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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Compute this-year spend share of last-year whales
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Explain pandas and SQL basics
You are interviewing for a Data Engineer co-op/intern role. Answer the following short technical questions. Python / pandas: 1. What is the difference...
Tackle Python tasks under time pressure
In a 15-minute coding round, implement a small Python function or class to solve a well-scoped problem within about 5 minutes of coding. 1) State 1–2 ...
Count words in a document robustly
Given a text document, return the number of words under a precise definition. First, state the tokenization rules you will use (e.g., treat contractio...
Compute ad revenue metrics by geography in SQL
You work on a marketplace app that shows shop ads. You are given the following tables. Assumptions - All timestamps are stored in UTC. - “Revenue” is ...
Solve window-function SQL without joins
You must use only window functions (no JOINs). CTEs are allowed. Given the schemas and tiny samples below, write SQL for each sub-question and explain...
Merge four CSVs locally, robustly and efficiently
You receive four CSV files that must be merged locally on a laptop with 8 GB RAM, without relying on cloud services: - products.csv: product_id, categ...
Compute seller counts and vehicle share
You are given two tables: 1. listing_interactions - buyer_id BIGINT - seller_id BIGINT - event_date DATE - product_id BIGINT - listing_...
Write queries to compute salary and budget stats
You are given the following interview tasks. Write solutions in SQL and/or Python (pandas) as appropriate. Task 1 — Second highest salary You have a t...