Preparing for an SQL Interview? Here’s What You Need to Know!

If you’re aiming for a data-related role, strong SQL skills are a must.

Basics:
→ Learn about the difference between SQL and MySQL, primary keys, foreign keys, and how to use JOINs.

Intermediate:
→ Get into more detailed topics like subqueries, views, and how to use aggregate functions like COUNT and SUM.

Advanced:
→ Explore more complex ideas like window functions, transactions, and optimizing SQL queries for better performance.

🡲 Quick Tip: Practice writing these queries and explaining your thought process.

🔅 Most important SQL commands

Data Analyst Interview Questions & Preparation Tips

Be prepared with a mix of technical, analytical, and business-oriented interview questions.

1. Technical Questions (Data Analysis & Reporting)

SQL Questions:

How do you write a query to fetch the top 5 highest revenue-generating customers?

Explain the difference between INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, and FULL OUTER JOIN.

How would you optimize a slow-running query?

What are CTEs and when would you use them?

Data Visualization (Power BI / Tableau / Excel)

How would you create a dashboard to track key performance metrics?

Explain the difference between measures and calculated columns in Power BI.

How do you handle missing data in Tableau?

What are DAX functions, and can you give an example?

ETL & Data Processing (Alteryx, Power BI, Excel)

What is ETL, and how does it relate to BI?

Have you used Alteryx for data transformation? Explain a complex workflow you built.

How do you automate reporting using Power Query in Excel?


2. Business and Analytical Questions

How do you define KPIs for a business process?

Give an example of how you used data to drive a business decision.

How would you identify cost-saving opportunities in a reporting process?

Explain a time when your report uncovered a hidden business insight.


3. Scenario-Based & Behavioral Questions

Stakeholder Management:

How do you handle a situation where different business units have conflicting reporting requirements?

How do you explain complex data insights to non-technical stakeholders?

Problem-Solving & Debugging:

What would you do if your report is showing incorrect numbers?

How do you ensure the accuracy of a new KPI you introduced?

Project Management & Process Improvement:

Have you led a project to automate or improve a reporting process?

What steps do you take to ensure the timely delivery of reports?


4. Industry-Specific Questions (Credit Reporting & Financial Services)

What are some key credit risk metrics used in financial services?

How would you analyze trends in customer credit behavior?

How do you ensure compliance and data security in reporting?


5. General HR Questions

Why do you want to work at this company?

Tell me about a challenging project and how you handled it.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

How to Prepare?

Brush up on SQL, Power BI, and ETL tools (especially Alteryx).

Learn about key financial and credit reporting metrics.(varies company to company)

Practice explaining data-driven insights in a business-friendly manner.

Be ready to showcase problem-solving skills with real-world examples.

React with ❤️ if you want me to also post sample answer for the above questions

Share with credits: https://news.1rj.ru/str/sqlspecialist

Hope it helps :)

Best way to prepare for a SQL interviews 👇👇

1. Review Basic Concepts: Ensure you understand fundamental SQL concepts like SELECT statements, JOINs, GROUP BY, and WHERE clauses.

2. Practice SQL Queries: Work on writing and executing SQL queries. Practice retrieving, updating, and deleting data.

3. Understand Database Design: Learn about normalization, indexes, and relationships to comprehend how databases are structured.

4. Know Your Database: If possible, find out which database system the company uses (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server) and familiarize yourself with its specific syntax.

5. Data Types and Constraints: Understand various data types and constraints such as PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY, and UNIQUE constraints.

6. Stored Procedures and Functions: Learn about stored procedures and functions, as interviewers may inquire about these.

7. Data Manipulation Language (DML): Be familiar with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.

8. Data Definition Language (DDL): Understand statements like CREATE, ALTER, and DROP for database and table management.

9. Normalization and Optimization: Brush up on database normalization and optimization techniques to demonstrate your understanding of efficient database design.

10. Troubleshooting Skills: Be prepared to troubleshoot queries, identify errors, and optimize poorly performing queries.

11. Scenario-Based Questions: Practice answering scenario-based questions. Understand how to approach problems and design solutions.

12. Latest Trends: Stay updated on the latest trends in database technologies and SQL best practices.

13. Review Resume Projects: If you have projects involving SQL on your resume, be ready to discuss them in detail.

14. Mock Interviews: Conduct mock interviews with a friend or use online platforms to simulate real interview scenarios.

15. Ask Questions: Prepare questions to ask the interviewer about the company's use of databases and SQL.

Best Resources to learn SQL 👇

SQL Topics for Data Analysts

Download SQL Cheatsheet

SQL Interview Questions

Learn & Practice SQL

Also try to apply what you learn through hands-on projects or challenges.

