Senario Based SQL question
Asked in Interview.
Beginner Level
-
Basic SELECT Statement
- Scenario: You have a table named
employees
with columnsid
,name
, andsalary
. Write a query to retrieve all employee names and their salaries. - Question: How would you write this query?
- Scenario: You have a table named
-
Filtering Data
- Scenario: You want to find employees who earn more than $50,000 from the
employees
table. - Question: What SQL query would you use?
- Scenario: You want to find employees who earn more than $50,000 from the
-
Sorting Data
- Scenario: You want to list all employees in the
employees
table sorted by their names in alphabetical order. - Question: Write the SQL query to achieve this.
- Scenario: You want to list all employees in the
-
Counting Rows
- Scenario: You need to count how many employees work in each department in the
employees
table. - Question: How would you write the query for this?
- Scenario: You need to count how many employees work in each department in the
-
Using WHERE Clause
- Scenario: You want to retrieve all employees from the
employees
table who are in the "Sales" department. - Question: What is the SQL query for this?
- Scenario: You want to retrieve all employees from the
-
Using LIKE Operator
- Scenario: You want to find all employees whose names start with "J" from the
employees
table. - Question: Write the SQL query.
- Scenario: You want to find all employees whose names start with "J" from the
-
Aggregate Functions
- Scenario: You want to find the average salary of all employees in the
employees
table. - Question: How would you write this SQL query?
- Scenario: You want to find the average salary of all employees in the
-
Using DISTINCT
- Scenario: You want to find unique job titles from the
employees
table. - Question: What SQL query would you use?
- Scenario: You want to find unique job titles from the
-
Date Functions
- Scenario: You need to find employees hired after January 1, 2020.
- Question: Write the SQL query to accomplish this.
-
Basic JOIN Operation
- Scenario: You have a
departments
table and anemployees
table. Write a query to find employee names along with their department names. - Question: What SQL statement would you use?
- Scenario: You have a
Intermediate Level
-
Grouping Data
- Scenario: You need to count how many employees are in each department and display it along with the department name.
- Question: Write the SQL query.
-
HAVING Clause
- Scenario: You want to list departments with more than 5 employees.
- Question: What SQL query would you write?
-
Self Join
- Scenario: You have an
employees
table. Write a query to find pairs of employees who work in the same department. - Question: How would you approach this?
- Scenario: You have an
-
Subquery in SELECT
- Scenario: You want to retrieve employee names and their salary, along with the average salary of their department.
- Question: Write the SQL query.
-
Using UNION
- Scenario: You have two tables,
contract_employees
andpermanent_employees
. Write a query to list all employee names from both tables. - Question: How would you write this?
- Scenario: You have two tables,
-
Window Functions
- Scenario: You need to calculate a running total of salaries in the
employees
table. - Question: Write the SQL query using window functions.
- Scenario: You need to calculate a running total of salaries in the
-
CTEs (Common Table Expressions)
- Scenario: You want to list the top 5 highest-paid employees in the company.
- Question: How would you write this query using a CTE?
-
JSON Data Handling
- Scenario: You have a
products
table with a JSON column for attributes. How would you retrieve specific attributes from this JSON column? - Question: Write the SQL query.
- Scenario: You have a
-
Multiple Joins
- Scenario: You need to join
employees
,departments
, andlocations
tables to find the names of employees and their respective department locations. - Question: How would you approach this?
- Scenario: You need to join
-
Data Modification
- Scenario: You need to increase the salary of employees in the "IT" department by 10%.
- Question: What SQL statement would you use?
Advanced Level
-
Complex Subqueries
- Scenario: You want to find employees who earn more than the average salary of their respective departments.
- Question: Write the SQL query.
-
Pivot Tables
- Scenario: You have a sales table with sales data for different products over months. Write a query to display total sales per product per month.
- Question: How would you achieve this?
-
Indexing
- Scenario: You need to improve the performance of a query retrieving employee records based on their department. What type of index would you create?
- Question: Explain your reasoning.
