Most Frequently Asked Data Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Data engineer interview questions are an important part of your preparation interview process. Yet, you need to be informed of the progress of the data engineer interview process if you want to optimize your chances of getting a data engineer job. Now, what skills do you need to become a data engineer?

The most essential aspect of your preparation for a career as a data engineer is skills and qualifications. Here are the top 5 compulsory skills for anyone looking for a job in data engineering:

• Data modeling knowledge for both data storage and big data.
• ETL experience. ETL experience.
• Big data area expertise (M/R, HDFS, Pig, Hive, etc.). Hadoop stack experience.
• Python and SQL.
• Mathematics.
• Facilities to visualize data (e.g., Tableau or PowerBI).

You may now enroll for the whole 365 data science program if you need to enhance your abilities to start a successful career as a data engineer. Start with our Statistics, Maths, and Excel courses and develop step-by-step SQL, Python, R, Power BI, and Tableau knowledge.

The most frequently asked data engineer interview questions and answers:

Hiring managers usually begin the conversation with a few more common data engineer interview questions. Their goal is to prepare you for difficult data engineering questions. Here are several questions and answers to help you start.

How did you choose a career in data engineering?

How to answer: The response to this question enables you to understand more about your training, history, and job. You might have opted to continue your studies in computer science or information systems naturally in the fields of data engineering. You have either done comparable tasks before, or you are moving from a completely different sector of work. Nevertheless, don’t be afraid to share your experience and showcase the abilities you have acquired over your education and career path.

Answer: “I always had a strong interest in computers since I was a youngster. I already knew I wanted to go after an information technology degree while I was in high school for my senior year. I took some mathematics and statistics classes in college that enabled me to get my first work for a big healthcare organization as a data analyst. But, I wanted to learn more about my programming and data management, as much as I enjoyed using my math and statistical expertise. That’s when I began to study data engineering. I spoke to area specialists and attended online classes to understand more. I found that it was the perfect job route for my interests and abilities combo. Fortunately, within a few months, my firm offered a job in the field of data engineering and I had the opportunity to move easily.”

What do you think is the hardest aspect of being a data engineer?

How to answer: smart hiring managers don’t know that everything is a job. So hesitate not to reply honestly to this question. You may assume that it is your objective to make you feel weak. But in actuality, how you solved something you have been struggling with is what the interviewer wants to know.

Answer: “As a data engineer, I have battled primarily to meet the demands of every one of the companies’ departments. There are sometimes competing needs in different areas. It was so rather difficult to balance them with the capacity of the infrastructure of the firm. This was still a useful learning experience for me as it provided me with an opportunity to discover how these departments function and their position in the company’s overall structure.” Read more here.

Can you think of a time when you experienced an unexpected problem with bringing together data from different sources? How did you eventually solve it?

How to answer: This question allows you to show your problem-solving abilities and how to adapt to abrupt changes in the plan. The question may be particular to data engineers or more general to management problems. You still can provide an okay hypothesis, even if you don’t have a special experience.

Answer: “I have always attempted to be ready for any problems throughout the ETL process in my prior job experience and in my team. Yet an issue is going to happen entirely out of the blue every once in a while. While I was working for a franchised firm, I recall when it happened. Its system needed to collect data from several systems and sites. So when one company updated its system without notice, it produced a number of loading problems for the data on its store. To deal with this problem, I at first found a short-term solution to incorporate the important data in the broad reporting system of the firm. When I took care of this, I began to create a long-term solution to avoid any similar issues.”

Data engineers collaborate with architects on a daily basis. What makes your job as a data engineer different?

How to answer: The interviewer is probably attempting this question to check if you understand how the jobs of a data warehouse team are different. But the answer to that question is not “correct” or “false.” Both data engineers and data architects have different duties (or overlap), depending on the needs of the organization/database maintenance department for whom you are working.

Answer: “The distinction between the two jobs varies from enterprise to enterprise based on my working experience. Yes, data engineers and data architects cooperate closely. But, their overall duties vary. The data architects are in charge of the construction and management of servers for the company’s data architecture. When it comes to data transmission within the firm, they view the complete picture. Data engineers, instead of creating the architecture, focus on testing and sustaining it. Plus, they provide dependable availability of the essential high-quality data available to analysts across the business.

Can you tell us a bit more about the data engineer certifications you have obtained?

How to answer: Certifications show that you have spent time and effort to receive formal training for talent instead of picking it up on the job. The amount of certifications below indicates also your commitment to developing your knowledge and abilities. Recreation is necessary mainly since technology evolves quickly in this sector, and you need to upgrade your abilities often. But, you may highlight training offered by former employers or the present firm for which you are working if you have not finished any courses or online certificate programs. This shows that you are aware of the newest advances in the field of data engineering.

