Data Manipulation (SQL/Python) Interview Questions
Practice 653 real Data Manipulation (SQL/Python) interview questions for 2026. Covers companies like Meta, Amazon, TikTok, DoorDash, and Capital One. Real questions from actual interviews with detailed solutions — designed for focused interview preparation for data analysts, data scientists, and data engineers who must move fluidly between SQL and Python during live screens and take-home tasks. These questions emphasize practical skills: writing correct, efficient SQL (joins, GROUP BY, window functions, CTEs, NULL handling, and performance-aware predicates) and idiomatic Python/Pandas solutions (vectorized transforms, merges, reshaping, datetime handling, and robust data-cleaning). Interviewers evaluate correctness, edge-case reasoning, runtime and memory tradeoffs, reproducibility, and clear communication of assumptions. Expect timed whiteboard-style queries, pair-programming in a shared editor, and take-home notebooks. To prepare, practice translating SQL ↔ Pandas, explain results aloud, time-box exercises, test edge cases, and review common pitfalls such as NULL semantics, grouping logic, off-by-one errors, and inefficient joins.

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Identify SQL Joins and Correct Query Errors
Winner +----+-------+ | ID | Name | +----+-------+ | 1 | Alice | | 2 | Bob | | 3 | Carol | +----+-------+ Loser +----+-------+ | ID | Name | ...
Compute percent of first-cancelled users who never rebook
You are interviewing for a health-tech product analytics role. Assume the following table contains one row per appointment with its final status. Tabl...
Compute unique duration by merging intervals
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Write SQL for multi-account metrics
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Analyze Monthly Prime vs Non-Prime Sales and Price Buckets
sales +-----------+------------+----------+-------+ | order_id | order_date | is_prime | price | +-----------+------------+----------+-------+ | 1001...
Calculate Day-7 Retention Rate from User Post Data
post_activity +---------+------------+-------+ | user_id | post_date | posts | +---------+------------+-------+ | 1 | 2023-01-01 | 3 | | 1 ...
Compute DAU and rolling MAU with zero days
You have two tables in PostgreSQL: Tables users - user_id (STRING / INT, PK) - signup_date (DATE) logins - user_id (STRING / INT, FK → users.user_id) ...
Write conditional aggregates with CASE WHEN
Write a query that produces conditional aggregates using CASE WHEN (e.g., counts of approved vs declined transactions per merchant and the sum of amou...
Compare WHERE vs HAVING with aggregates
Filter groups based on an aggregate and explain WHERE vs HAVING. Provide a query that returns merchants with chargeback_rate > 0.5% in the last 30 day...
Compute 30-day power users and 7-day retention
You are interviewing for a Product/Risk Data Scientist role at a crypto exchange. Assume all timestamps are in UTC. Tables `sql trades( user_id ...
Write SQL for character safety and engagement metrics
You are working with a conversational product that has users, AI characters, and conversations. Write SQL queries for each of the tasks below. Assume ...
Write SQL for CTR and Revenue
You are given the following tables: ads( ad_id BIGINT, advertiser_id BIGINT, ad_type VARCHAR, -- values include direct and brand ad...
Compute dasher payout from API data
Given a REST endpoint GET /payout that returns each delivery’s components (base pay, distance/time bonuses, promotions, tips, fees, adjustments, taxes...
Find top 3 books by total borrowed time
Using copies(copy_id, book_id) and checkouts(copy_id, checkout_date, return_date), compute for each book_id the total borrowed duration as the sum ove...
Solve Python and SQL data tasks
Complete both tasks: 1) Python: Implement a function flatten(nested) that takes a list whose elements are integers or arbitrarily nested lists of inte...
Implement and vectorize NumPy Conv2D
Implement a 2D convolution operation from scratch using NumPy only (no TensorFlow or PyTorch). Assume NCHW input shape (N, C_in, H_in, W_in) and weigh...
Generate user notifications from schedules
Given a schedule template format and user profile data (timezone, locale, delivery preferences), implement a program that generates a user notificatio...
Load and prepare JSON for modeling
Using Python in a Jupyter notebook, load a JSON dataset with fields: ( 1) hours spent reading A posts (float), ( 2) hours spent reading B posts (float...
Implement Spring MVC to find top-enrolled course
Implement a Spring MVC service that returns the course with the highest number of enrolled students from a relational database pre-populated by provid...
Pivot transactions by date without date libs
Given a stream of transaction rows (shopper_id, date_str, amount) where date_str is ISO format 'YYYY-MM-DD', produce a pivoted report for a specified ...