-
Stored Procedures
- Scenario: You want to create a stored procedure to add a new employee to the database.
- Question: How would you write this procedure?
-
Triggers
- Scenario: You want to create a trigger that automatically updates the employee's last modified date whenever a record is updated.
- Question: What would the SQL for this trigger look like?
-
Data Validation
- Scenario: You want to ensure that no employee has a salary below the minimum wage before inserting a new record.
- Question: How would you implement this validation?
-
Normalization
- Scenario: You have a denormalized table with repetitive data. How would you design it to follow normalization rules?
- Question: Describe the process.
-
Handling NULL Values
- Scenario: You want to replace NULL values in the
salary
column with 0 in theemployees
table. - Question: Write the SQL query.
- Scenario: You want to replace NULL values in the
-
Transaction Management
- Scenario: You need to ensure that salary updates for multiple employees occur as a single transaction.
- Question: How would you implement this using SQL?
-
Performance Tuning
- Scenario: You have a query that runs slowly. What steps would you take to analyze and optimize its performance?
- Question: Explain your approach.
Expert Level
-
Data Warehousing
- Scenario: You need to design a data warehouse schema for a retail company, including fact and dimension tables.
- Question: Describe your schema design.
-
Data Migration
- Scenario: You need to migrate data from an old system to a new SQL database. What steps would you take to ensure data integrity?
- Question: Explain the process.
-
Handling Concurrency
- Scenario: Multiple users are updating the same employee record simultaneously. How would you manage this situation?
- Question: Discuss your approach.
-
Advanced Window Functions
- Scenario: You want to calculate the difference in sales between the current and previous month for each product.
- Question: Write the SQL query using window functions.
-
Recursive CTEs
- Scenario: You have an organizational chart stored in a table. Write a query to find all employees under a specific manager.
- Question: How would you write this using a recursive CTE?
-
Materialized Views
- Scenario: You need to create a materialized view for frequently accessed data to improve performance. What are the considerations?
- Question: Explain your approach.
-
Partitioning
- Scenario: You have a large table that stores transaction data. How would you partition this table to improve performance?
- Question: Discuss your strategy.
-
ETL Processes
- Scenario: You need to design an ETL process to extract data from multiple sources, transform it, and load it into a SQL database.
- Question: Describe the steps involved.
-
Using SQL with Big Data
- Scenario: You want to analyze large datasets stored in Hadoop using SQL. What tools or frameworks would you use?
- Question: Explain your choice.
-
Database Security
- Scenario: You are tasked with securing sensitive data in a SQL database. What measures would you implement?
- Question: Discuss your security strategy.
Specialized Level
-
Graph Queries
- Scenario: You need to write a query to find relationships between customers based on their purchases.
- Question: How would you approach this using graph databases?
-
Time Series Data Analysis
- Scenario: You want to analyze sales trends over time using a time series database.
- Question: What SQL functions would you use?
-
Multi-Tenant Database Design
- Scenario: You need to design a database schema to support multiple clients securely.
- Question: Describe your approach.
-
Handling Temporal Data
- Scenario: You need to track changes in employee data over time, including historical records.
- Question: How would you implement this?
-
Data Quality Management
- Scenario: You want to ensure data accuracy and consistency in your SQL database.
- Question: What strategies would you employ?
-
SQL and NoSQL Integration
- Scenario: You have both SQL and NoSQL databases in
your application. How would you manage data across both?
- Question: Discuss your integration strategy.
-
Event-Driven SQL Queries
- Scenario: You need to create a system that triggers SQL queries based on specific events (like new data entries).
- Question: How would you implement this?
-
Change Data Capture (CDC)
- Scenario: You want to track changes in a table for auditing purposes. What approach would you take?
- Question: Describe the implementation.
-
API Integration with SQL
- Scenario: You need to integrate an external API to fetch data and store it in your SQL database.
- Question: Explain how you would handle this.
-
Advanced Query Optimization Techniques
- Scenario: You have a complex query that takes too long to execute. What advanced techniques would you use to optimize it?
- Question: Discuss your approach.