Please give us credits while sharing: -> https://news.1rj.ru/str/free4unow_backup

ENJOY LEARNING 👍👍

Top WhatsApp channels for Free Learning 👇👇

Free Courses with Certificate: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vamhzk5JENy1Zg9KmO2g

Data Analysts: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaGgzAk72WTmQFERKh02

MS Excel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaifY548qIzv0u1AHz3i

Jobs & Internship Opportunities:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaI5CV93AzNUiZ5Tt226

Web Development: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaiSdWu4NVis9yNEE72z

Python Free Books & Projects: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaiM08SDuMRaGKd9Wv0L

Java Resources: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VamdH5mHAdNMHMSBwg1s

Coding Interviews: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VammZijATRSlLxywEC3X

SQL: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VanC5rODzgT6TiTGoa1v

Power BI: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vai1xKf1dAvuk6s1v22c

Programming Free Resources: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VahiFZQ4o7qN54LTzB17

Data Science Projects: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va4QUHa6rsQjhITHK82y

Learn Data Science & Machine Learning: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va8v3eo1NCrQfGMseL2D

Improve your communication skills: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaiaucV4NVik7Fx6HN2n

Learn Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VancSnGG8l5KQYOOyL1T

Don’t worry Guys your contact number will stay hidden!

ENJOY LEARNING 👍👍

SQL Interview Questions for 0-1 year of Experience (Asked in Top Product-Based Companies).

Sharpen your SQL skills with these real interview questions!

Q1. Customer Purchase Patterns -
You have two tables, Customers and Purchases: CREATE TABLE Customers ( customer_id INT PRIMARY KEY, customer_name VARCHAR(255) ); CREATE TABLE Purchases ( purchase_id INT PRIMARY KEY, customer_id INT, product_id INT, purchase_date DATE );
Assume necessary INSERT statements are already executed.
Write an SQL query to find the names of customers who have purchased more than 5 different products within the last month. Order the result by customer_name.

Q2. Call Log Analysis -
Suppose you have a CallLogs table: CREATE TABLE CallLogs ( log_id INT PRIMARY KEY, caller_id INT, receiver_id INT, call_start_time TIMESTAMP, call_end_time TIMESTAMP );
Assume necessary INSERT statements are already executed.
Write a query to find the average call duration per user. Include only users who have made more than 10 calls in total. Order the result by average duration descending.

Q3. Employee Project Allocation - Consider two tables, Employees and Projects:
CREATE TABLE Employees ( employee_id INT PRIMARY KEY, employee_name VARCHAR(255), department VARCHAR(255) ); CREATE TABLE Projects ( project_id INT PRIMARY KEY, lead_employee_id INT, project_name VARCHAR(255), start_date DATE, end_date DATE );
Assume necessary INSERT statements are already executed.
The goal is to write an SQL query to find the names of employees who have led more than 3 projects in the last year. The result should be ordered by the number of projects led.

Many people ask this common question “Can I get a job with just SQL and Excel?” or “Can I get a job with just Power BI and Python?”.

The answer to all of those questions is yes.

There are jobs that use only SQL, Tableau, Power BI, Excel, Python, or R or some combination of those.

However, the combination of tools you learn impacts the total number of jobs you are qualified for.

For example, let’s say with just SQL and Excel you are qualified for 10 jobs, but if you add Tableau to that, you are qualified for 50 jobs.

If you have a success rate of landing a job you’re qualified for of 4%, having 5 times as many jobs to go for greatly improves your odds of landing a job.

Does this mean you should go out there and learn every single skill any data analyst job requires?

NO!

It’s about finding the core tools that many jobs want.

And, in my opinion, those tools are SQL, Excel, and a visualization tool.

With these three tools, you are qualified for the majority of entry level data jobs and many higher level jobs.

So, you can land a job with whatever tools you’re comfortable with.

But if you have the three tools above in your toolbelt, you will have many more jobs to apply for and greatly improve your chances of snagging one.

Quick SQL functions cheat sheet for beginners

Aggregate Functions

COUNT(*): Counts rows.

SUM(column): Total sum.

AVG(column): Average value.

MAX(column): Maximum value.

MIN(column): Minimum value.


String Functions

CONCAT(a, b, …): Concatenates strings.

SUBSTRING(s, start, length): Extracts part of a string.

UPPER(s) / LOWER(s): Converts string case.

TRIM(s): Removes leading/trailing spaces.


