Compute Total Spent in 2023 Excluding Refunds

Q: How do I practice SQL interview questions?

PracHub provides an interactive SQL console where you can write and test queries against real database schemas. Get instant feedback and compare your solution with the expected output.

Q: What difficulty level is this coding question?

This is a Medium difficulty Data Manipulation (SQL/Python) question, commonly asked during Technical Screen rounds at Visa.

Q: What role is this question designed for?

This question is commonly asked for Data Scientist candidates at Visa during technical interviews.

Question

transactions

+----------------+---------+-------------+--------+------------------+
| transaction_id | user_id | merchant_id | amount | transaction_date |
+----------------+---------+-------------+--------+------------------+
| 1              | 101     | 2001        | 120    | 2023-01-10       |
| 2              | 102     | 2002        | -20    | 2023-02-14       |
| 3              | 101     | 2001        | 30     | 2022-12-31       |
| 4              | 103     | 2003        | 55     | 2023-03-05       |
| 5              | 101     | 2002        | 75     | 2023-04-17       |
+----------------+---------+-------------+--------+------------------+

##### Scenario

Visa analytics role – technical round requiring the same data-manipulation task solved first in Python and then in SQL.

##### Question

Using Python (pandas), compute each user’s total amount spent in 2023, excluding refunds (negative amounts). Return user_id and total_spent sorted by total_spent descending. Rewrite the same solution in SQL, using a CTE and GROUP BY.

##### Hints

Filter dates, ignore negative amounts, aggregate, sort.

PracHub · Accepted Answer

This question evaluates data manipulation and aggregation skills in Python (pandas) and SQL by testing transactional filtering, handling of refunds, and computation of per-user total spending.

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