Databricks, a foundation of Apache Spark creators, is a private software company developed in 2013. In the later years, it offered integration to different platforms like Microsoft Azure and Google BigQuery Engine. Databricks has employed more than 4000 engineers, as per the 2021 statistics, and holds a gained revenue of around 1 billion dollars. In short, it is an American corporation headquartered in California and has extended its roots to different countries, growing worldwide.
So, if you want to be part of this leading software company, it is recommended to do homework beforehand. It calls for preparing the questions the employer may ask you in an interview. Therefore, we have compiled the 25 most asked interview questions in this article, including behavioral and technical ones that can aid you in acing the interview at Databricks and landing your dream job. We have also provided the sample answers to the questions to provide you with a helping hand in preparation. So, let’s take the first step toward your career path.
1. What Do You Know About Databricks?
Databricks is a software company developed to provide an interface for big data processing through cloud-based tools and strategies. Databricks offers different career opportunities to the desiring individuals, ranging from software development, sales executive, data scientist, etc. This organization is also known as a one-stop shop for data-related tools and software. It holds considerably good employee satisfaction ratings and accommodates several passionate engineers working in a team to lead the company to compete in the global market.
2. Is Databricks Different From Azure Databricks?
Yes, Azure Databricks is a DevOps platform, and Databricks is a software company optimized for Azure to offer varying development services. Azure Databricks partnered with Microsoft, gathers developers, and delivers different developing solutions under one roof. It offers technical tools for devising, deploying, and monetizing software. Databricks employ multiple tools, strategies, and cloud forms to develop projects for the end users.
3. What Are The Primary Duties Of The Databricks Software Engineer?
Databricks engineers are responsible for designing and implementing data ingestion pipelines through Apache Spark sources. They also analyze and provide developing solutions for Data Warehouses, Data lakes, and architectural demands. We can divide the roles into different phases, like planning and analyzing the project details and deciding the time frame by dividing and explaining tasks to the team members according to their expertise. Then comes the designing, developing, quality assurance, testing, and shipping phase, when the software becomes ready to be installed on the user’s server.
4. Why Did You Choose Software Development As Your Full-Time Career?
I am passionate about coding and solving technical problems by developing innovative applications and software. I guess it has provoked me to opt for software development as my career as it enables me to do this all. I love to design spreadsheets of software or visualizations of different objects besides providing companies with the tech solutions they demand. For good measure, I also love working with programming languages. Since then, my interest in this field has increasingly grown.
5. Are You Familiar With The SQL Interface That Databricks Employ?
Yes, I have considerable knowledge of this coding language. SQL or structured query language. It enables the developers to extract information from RDBMS. SQL language also allows modification of that data accordingly. Surprisingly, information about SQL can fill pages.
6. What Was Your Latest Development Project As A Software Engineer?
Recently, I worked with my team members to develop an HR system for a company whose previous software was outdated, and they wanted to add a financial aspect to the system. It was a challenging task, owing to the nature of finance management. Yet, we developed a high-performance HR system that enabled the authorities to record employee attendance, handle salaries, provide training to the freshies and even hire new workers. So, it ends up being a time-saving virtual HR assistant for the company. In terms of my role, I was responsible for coding but also took part in QA and testing.
7. Name Some Of Your Preferred Programming Languages.
I have a considerable command of Java, HTML, C++, C#, and Python. Yet, the most desirable one for me is java, C#, and C++. I love working with these programming languages. All these languages have helped me to enhance the productivity of my developed applications and software. Plus, programming languages are the essence of software development, and I try my best to gain an advanced-level experience in all languages.
8. Do You Have First-Hand Knowledge Of Quality Assurance And Debugging?
Yes, I have worked alongside the QA experts, as I discussed above, to test one of the HR systems. I employed code-based testing and asked for peer reviews from my team to locate the bugs in the software. When it gets confirmed that there isn’t any coding error, I proceed to dynamic testing. It helps me in examining the project’s performance. I try my best not to provide qualitative products to the consumers to gain reliability.
