Database Administrator Interview Experience - Toronto, Ontario
October 1, 2011
Neutral ExperienceNo Offer
Process
I applied online and the recruiter called a couple of days later. The first technical interview was scheduled for a week later, but the manager had to leave in half an hour, so the rest of the interview was postponed.
The next time the interview was scheduled, the manager never called, and it wasted my day.
On the next interview date, the hiring manager called and started with many development questions.
The interview started on the wrong foot when the interviewer asked me what I do and what position I had applied for. Clearly, the interviewer did not know whom he was talking to or what position he was interviewing for.
At the end, I knew I had not made it because most of the questions were not relevant to the job description.
Questions
What are window functions?
How would you write a query to page out results from a large SELECT statement?
What is a CTE? What is the main advantage of a CTE over temporary tables?
What is the advantage of using FileStream over the binary data type?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Autodesk Database Administrator role in Toronto, Ontario.
Success Rate
0%
Pass Rate
Autodesk's interview process for their Database Administrator roles in Toronto, Ontario is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive0%
Neutral100%
Negative0%
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Autodesk's Database Administrator interview process in Toronto, Ontario.
Autodesk Work Experiences
1.0
Do not join contract to Hire. (MSSQL DBA Singapore)
Database Administrator • Former Employee
Singapore, Singapore
July 22, 2018
Pros: They are moving to AWS and using Aurora, which is self-managed, so you don't have scope anyway.
Cons: They say contract to hire, but they won't renew after 6 months.
They are leaving from MSSQL, MYSQL, Postgres, Oracle to AWS managed databases, so your career is doomed anyway.
Highly political organization.
Your full-time counterpart in the US won't give KT but loads of work.
Based on your situation, if you still want to go for it, start searching for a job in Singapore because your time here is only 6 months.
Your contractor won't help if they are not willing to extend. Lots of people have lost their jobs and returned home.
Lots of FTE DBAs have left and have not been replaced.
Company is switching to Amazon AWS services, and their class 1 products are not stable after moving to AWS. Be ready to work over weekends and weekdays until over midnight.
5.0
Autodesk: Not perfect, but still a great place to work!
Database Administrator • Current Employee
San Rafael, California, United States
January 6, 2009
Pros: Autodesk is a great place to work, simply because of the people. Folks here are very passionate about their jobs, and it shows in meetings and discussions throughout the day.
There has also been a lot of improvement over the past couple of years with regards to insight into things that are occurring at the senior management level. This helps a lot with eliminating many of the rumors we'd otherwise have and definitely gives us (individual employees) a feeling that our voices are heard and we are indeed part of this organization.
Cons: No company is perfect, and Autodesk is no exception. One of the big downfalls of a global company with various divisions is that after a while, you begin to feel like you're working with multiple companies inside your company. By that, I mean it's very easy to get lost in your own division (say, IT) and completely lose insight and awareness of things going on in other divisions of the company. Sometimes things that happen in Product Development I hear first from outside the company rather than within. I don't believe the walls are up intentionally, but more so just out of custom.
4.0
Good Balance, Toxic Politics
Senior Data Engineer • Former Employee
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
October 23, 2025
Pros: Good work-life balance.
Compensation is on the higher end for Canada.
Cons: Big tech toxic corporate politics.
Minimal career growth for engineers.
- 1.0Do not join contract to Hire. (MSSQL DBA Singapore)Database Administrator • Former EmployeeSingapore, SingaporeJuly 22, 2018Pros: They are moving to AWS and using Aurora, which is self-managed, so you don't have scope anyway.Cons: They say contract to hire, but they won't renew after 6 months. They are leaving from MSSQL, MYSQL, Postgres, Oracle to AWS managed databases, so your career is doomed anyway. Highly political organization. Your full-time counterpart in the US won't give KT but loads of work. Based on your situation, if you still want to go for it, start searching for a job in Singapore because your time here is only 6 months. Your contractor won't help if they are not willing to extend. Lots of people have lost their jobs and returned home. Lots of FTE DBAs have left and have not been replaced. Company is switching to Amazon AWS services, and their class 1 products are not stable after moving to AWS. Be ready to work over weekends and weekdays until over midnight.
- 5.0Autodesk: Not perfect, but still a great place to work!Database Administrator • Current EmployeeSan Rafael, California, United StatesJanuary 6, 2009Pros: Autodesk is a great place to work, simply because of the people. Folks here are very passionate about their jobs, and it shows in meetings and discussions throughout the day. There has also been a lot of improvement over the past couple of years with regards to insight into things that are occurring at the senior management level. This helps a lot with eliminating many of the rumors we'd otherwise have and definitely gives us (individual employees) a feeling that our voices are heard and we are indeed part of this organization.Cons: No company is perfect, and Autodesk is no exception. One of the big downfalls of a global company with various divisions is that after a while, you begin to feel like you're working with multiple companies inside your company. By that, I mean it's very easy to get lost in your own division (say, IT) and completely lose insight and awareness of things going on in other divisions of the company. Sometimes things that happen in Product Development I hear first from outside the company rather than within. I don't believe the walls are up intentionally, but more so just out of custom.
- 4.0Good Balance, Toxic PoliticsSenior Data Engineer • Former EmployeeToronto, Ontario, CanadaOctober 23, 2025Pros: Good work-life balance. Compensation is on the higher end for Canada.Cons: Big tech toxic corporate politics. Minimal career growth for engineers.
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