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Databricks provides a cloud-based unified platform to simplify data management systems and ensure faster services with real-time tracking. In 2023, it ranked number 2 on Forbes Cloud 100 list. At the moment, it serves more than 9,000 organizations, including 40% of the Fortune 500 companies. The platform comprises collaborative data science, massive data engineering, an entire lifecycle of machine learning, AI, and other business analytics.
The responsibility of a Databricks software engineer in any company, including Databricks, is to design a highly performant data ingestion pipeline using Apache Spark. Therefore, the Databricks interview questions are structured specifically to analyze a software developer's technical skills and personal traits. The interview is undoubtedly hard to crack. However, the Q&A series provided here with systematic guidance will certainly help with your preparation.
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This article will guide you through some of the common questions asked during interviews at Databricks. Here’s what we’ll discuss:
- What Are the Different Positions Offered to a Software Engineer at Databricks?
- The Interview Process at Databricks
- How to Prepare for Technical Interview Questions at Databricks
- What Are the Most Common Databricks Interview Questions?
- Unique Interview Questions Asked at Databricks
- FAQs on Databricks
What Are the Different Positions Offered to a Software Engineer at Databricks?
Databricks has offices across the world, with headquarters in San Francisco. Therefore, it has multiple vacancies in the domain of software engineering, such as:
- Customer Data Engineer
- Solution Consultant
- Backline Technical Solutions Engineer
- Cloud Solution Engineer
- Technical Solution Analyst
- Engineer Manager/Distributed Data System
- Front-End Engineer
- Back-End Engineer
- Product Security Engineer
- Senior Engineer – Database Engine Internals
- Senior Engineer – Distributed Data System
- Full-stack Engineer
- Technical Program Manager – Cloud Program
The Interview Process at Databricks
To apply for a software engineer role at Databricks, check the careers page of Databricks, LinkedIn, or Glassdoor. You can also apply via employee referral. When uploading your resume, ensure that you highlight all of the relevant experience that the role requires.
The interview mainly consists of a phone screen and an on-site interview.
Phone screen: If your application matches, the recruiter will reach out to you and conduct a basic screening of personal traits and technical skills.
The on-site interview comprises the following rounds:
- Behavioral round
- Code challenge assignment
- Technical round
- Personal attributes check
If you successfully clear all interview rounds, the recruitment team will take you through joining formalities.
How to Prepare for Technical Interview Questions at Databricks
The technical interview questions at Databricks focus on two verticals:
- Technical algorithms related to the data structure, memory utilization, and interface in the language of computer science.
- Coding assessment with a focus on problem-solving skills.
Besides giving the right answer, you also have to focus on the question from the perspective of solving a problem in a realistic environment.
To prepare for interview questions at Databricks for technical algorithms, focus on:
- Design
- Code structure
- Debugging
There will be questions on the framework on which you do not have experience. However, these are to analyze your ability to read documents and solve complex problems from practical experience.
Topics for coding assessment at Databricks are as follows:
- Web communication – Http, authentication, WebSockets.
- Browser fundamentals – Js event handling and caching.
- API + data handling.
- Data modeling.
Coding-Related Databricks Interview Question Topics
Here are some topics and concepts that you should definitely cover when preparing for your Databricks coding interview.
- Climbing word ladder
- String breakdown
- Loop in a linked list
- Substring in string
- Invert binary tree
- Targets and vicinities
- FizzBuzz
- Cloud computation
- Github
What Are the Most Common Databricks Interview Questions?
Here are some samples of Databricks’ interview questions and answers that will help to amp up your preparations.
1. Do Compressed Data Sources Like .csv.gz Get Distributed in Apache Spark?
When we read a compressed data source arranged in serial, it is called Single-Threaded. When such data is read off disk, it remains in memory as a distributed dataset. Therefore, only the initial read is not distributed. Compressed files are difficult to break; however, readable/chunkable files get distributed in multiple extents in an Azure data lake or Hadoop file system. Chunking up a lot of files in compressed form creates a thread per file depending on the number of files.
2. Should You Clean Up DataFrames, Which Are Not in Use for a Long Time?
DataFrames should not be deleted unless you use the cache since cache chunks up memory.
3. Do You Select All Columns of a CSV File When Using Schema With Spark .read?
CSV cannot identify a vertical slice of data. Therefore, it has to read the full file. For columnar files like Parquet, you may avoid reading each column.
4. Can You Use Spark for Streaming Data?
Spark supports multiple streaming processes at a time. You can both read and write streaming data or stream multiple deltas. It is a part of core Spark.
5. Does Text Processing Support All Languages? How Are Multiple Languages Implicated?
Supporting multiple languages is dependent on the package. For example, if you are using Python with NTLK and Spacey, it can support multiple languages. On the other hand, if you are using Spark with MLLIB or John Snow Labs with NLP library, it can support all languages.
Unique Interview Questions Asked at Databricks
Mentioned below are some unique interview questions asked at Databricks:
- What are the differences between Azure Databricks and Databricks?
- What is caching and its different types?
- Which ETL operations are done on Azure Databricks?
- What is the SQL version used in Databricks?
- What is Kafka and its uses?
FAQs on Databricks
Q. Is Databricks associated with Microsoft?
Azure Databricks is a Microsoft Service, which is the result of the association of both companies. The end product is Apache Spark-based analytics.
Q. Does Databricks certification help to crack the interview?
Yes, candidates with Databricks certification have a higher chance of acing their interview.
Q. Why is Databricks so popular?
Databricks is popular because of its flexibility and ease of use. It is a powerful and affordable data storage solution.
Q. Is Databricks a SQL database?
Databricks SQL offers standard computational resources for SQL queries, visualizations, and dashboards run upon the lakehouse tables. These queries, visualizations, and dashboards are created and performed within Databricks SQL through the SQL editor.
Q. What is the difference between Spark and Databricks?
Get Ready for Your Next Interview at Databricks
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Knowing very well that clearing an interview requires much more than sound technical knowledge, we train you in a manner that helps you develop a winner's stride. IK is your golden ticket to land the job you deserve.
At Interview Kickstart, we also provide practice problems and solutions to thoroughly brush up on your fundamental and specific technical skills, general attributes, and problem-solving skills. Our coaches are industry experts with a proven track record.
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