Top 10+ Data Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

In today’s video, I will talk about the data engineering interview and go over the different types of questions that might get asked during the interview.
If you need more interview questions, we have compiled a list of the top questions for data engineers
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00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Behavioral Interview Questions
01:15 - The STAR method
02:01 - Basic Data Engineering Questions
02:49 - SQL Interview Questions
04:48 - Data Structures and Algorithms Questions
07:15 - Database Design and Data Modeling Questions
09:01 - Data Pipeline & ETL Questions
10:34 - Data Engineering Case Study
12:22 - Quick Tips
If you want to practice for your next interview, here is our Mock Interview Playlist: • Mock Interviews
More from Jay:
Read my personal blog: datastream.substack.com/
Follow me on Linkedin: / jay-feng-ab66b049
Find me on Twitter: / datasciencejay
#DataEngineer #DataEngineerInterview #Giveaway #InterviewPreparation

[@WJ-zq3xo]

Great video, Jay! As I am looking forward to applying to a job position as a data engineer, I found great prep points in here! Keep it up! You just got a new subscriber!

[@andriipcreate]

Hi guys. I received a position of a DE with 0 experience for it. Actually, I was working as a data analyst for 6 months before, and I was preparing for a DevOps role to another company but I replied to a recruiter on LinkedIn and pass all stages, passed a probation period, and now I'm working in the company. I wasn't asked about Python at all, small questions on SQL, just to understand that I have a logic and that's it. Sure, it was a pure luck. I still learning heavily.

[@kaizen9554]

Congratulations

[@shilpag4961]

I found your content crisp, to the point. I am preparing for data engineering with couple of years' experience.

[@pavana7179]

Hi Jay, I have been looking for this type of content for data engineer role and I am glad I found interviewquery. Thanks and really appreciate it.

[@ankitadugade7700]

Thank you for posting this. Much needed. Great contest and covered most of the part👍🏻

[@snehakasireddy9700]

Hey Jay, really like the content in the video. Gives me a good understanding of what all you need to become a good data engineer.

[@gencosta3650]

Hi Jay, First of all, thank you for creating this helpful video on DE Interview QnA's. I am currently in healthcare and looking forward to move to Tech Industry. I learnt a lot and your video gave me pointers what to expect in the interviews and how to prepare them. Also thanks for creating this great resource- Interview Query which would help a lot to all the individuals who are currently transitioning or starting their career in data roles. Looking forward to your future content. Thanks again!

[@nataliedata338]

Hey, thank you a lot for this video and the guide! It was extremely helpful. In my experience I got a lot of questions about Query Optimisation, views vs materialised views, etc.

[@MayurKhanna101]

Thanks so much for this information! As someone with a DE interview coming up, this really helped me to identify the concepts that I need to brush up on. Keep up the good work!

[@umeshsathe2576]

Thanks Jay. This video helps to gauges the data engineering interview perimeter and what can be expected.

[@lakshmisowjanyagogineni9661]

Hey Jay, I Like the way how you have explained. I am preparing for data engineering interviews and having trouble in cracking question on big data and python. Looking forward to more content on the same.

[@user-gm6ct4uk1m]

Hi Jay, thank's a lot !! I love your video and it is very useful for my data engineer interview. You just got a new subscriber 👍

[@padhiparivar3957]

this is really nice video. pretty comprehensive. are you planning to make a data engineering series too? thank you!

[@ahmetalperenyildirim6184]

Amazing content, focused and informative. It's also great for data engineers to improve themselves. Thank you for sharing!

[@renukamelkani1354]

Hey Jay, very good content targeting Data Engineering interviews. Looking forward to more content on the same lines. Very helpful!

[@meronabate6804]

Hello Jay, Great contents. Thank you for the preparation video. I am preparing for a data engineering interview and this was exactly what I was looking for.

[@KunalBelnekar]

Thanks for the video. In depth explanation to help on interview prep.

[@user-oe4rx2wt7w]

Great video, covered all the topics and interview query looks super useful.

[@rameshgangabathula6221]

Thanks for posting the questions!!

