editor
* ESB Toolkit, Itinerary Editor
 
Debugging the BizTalk Application:
   = Describe debugging the full-featured BizTalk application.
* Enumerate tools:
 * VS
 * DebugView
 * HAT, BTS Adm.Console
 * NUnit, SoapUI, BizUnit, LoadGen, test facilities in VS
* Debugging artifacts:
  - application
  - ports
  - pipelines
  - schemas
  - maps
  - orchestrations
  - .NET classes
  - Web-services
  - BR policy
 
Deploying the BizTalk application:
   = Describe deploying the full-featured BizTalk application.
* MSBuild
* BTSTask, BTSDeploy
* WMI scripts
* Wizards
* BizTalk Deployment Framework (BTDF)
 
Monitoring the BizTalk application:
2004, 2006 BTS: HAT, BizTalk Adm.Console, PerfMon
2006 R2, >2009 BTS: BizTalk Adm.Console, PerfMon
BAM:
   = Describe creating the tracking profiles, activities, views.
 

 Programming skills:

* "bear route" problem or similar logical problem :)
* bubble sort algorithm
* test-driven programming
* .NET languages
* script languages, utils
* SQL: database normalization, programming
 
Architecture skills:
* Architect a standard applications:
  = workflow with several messages
     - correlation
     - convoys: parallel; sequential unified; sequential non unified
  = instance vs. active subscriptions
  = FIFO, ordered delivery
  = BizTalk to/from SQL app:
   - send data to SQL
   - receive data from SQL
   - query SQL data
   - where to validate data?
  = maps and ports
  = BizTalk to/from WS/HTTP apps
    - SOAP, WCF ports, artifacts, wizards
* error handling in the BizTalk applications
* ESB and BizTal
 
= What additional tools has contender used for the BizTalk/integration application  and dig up those areas.
 

There is a good article by Richard Seroter [BizTalk] Interview Advice (http://seroter.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/biztalk-interview-advice/)


 
Print | posted on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 3:30 PM

Feedback

# re: BizTalk interview

left by o_rly at 7/4/2007 8:46 AM Gravatar
You call that torture? I don't see any BAS on here...

# re: BizTalk interview

left by Leonid Ganeline at 7/4/2007 8:57 AM Gravatar
I call this "torture" because it is not the "choose one from 3" exam but one of the "try to describe the term". It is really exhausting.
Never used BAS :((


Regards,

Leonid Ganeline

# re: BizTalk interview

left by Ahmed Farrag at 7/5/2007 5:19 AM Gravatar
this is a really comprehensive framework for an interview ...

nice work putting it together like this ..
i guess i'll be using it in my next interview .

cheers :)

Regards,

Ahmed Farrag
MVP Biztalk Server

# re: BizTalk interview questions and principle

left by Rajesh Charagandla at 8/20/2007 9:42 PM Gravatar
Hi,

Thanks for updating the questions you faced in the interview.

Regards,
Rajesh.
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