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Data Engineer Interview Questions

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Data Engineer Interview Questions

Data engineers are IT professionals who are needed in almost every industry. Data engineers monitor data trends to determine best next steps for companies. A critical part of a data engineer job is to process raw data into usable data by creating data pipelines and building data systems.

Top Data Engineer Interview Questions & How To Answer

Question 1

Question #1: Can you describe in detail your level of expertise with programming languages?

How to answer
How to answer: Before the interview, review your resume and/or portfolio and make a list of the programs you are most proficient with. If you find that you are lacking the expertise in a program that the company predominately uses, describe yourself as a highly motivated self-starter who will work tirelessly to learn the program(s).
Question 2

Question #2: Explain data engineering in your own words.

How to answer
How to answer: Highlight your role in relation to the larger organization and other roles like data scientists to clearly define your contribution to the overall system of business. Clarify the difference between a database-centric engineer and a pipeline-centric engineer.
Question 3

Question #3: Can you describe your experience working with Apache Hadoop and cloud data management environments?

How to answer
How to answer: Research the company's software, data cloud products, and use of Apache Hadoop to be prepared for this inquiry. Data Engineers must be fluent in programming languages and data management systems used throughout the industry such as Apache Hadoop.

20,222 data engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Shared in DescriptionQuestion1) If we have input.csv, we need to find the output. File and desired output are given below. username, mobile user1,999999991:888888882 user3,777777771 user2,777777234:823232351 user5,734452343:943433434:834323434 user1,999999991:9994433777 output user1:3 user2:2 user3:1 Question2) How can we read a csv file into dataframe Question3) Option to modify the encoding while reading a file in Scala Question 4) Optin to modify the timestamp while reading a file Question 5) How to introduce separators like "," while reading a file Question 6) How to infer Schema =============================== Question 7) How have below 2 tables, we need to find out users who visited a bank but didn't make any transactions? -- Visits table: -- +---------+------------+ -- | user_id | visit_date | -- +---------+------------+ -- | 1 | 2020-01-01 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-02 | -- | 12 | 2020-01-01 | -- | 19 | 2020-01-03 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-02 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-03 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-04 | -- | 7 | 2020-01-11 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | -- | 8 | 2020-01-28 | -- +---------+------------+ -- Transactions table: -- +---------+------------------+--------+ -- | user_id | transaction_date | amount | -- +---------+------------------+--------+ -- | 1 | 2020-01-02 | 120 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-03 | 22 | -- | 7 | 2020-01-11 | 232 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-04 | 7 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 33 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 66 | -- | 8 | 2020-01-28 | 1 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 99 | -- +---------+------------------+--------+
avatar

Senior Big Data Engineer

Interviewed at Impetus Technologies

3.7★
Jun 21, 2022

Shared in DescriptionQuestion1) If we have input.csv, we need to find the output. File and desired output are given below. username, mobile user1,999999991:888888882 user3,777777771 user2,777777234:823232351 user5,734452343:943433434:834323434 user1,999999991:9994433777 output user1:3 user2:2 user3:1 Question2) How can we read a csv file into dataframe Question3) Option to modify the encoding while reading a file in Scala Question 4) Optin to modify the timestamp while reading a file Question 5) How to introduce separators like "," while reading a file Question 6) How to infer Schema =============================== Question 7) How have below 2 tables, we need to find out users who visited a bank but didn't make any transactions? -- Visits table: -- +---------+------------+ -- | user_id | visit_date | -- +---------+------------+ -- | 1 | 2020-01-01 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-02 | -- | 12 | 2020-01-01 | -- | 19 | 2020-01-03 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-02 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-03 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-04 | -- | 7 | 2020-01-11 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | -- | 8 | 2020-01-28 | -- +---------+------------+ -- Transactions table: -- +---------+------------------+--------+ -- | user_id | transaction_date | amount | -- +---------+------------------+--------+ -- | 1 | 2020-01-02 | 120 | -- | 2 | 2020-01-03 | 22 | -- | 7 | 2020-01-11 | 232 | -- | 1 | 2020-01-04 | 7 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 33 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 66 | -- | 8 | 2020-01-28 | 1 | -- | 9 | 2020-01-25 | 99 | -- +---------+------------------+--------+

Prime Factorization... They expected me to remember the Sieve of Eratosthenes off the top of my head... That has absolutely nothing to do with the job role they described and I highly doubt they use it in their code base.

Senior Engineer (Data Wrangling)

Interviewed at TrackBill

5★
Jul 21, 2017

Prime Factorization... They expected me to remember the Sieve of Eratosthenes off the top of my head... That has absolutely nothing to do with the job role they described and I highly doubt they use it in their code base.

What have you done so far as a Data Engineer? How many years of experience? How much data you processed? Do you have experience with AWS tools and technologies like DynamoDB? How can you manage MongoDB in production? Why you want to leave current job and country?
avatar

Data Engineer

Interviewed at Arvoia

2.7★
Mar 16, 2018

What have you done so far as a Data Engineer? How many years of experience? How much data you processed? Do you have experience with AWS tools and technologies like DynamoDB? How can you manage MongoDB in production? Why you want to leave current job and country?

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Glassdoor has 20,222 interview questions and reports from Data engineer interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.