Date & Time Functions

CURRENT_DATE / CURRENT_TIME / CURRENT_TIMESTAMP: Current date/time.

EXTRACT(unit FROM date): Retrieves a date part (e.g., year, month).

DATE_ADD(date, INTERVAL n unit): Adds an interval to a date.


Numeric Functions

ROUND(num, decimals): Rounds to a specified decimal.

CEIL(num) / FLOOR(num): Rounds up/down.

ABS(num): Absolute value.

MOD(a, b): Returns the remainder.


Control Flow Functions

CASE: Conditional logic.

COALESCE(val1, val2, …): Returns the first non-null value.


Like for more free Cheatsheets ❤️

Share with credits: https://news.1rj.ru/str/sqlspecialist

Hope it helps :)

#dataanalytics

If you’re a Data Analyst, chances are you use 𝐒𝐐𝐋 every single day. And if you’re preparing for interviews, you’ve probably realized that it's not just about writing queries it's about writing smart, efficient, and scalable ones.

1. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐈𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐬 (𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬)

Ever worked on a query that became an unreadable monster? CTEs let you break that down into logical steps. You can treat them like temporary views — great for simplifying logic and improving collaboration across your team.

2. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Forget the mess of subqueries. With functions like ROW_NUMBER(), RANK(), LEAD() and LAG(), you can compare rows, rank items, or calculate running totals — all within the same query. Total

3. 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 (𝐍𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬)

Yes, they're old school, but nested subqueries are still powerful. Use them when you want to filter based on results of another query or isolate logic step-by-step before joining with the big picture.

4. 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐬 & 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Query taking forever? Look at your indexes. Index the columns you use in JOINs, WHERE, and GROUP BY. Even basic knowledge of how the SQL engine reads data can take your skills up a notch.

5. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐯𝐬. 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

Joins are usually faster and better for combining large datasets. Subqueries, on the other hand, are cleaner when doing one-off filters or smaller operations. Choose wisely based on the context.

6. 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬:

Want to categorize or bucket data without creating a separate table? Use CASE. It’s ideal for conditional logic, custom labels, and grouping in a single query.

7. 𝐀𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 & 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐁𝐘

Most analytics questions start with "how many", "what’s the average", or "which is the highest?". SUM(), COUNT(), AVG(), etc., and pair them with GROUP BY to drive insights that matter.

8. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐲

Time-based analysis is everywhere: trends, cohorts, seasonality, etc. Get familiar with functions like DATEADD, DATEDIFF, DATE_TRUNC, and DATEPART to work confidently with time series data.

9. 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 & 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐬

Whether it's org charts or product categories, not all data is flat. Learn how to join a table to itself or use recursive CTEs to navigate parent-child relationships effectively.


You don’t need to memorize 100 functions. You need to understand 10 really well and apply them smartly. These are the concepts I keep going back to not just in interviews, but in the real world where clarity, performance, and logic matter most.

SQL From Basic to Advanced level

Basic SQL is ONLY 7 commands:
- SELECT
- FROM
- WHERE (also use SQL comparison operators such as =, <=, >=, <> etc.)
- ORDER BY
- Aggregate functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT etc.
- GROUP BY
- CREATE, INSERT, DELETE, etc.
You can do all this in just one morning.

Once you know these, take the next step and learn commands like:
- LEFT JOIN
- INNER JOIN
- LIKE
- IN
- CASE WHEN
- HAVING (undertstand how it's different from GROUP BY)
- UNION ALL
This should take another day.

Once both basic and intermediate are done, start learning more advanced SQL concepts such as:
- Subqueries (when to use subqueries vs CTE?)
- CTEs (WITH AS)
- Stored Procedures
- Triggers
- Window functions (LEAD, LAG, PARTITION BY, RANK, DENSE RANK)
These can be done in a couple of days.
Learning these concepts is NOT hard at all

- what takes time is practice and knowing what command to use when. How do you master that?
- First, create a basic SQL project
- Then, work on an intermediate SQL project (search online) -

Lastly, create something advanced on SQL with many CTEs, subqueries, stored procedures and triggers etc.

This is ALL you need to become a badass in SQL, and trust me when I say this, it is not rocket science. It's just logic.

Remember that practice is the key here. It will be more clear and perfect with the continous practice

Best telegram channel to learn SQL: https://news.1rj.ru/str/sqlanalyst

Data Analyst Jobs👇
https://news.1rj.ru/str/jobs_SQL

Join @free4unow_backup for more free resources.

Like this post if it helps 😄❤️

ENJOY LEARNING 👍👍