Interview guide
SQL interviews are hands-on almost everywhere — live query writing over sample schemas — with difficulty scaling from joins and aggregation to window functions, and analytical roles adding optimization reasoning.
Joins: inner/left/self joins, and reasoning about row multiplication
Aggregation: GROUP BY with HAVING, conditional aggregation
Window functions: ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG/LEAD, running totals
Classic prompts: second-highest salary, deduplication, gaps and islands
Subqueries vs CTEs and when each reads better
Optimization talk: indexes, EXPLAIN plans, avoiding full scans
Master window functions cold — ranking, deduplication, and top-N-per-group questions decide most SQL rounds, and candidates who reach for self-joins where a window function fits signal dated practice.
SQL interviews are hands-on almost everywhere — live query writing over sample schemas — with difficulty scaling from joins and aggregation to window functions, and analytical roles adding optimization reasoning.
Master window functions cold — ranking, deduplication, and top-N-per-group questions decide most SQL rounds, and candidates who reach for self-joins where a window function fits signal dated practice.
Directly — interviewers build questions from your resume's claims, so every skill and achievement listed becomes fair game. A tailored, honest resume steers the interview toward your strongest material; an inflated one hands the interviewer traps you set for yourself.
Interviewers build their questions from what your resume claims. Tailor it to the role honestly first — free ATS score, missing keywords, and a recruiter-ready rewrite.