[@chaseadal]

Just getting into data engineering and have an interview coming up! Loved your video. Thanks for the content. Signing up for interview query. Would love a free year if that’s still valid.

[@shikhaverma2376]

Thanks for the tips, it was indeed helpful.

[@manzoorali558]

Thanks Jay for going over the topics for data engineering questions. In my interviews experience I was asked on Python(coding questions), SQL(joins, analytical functions, rank, lead, lag etc...) , Data Modeling and System Design.

[@pushpanthkumar9028]

Could you let us know the company name?

[@badisabtl]

Great video, Thanks for sharing!

[@natashaferguson1618]

Thanks for the tips. This is super helpful 👏

[@prashanthambati5226]

Thanks for covering so much details in this video

[@jimmynguyen3949]

definitely feel more at ease after trying out interview query!

[@ducnguyenviet66]

So much thanks for your very specific types of question

[@IndoCanCooks]

Really great video for someone preparing for Data Engineer interview

[@method259]

Modern Data Engineer ideally should be well versed in lots of IT aspects surrounding Data engineering, for example dealing with hardware, knowing dsa and having decent programming skills, building and supporting data warehouse solutions, data modeling, data wrangling and visualization, being able to build etl pipelines with any cloud platform, knowing how transactions work at the deep level, basic dba skills, knowing how to spin up and support containers - docker, kubernetes, etc. Knowing particular cloud platform will be dependent on the vacancy, and it's easy to get around a new cloud platform if you already have an experience with another one.

[@ParamitaBiswass]

Thank you for the very informative video.

[@gabrielegbenya7479]

Great video! thanks

[@ericacuerbo8519]

Looking forward to trying these out.

[@sudhav4031]

Amazing video to start preparing for interviews!

[@iqjayfeng]

Thank you! Goodluck on your interview prep

[@Learn2Share786]

Thanks, interested to learn more on data engineering real time scenario questions.

[@sherypir]

Hi, thank you for your video and for letting me know about the platform. I'm currently a data engineer and I'm interviewing for a position as a Sr. Data Engineer.

[@Thinkthanker]

Great content, could you please make videos on Python Interview questions for Data Engineers

[@gencosta3650]

+1

[@decioramuski3400]

Nice video, I'm going to interview for a data engineering position and the content helped a lot to undestand what is expected. Also great timing for the giveway! I'd love to be able to practice on your platform. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@iqjayfeng]

Glad it was helpful!

[@leighcohen9968]

Hi Jay, Thank you so much for sharing this information and all your other videos. Your content has been extremely helpful! I would love to learn more about how to speak clearly and effectively during an interview. For example, how short vs. long my response should be, how I should talk about my experience when they ask the standard questions of "tell me about your experience", if there are specific points I should include or leave out, etc. Finding a way to describe my knowledge and converse in this space has been a challenge for me during interviews, and I don't think it does my experience and knowledge justice. I'm sure many deal with a similar challenge! I would love to hear your opinions and advice about this! Thanks, Leigh

[@smirza77]

Thanks for this informative video

[@gabbaydot]

Great presentation! Very detailed. Can you do one that involve data modelling and database design?

[@eellaups]

Hey Jay, I'm natively a mechanical engineer breaking my way into big tech and data. I'm currently interviewing with Meta for a DE role right now with minimal background experience. I'm cramming every possible resource out there, including your content. Love to see more data engineer mock interviews! Looking forward to more content.

[@iqjayfeng]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes

[@dungtrinh4604]

So how does it go right now? Is it the same as the video?

[@vipulgarg5336]

Hi Jay, Thanks for detailing on most important data engineering questions. I have been asked recently on Python(coding questions), SQL , Data Modelling and Cloud Platform I use and what exposure I have with ETL tools and Framework.

[@danitmurat7]

Thanks for the video :)

[@manshamanchanda4469]

What a great explanation. Interview query questions are quite accurate as well. One question that I have for you is how similar is software engineering to data engineering?

