Data Engineering interview sucks!!!

Adobe
xljn30

Go to company page Adobe

xljn30
Jun 19, 2021 25 Comments

Interviewed at 5 companies in last 4 months , and I can tell data engineering interviews are most random and inconsistent..

It varied from someone asking hard leetcode in tech screen to asking to debug complex and poorly written codes.. even full fledged system design round was also happened.
And don't forget devops and cloud concepts..even they themselves are not using but they want you to know...Below is my experience

1) Google : leetcode plus system design plus SQL plus data modelling and distributed systems
2) Twitter : Anything random, just told me on-site will be related to data engg skills.. but asked 2 lc hard in my loop. One was related to research paper..Then some random questions on Docker..
3) Apple : All random, medium lc , but given case study to be completed with evaluators , code to be completed in spark or scala (no Python), and then switched gears to ML .. Though got the offer, but still thinking it's so tiring
4) Uber : API design. Failed because I have not done it and not even in my resume
5) Startup : homework assignment to modify web interface (what a shit!)I am not even a UI guy..

It was so tiring going through data engineering interviews..

In my experience, what I understand either you solve simple SQL for low paying data engg roles, or you must know leetcode , system design, data modelling, SQL, spark and some deep dive data engg. topics Programming constructs and other random topics

In that respect , I feel applying as software engineering roles make sense at least you grill lc and system design..And that should be it..

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TOP 25 Comments
  • Adobe
    xljn30

    Go to company page Adobe

    xljn30
    OP
    And in the end... You end up migrating files and writing SQLs at work
    Jun 19, 2021 0
  • Redfin
    HoqR33

    Go to company page Redfin

    HoqR33
    I got asked financial analysis questions entire time while interviewing for a DE role πŸ₯΄πŸ₯΄πŸ₯΄. I then asked how much work of data analysis vs data engineering in this role, and HM said 60% DE and 40% documentation πŸ€·πŸ»β€β™€οΈ. I later found out the HM is Finance Manager.
    Jun 19, 2021 1
    • Adobe
      xljn30

      Go to company page Adobe

      xljn30
      OP
      That is what I felt.. most HM heading orgs full of analysts and then need may be 1 support guy in form of data engg. who handles everything

      Or you might end up interviewing with infrastructure team that handles lots of devops and cloud infrastructure

      And may be just to show how great their team is may be they start asking random leetcode questions..
      Jun 19, 2021
  • Adobe
    xljn30

    Go to company page Adobe

    xljn30
    OP
    What I feel.. there are tons of data analysts who market themselves as data engineers.. may be that is the reason at some places there is very high bar for data engineering
    Jun 19, 2021 0
  • Confirm everything above. Though I had unique DE assignments worth solving. The questions they ask suggest DE culture in a company to some extent.

    From my experience, companies like Lyft (not Uber), some fintech have quality interviewing process in DE space.
    Jun 19, 2021 0
  • I would suggest looking for companies where you would build infra and pipelines from the scratch. Obviously, young companies or the once on the edge of transformation to be more efficient.
    Jun 19, 2021 8
    • Adobe
      xljn30

      Go to company page Adobe

      xljn30
      OP
      Get a life
      Jun 19, 2021
    • Piksel
      dCdF24

      Piksel

      dCdF24
      Might be good to ask up front before the interview to understand interview expectations . Fb/g does a pretty good job of providing enough info for candidate so that they are well prepared .
      Jun 21, 2021