9. How Significant Is Software Testing, In Your Opinion?
I believe Software testing is significant for ensuring that users get qualitative and high-performing software applications for their systems. So, it is crucial to conduct different tests on the software before its launch. In short, Testing is a tool that provides that the software holds mature performance. However, it is better to utilize manual tests instead of being rigorous with testing as it can harm the initials.
10. Have You Heard About Cache? How Will You Define It?
Yes, cache offers a temporary storage service as it stores the information temporarily. It detects repeated actions and saves them. Your browser extracts this information from the cache and saves the server’s storage and time.
11. What Is Your Opinion Is The Benefit Of Clearing Cache Files?
Cache files take up a large room in the storage system. So, it is better to delete these files and save space for other applications. We don’t even lose any data, so it isn’t a big deal.
12. Have You Ever Experienced A Situation Where It Became Difficult To Fix A Bug?
In my previous jobs, I have faced many such situations where there isn’t any available senior who debug the error. Yet, if I think about it now, these were the perks that allowed me to grow and taught me to have control over my nerves. Luckily, I fixed it and comforted the consumer, assuring a rectification of the bug.
13. What Kind Of Team Do You Prefer Working With In A Professional Environment?
Multiple minds tackling the same problem generate quick solutions and offer more benefits than an individual spending time on it. However, it is significant that the team is proactive and passionate and ensures a friendly environment. I prefer working with team members who are competent and energetic, besides being kind and empathic. These are the kind of people whom I can trust with my work, even if I am not around.
14. Can You Name Your Preferable Coding Tools? Does Coding Interests You In The First Place?
I generally prefer Visual Studio Code for general coding. Yet, in terms of being specific, I also employ the Android studio coding tool for Android applications and Xcode for iOS. Other coding software and editors are Notepad++, Brackets, and Sublime text. Yet, I love working with these three. For the second part, ironically, challenging things fascinate me, and what can be more troubling than coding?
15. How Will You Differentiate Between RDBMS And Dbms?
If we see the full forms, RDBMS implies the Relational Database Management system, and DBMS is simply a Database management system. The main difference between these is the method of storing data as the former store data organized as tables and the latter store the data collected as files. We can only access one file at a time in DBMS, while RDMS allows multiple file access to the users. Moreover, the presence of normalization, the relation between data, no data redundancy due to indexes, and distributed database are the features of RDBMS that go opposite to DBMS.
16. Are The Class And Object The Same? If Not, What’s The Difference?
No, Class implies the blueprint for the objects that contain the member data and behavioral rules. Objects extract this data and rules from the class. In other words, the object is a reality that is available to the user to interact with, while the class is only an object’s template. The class provides a template for creating objects by highlighting a few characteristics and functions that the object highlight in detail. One can create as many objects, but the product has only one class. So, they aren’t similar. For instance, if we take an example of an automobile, its model is the class, and the particular vehicle of that model is an object.
17. Can You Highlight What’s Inheritance Is And Its Limitations?
Inheritance is the term used for sharing characteristics between different objects. We can elaborate on it with an example. For instance, the three automated objects, like cars, trucks, and buses, have some common parts like steering, tyres, brakes, clutch, etc. Although these motorcars are employed for different purposes and these parts have differing functionality in every vehicle, these have commonalities also. So, every motorcar inherits these parts and uses them accordingly by slightly changing the outlook. It aids in reusing the code and reducing the efforts of designing the same thing from the start. Yet, this OOP power has some limitations, as every power does. The worker can face complexities in implementing inheritance as the involved classes are closely linked together, making the process time-consuming and complicated.
18. How Will You Rate Your Interpersonal Relationship Skills On A Scale Of 1 To 10?
I understand that running a business or working in a growing industry requires good interpersonal relations skills besides communication to gain customers from diverse cultures. I can rate my interpersonal relation skills 7 out of 10 as I believe in constant improvement. I am not perfect, but I try my best to be as efficient as possible by being patient and logical with the consumers. Patience and targeted communication enabled me to comfort an angry or dissatisfied consumer.