[@omolaramustophatatoyebi2421]

Thank you for the video

[@datascienceprojectsportfolio]

Hi Jay, This is the interview question which I got while interviewing for Games24 company . 1. How to flip the values of a field in SQL. Eg: Convert Male to Female and vice versa. (It basically tests the ability to use case statements with UPDATE) 2. How to seprate first name and last name?

[@iqjayfeng]

Interesting - so given one field called `gender` how do you flip Male to Female and Female to Male in an UPDATE statement?

[@datascienceprojectsportfolio]

@@iqjayfeng Hi Jay , We can use CASE in update statement. UPDATE [table_name] SET GENDER = CASE GENDER WHEN 'FEMALE' THEN 'MALE' WHEN 'MALE' THEN 'FEMALE' ELSE NULL END

[@montshosuggs5251]

I first wanted to say thanks for the video. Good stuff. I recently had an interview with 15 ppl on a Teams call. I was the only one with my camera on and the supervisor opened the floor to all the participants. It was a bit overwhelming. I fielded questions from various types of employees, some were analysts, some were engineers, and some were assistants. That might have been the hardest interview I have done.

[@scrimithou]

That's not a "hard interview" that is a "bad interview" ... As a DE/DS hiring manager, I would offer the advice of not working for that company.

[@thevendetta9726]

@@scrimithoufor what reason, can you clarify?

[@dcyadgaroff]

I had one DE interview where we went through multiple questions within some specific groups: networking, containerization/cloud/infrastructure, python, and sql. Nothing was very difficult but they must be able to determine your expertise level through your responses. I’m in another interview now and the code exam was all ETL using python. There was no SQL. There were two written systems design questions on pipeline and query optimization.

[@dcyadgaroff]

Would love to take you up on your offer to try your website out!

[@iqjayfeng]

If you’re looking for a tailored interview prep for DE, check out our newly launched Data Engineering learning path. Our learning path will help you practice core skills that are commonly evaluated in data engineering interviews. Try it here: www.interviewquery.com/learning-paths/data-engineering

[@tejasborkar5917]

Hey buddy , i use interview query last week just before my intership interview with Datadrok, you can't believe but SQL questions they ask me is from interview query 😂😂 i slove it like pro 😎. Btw I didn't crack interview bcz of python questions 😓. But I am trying hard and learning so much thing from you thank you 😊

[@prashantsawale492]

Looking forward to trying your platform !

[@nj2285]

Hello Jay, Thankyou for this content as its really helpful to test our skills before the interview and also gives us the ability to respond fast in interview. In a recent interview for Data analyst I was asked this Question You have a table with invoice_timestamp, invoice_amount, invoice_number, .... And the result they are looking for is Highest invoice_total and its respective Date , lowest invoice_total and respective date and 3rd highest invoice_total and date. Which means we need to convert timestamp to date and sum the invoice_amount grouped by date and then use windows function to rank with order by invoice and then filter only for ranks 1,3,max(rank) Hope this helps. Thanks

[@dmwhite6735]

Awesome video thank you! Could anyone kindly give advice on what / how much of this might be asked for an internship level data engineering role? (FAANG). I'd really appreciate it! 🙏🏼

[@andrewdavis6917]

Thank you so much.

[@Bogdan-tj6pt]

Nice video! So cool how the data engineering community evolved in the last couple of years. It's much more structured now and I fell like you have a much bigger certainty over what to expect from a job. 3 years ago it could be anything ranging from data analyst to data scientists.

[@mpalanikanini]

Thanks for sharing

[@suneilgoel3144]

thanks bro appreciate you

[@gourishpisal2796]

have been asked recently on Python(DSA), SQL(Window function) , Data Modelling and Cloud Platform in an interview

[@nachoKrinkle]

I have an interview in an hour. This is great for easing my mind

[@rioliu115]

Hi Jay，Do you kown the percent of sql 、data structure 、open question or algrithm question in the commom DE interview？

[@asthamishra2715]

Hi Jay , my first DE interview is coming up and your video really help to understand what I will expecting in interview , I know its bit late but is that interview query premium licence still available..thanks for all help

[@devesh0311]

Thank you

[@tasneemmehjabeen9150]

Thank you Jay. I am going to appear for an interview for the role of data engineer and would appreciate any help on the technical interview prep.

