What would you do in this situation?

Customers call in complaining "the site is slow"

[ramoneguru]

What would be the first thing you do to remedy (if possible) the problem?

I was recently asked this question at a job interview (they just wanted to see what I knew) and I stumbled a bit by saying something like:

"Well, I would first talk to the customer service people to find out exactly how many people felt the site was slow (find out info on customers like date they called, time of day, their connection, etc...) then talk to the server maint. crew and ask if anything went down. If everything was alright mechanically then I would...."

I went on like this for a little bit, but they didn't seem terribly impressed....Got a 2nd interview though.

Anyways, what would have been a better/more reasonable response?
--Nick

[zCat]

The first thing I do is to access the website and see for myself. If it feels slower than it should be, I ssh into the server(s) and see what's up. If not, I check everything I can at our end (a quick diagnosis only takes a few minutes) before escalating things back to the customer side.

[LifeinAsia]

First, you have to get them to define "slow." Some people say the site is slow becuase graphics load slowly. Others because they have a slow Internet connection and EVERYTHING loads slowly (or their Internet connection is temorarily slow). Or when being redirected to amn external site, it's taking a logn time for the external site to come up. Or banner ads from an external server are loading slowly. Or JavaScript related parts of the site are loading slowly.

Second, try to duplicate the "slowness" yourself. Try to narrow down the problem- is it the user's connection? Only certain pages or types of page elements? The whole site (indicating it may be a server problem)?

[coopster]

Got a 2nd interview though

I'd call their tech support hotline before the next interview and ask the same question to see what their canned response is ;)

[Matt Probert]

Got a 2nd interview though

I'd call their tech support hotline before the next interview and ask the same question to see what their canned response is ;)

Not as cheeky as it sounds. Infact, very sound advice. ALWAYS do your homework - if you want the job - read up on the company's history, philosophy and the like and quote them back at the interviewer. If your replies can show you know how *they* do it at the moment, it shows you have exerted effort and are interested in the job.

Matt