Company Guide·16 min read·
Databricks Interview Questions: SQL, Spark & More
Prepare for Databricks data engineer interviews with real questions about Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Spark internals, and pipeline architecture.
Why Databricks Interviews Are Unique
Databricks builds the lakehouse — so they test deep Spark knowledge that other companies don't. You'll need to know:
- Delta Lake internals (transaction log, time travel, Z-ordering)
- Unity Catalog and data governance
- Photon engine and query optimization
- Structured Streaming
- MLflow basics
Technical Deep Dives
Expect questions that go beyond surface-level Spark:
- How does Delta Lake achieve ACID transactions?
- Explain the difference between managed and external tables
- How does Z-ordering improve query performance?
- What is the transaction log and how does it handle concurrent writes?
- Compare Delta Lake vs Apache Iceberg vs Apache Hudi
Interview Tips
- Use the free Databricks Community Edition to practice
- Read the Delta Lake whitepaper
- Understand the medallion architecture deeply — it's core to their philosophy
- Be ready to discuss real-world data quality challenges
Practice These Questions
Get All Answers in PDF Format
1,800+ real interview questions with expert-level answers. Download and study offline.