[@iqjayfeng]

Check out Interview Query!

[@darklashes87]

Hi, data engineer returnee here. I am preparing to get back into the job market after a career gap. I wanna give you a big thanks for such informative video and I will definitely checkout interview query. Do you have any suggestions for returnees like me who are feeling overwhelmed after such gap?

[@alexandrebragadocarmo6236]

Hello, Jay! Thank you for this video. I am preparing for a data engineering technical interview soon on SQL, Python and Airflow. I have just entered in your website and it is amazing! How can I practice those skills for free in your platform? Thank you again! All my best.

[@nicksham9200]

Great video, Jay! As I am looking forward to applying to a job position as a Senior data engineer, I found useful tips here! Keep it up!

[@andrewmaxwell9399]

Hey man, may i ask a question? I have an ETL experiences with 2 etl tools and multiple RDBMS (on premise), and i wanted to shift into Data Engineering roles that works usually combining ETL Tools+Python and its libraries/frameworks, am i considered as new graduates or industry professionals? Since i don't have any experiences with Python ? And does it usually means i have to take "paycut"? let's say i make $500 a month as ETL Developer, and i wanted to shift to Data Engineer roles , does it means i will be getting paid like $300 a month since i don't have DE experiences? I really need some guidance... Thankyou :)

[@satyajeetparakh]

How do you answer question 1. What is the difference between snowflake schema and other dimensional modelling types? Can you please explain

[@oscargilbalaguer5178]

Hey Jay! BI analyst transitioning to DE over here. My question regarding the interview process is: What's the level of knowledge depth expected for tools like Spark and Scala, Airflow and Kubernetes. Hope that qualifies for my free premium year at interview query! 😊

[@iqjayfeng]

Generally they're looking for past project experience here

[@05cru]

Right now I am polishing my skills to apply for a de role! I’d also love to get premium 😊

[@brothermalcolm]

I've been asked questions on how to speed up their workflow given x data sources over y time

[@iqjayfeng]

Interesting - what does the Y time represent?

[@mbujarski1]

Used these suggestions with SQL

[@Jesse1997Earth]

I have a question: what is the best way to learn Ansible? I can't find good resources to learn it.

[@oyindamolavictor]

Thank you so much Jay, amazing content, I saw on the website that there is an initial free plan before getting the premium package but I have tried accessing some of the SQL questions thinking the free plan would cover it, but I am still restricted.... Please is there any way around it?

[@iqjayfeng]

Try again! We had a minor bug issue there...

[@oyindamolavictor]

@@iqjayfeng I just refreshed, maybe I am the one trying to access the wrong page because I am on the SQL Learning path which has some of the theory sections free but the practice questions are still locked... Or is there a different section to access the free questions?

[@devimanogna1680]

Hi, i found the content to be very useful. I am looking for Interview Query premium for a year or 6months please let me know if the offer is still on. Thank you so much!

[@SIBUK]

How on earth could you possibly find out if a person was married or not without contacting them and asking? Even if you have 2 people living at the same address with the same surname it doesn't necessarily mean they are married.

[@astronemir]

Really great roundup. A lot to practice for but also seems like I have the skills to make it. 😅 just need to be able to pass interviews now. My first experience was rather rough due to a test that was heavy on optimized database design, which I honestly only have studied on a case by case basis. I set up something that will work for the job at hand, and think about scaling as a future problem when the needs are actually realized and we have a better handle on what would be needed.

[@andriipcreate]

Guys, do you still a free year of access available? Just found you channel )

[@thalanayarswaminathansaipr7703]

Hey Jay, My name is Sai. I am interested to practice the data engineering questions in the platform

[@ansshabbir8073]

Ridiculous speed

[@leod1740]

i dont know any data engineer who uses pandas

[@vasusoni7008]

Commenting for Free Premium :)

[@favoreze8328]

Thanks but this had no information in it. I will get more elsewhere. If the gatekeeping was to make one subscribe? You failed. Avoiding all your contents from now on