19. How Do You Cope With The Frequent Tech Advancements, As This Field Is Prone To Change?
I believe in constant learning. Therefore, it’s my ritual to regularly research and read about new concepts or advancements, if any. I love to learn new skills and experiment with different tools and software. My curiosity about learning something new helps me to gain more insight into several things beforehand. Personally speaking, static becomes boring but frequent transformation is challenging, and it keeps people motivated to keep improving.
20. What Do You Know About The Types Of Cloud Computing?
There are 4 types of cloud-based services: IaaS, SaaS, PaaS, and Serverless cloud computing. Breaking them down, IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a service that provides the users’ storage, networking services, and virtualization. SaaS, the software as a service, is a deliverable cloud model that allows direct access to the software. PaaS, a platform as a service, offers designed applications, software, and hardware to the users to run in their systems. For instance, Microsoft Azure and Heroku, etc. Serverless computing enables the vendors to control the consumer’s systems on their behalf. It’s kind of providing back-end services to the users.
21. Can You Differentiate Between A Data Warehouse And Data Lake?
Data Warehouse generally only contains processed and structured data, offering more resistance to change. Its data is more organized, so it is convenient to track for business analysis. Data Lake is more diverse as it contains both structured and unstructured data. It even stores previous data in raw forms. I analyzed that it is easy to alter the Data Lake model than the data warehouse. Yet, third-party integration is involved in Data Lake’s performance.
22. How Will You Define Encapsulation?
It’s like fitting all the details about the task in a capsule and presenting it to the user. Yet, the fact is the transparent part of the capsule, visible to everyone, only contains the most necessary information like the class, method, and variables. The unnecessary material goes into the capsule’s dark part, hidden from the user. This process is known as encapsulation. We can also define it as a process of binding and hiding: the required and unnecessary information of the task.
23. Comment On The Different Phases Of Data Designing.
Database designing involves three steps: conceptual, logical, and physical model. Conceptual database design calls for building a conceptual model by analyzing the data ecosystems and identifying their attributes and relationships with each other. The logical design phase involves translating the concept into the logical framework by choosing a specific data format. The last step of physical database design calls for implementing the logical model. It includes all the essential steps of choosing management systems, maintaining security and storage with dealing with file organization.
24. What Database Design Patterns Do You Employ The Most?
I prefer working with the Singleton, observer, adapter, and façade design pattern. These design patterns aid me in employing all the design patterns without using all 23 different kinds. The singleton design pattern falls under creational design, the facade under structural, the observer under behavioral, and the adapter under the wrapper. All these have different functionalities and features besides supportive environments. Plus, these are intermixed as façade design patterns generally use a singleton, etc.
25. Name Your Personality Traits That Can Benefit Databricks In Growing Its Organization.
My desire to learn, patience, detail orientation, and adaptability to environments are the fundamental personality traits that I believe can help me positively contribute to Databrick’s growth. As I understand that most problems don’t have a designed solution, and with the tech advancement, everything is transforming. The same goes for the need for skills, technicalities, and tech tools. This situation calls for analyzing the system from scratch, which requires patience and attention to detail to find an accurate solution timely. So, a person should be passionate and adaptive to all work environments to ensure he will clear the obstructed path. Learning opens new ways of comprehending the situation.
Conclusion
Remember that, Databricks lookout for employees who are proactive and dedicated toward their role. Plus, confidence and a clear mind are key to impressing the employer. It is only possible when you prepare yourself and the possible answers to the most asked questions. So, the questions discussed in this article can reduce your tensions slightly and make you feel a little relaxed, as the recruiter may ask you these questions, at least some if not all. Yet, we suggest you prepare them all to be safe. If we summarize, this article contains both technical and behavioral-based questions, so you will get an idea of what questions you might get asked in your next interview.
However, besides this, we also recommend you get an insight into the company’s culture and requirements for a proper understanding of the place you are planning to work. We wish you luck!