Answer: “I am a Google Professional Data Engineer certified over the last few years and I have also received a Cloudera Certified Professional Data Engineer’s certificate. With fresh field training, I always remain up to date. That’s the only way I think that my knowledge and abilities improve continually. I am now preparing for the Certificate Exam of the IBM Big Data Engineer. Wherever I get the opportunity, I aim to participate in large-scale conferences with well-known speakers.”

Which ETL tools have you worked with? Do you have a favourite one? If so, why?

How to answer: The recruiting manager must be aware you have some expertise with different ETL tools and that you are no stranger to the ETL procedure. So, when you list the tools with which you have worked and indicate the one that you prefer, confirm your choice in such a manner that your ETL knowledge is demonstrated.

Answer: “With several ETL technologies, such IBM Infosphere, SAS Data Management and SAP Data Service, I have experience. But, I would be Informatica’s PowerCenter if I had to make one my preferred choice. I believe its efficiency is what makes it the finest. PowerCenter offers a very high performance and versatility, the most significant features of an ETL tool I feel. They guarantee data access and seamless functioning of corporate data, even if changes in the company or its structure take place at all times.”

Have you built data systems using the Hadoop framework? If so, please describe a particular project you’ve worked on?

How to answer: Hadoop is a tool many recruitment managers question during interviews. If a specific issue of this kind exists, you should be aware that you are most likely to have to utilize that particular tool at work. So to prepare, do your study and ensure that you know the languages and tools used by the firm. This information may be found in the job description more frequently than not. If you have expertise with the tool, explain your proposal in depth to show your knowledge and skills of the tool. If you have not dealt with these tools, the least you can do is study to show some fundamental knowledge of the attribute of the tool.

Answer: “When working on a collaborative project, I employed the Hadoop framework to increase data processing performance. Due to its capacity to enhance the pace of data processing while maintaining quality via its distributed processing, we decided to install it. Due to its scalability, we chose to deploy Hadoop, which I was working on to ensure that their demands for data processing increased considerably in the following several months. Also, Hadoop is a network of open-source sources that is the ideal choice, taking the limited resources for the project into account. It’s Java-based not to mention, so it was straightforward for everyone in the team to use and there was no more training.”

Do you have experience with a cloud computing environment? What are the pros and cons of working in one?

How to answer: Data engineers are aware that cloud computing has both advantages and disadvantages. That is, you must be able to show a certain knowledge of the benefits and deficiencies even if you lack previous experience working with cloud computing. The hiring manager will show that you are knowledgeable of the technical problems in the business today. Plus, the recruiting manager knows if the position you are examining demands a cloud computing environment, that you have a key idea of probable problems.

Answer: “In the cloud computing environment I have not yet got the chance to work. I’m nonetheless well aware of its advantages and disadvantages overall. On the bright side, the cost-efficiency and reliability of cloud computing. Most providers sign agreements guaranteeing a high degree of service availability to minimize downtime. The cloud computing environment might jeopardize the security and confidentiality of data, as the information is maintained away from the organization. Also, the service provider is handling the infrastructure, your control is safe.

In your line of work, have you introduced new data analytics applications? If so, what challenges did you face while introducing and implementing them?

How to answer: New data applications are expensive, so it does not happen very often to introduce such applications into a firm. But, it could become an ambitious undertaking when a firm chooses to invest in new technologies for data analytics. The new instruments must be hand in hand with the company’s present systems and properly educated by employers. The maintenance of the tools should be under a good administration and performance regularly. So, if you have previous experience, indicate the barriers that you have conquered or describe scenarios of what may have been wrong. Describe in detail what you are aware of the procedure if you lack relevant experience.

Answer: “As a data engineer, I participated in the former company that I worked for to implement a fresh new data analytics application. The whole procedure demands a careful strategy to guarantee the smoothest possible transition. Even the most meticulous preparation, but, cannot exclude unexpected problems. One was the huge demand for user licenses that surpassed our expectations. In order to secure more licenses, the firm had to reassign funding resources. Also, training plans had to be ready to not interrupt the workflow in various departments. In order to accommodate the much greater number of users, we had to improve our infrastructure.”

What is your experience level with NoSQL databases? Tell me about a situation where building a NoSQL DB was a better solution than building a relational DB?

How to answer: In comparison to one form of database, several advantages and disadvantages exist. To provide the best response possible, strive to show your expertise and back it up with an actual circumstance, which indicates how you have applied your expertise to a real-world project (or would use it).

Answer:“In some cases it may be helpful to build a NoSQL database. Here’s a situation I think of from my experience. When the franchising system of my firm grew enormously in size, we had to be able to swiftly scale up to make the most of all our selling and operational data.”

How to perfectly prepare for a data engineer interview questions?

These are, in the final analysis, the most frequently asked data engineer interview questions. We have also covered 10 questions up to now, and explained the science behind every data engineer interview question with answer samples. Also, these above-mentioned questions work perfectly for both Facebook data engineer interview questions and Amazon data engineer interview questions. Bear in mind, as we have mentioned earlier in this article, to conduct some more research in order to increase your chances at getting well prepared for the data engineer interview questions.

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