Interview questions
Preparing for a data engineering interview at Nihilent? This page contains 14 real interview questions sourced from verified Nihilent interview experiences. Questions are sorted by frequency — the ones asked most often appear first.
Nihilent data engineering interviews typically focus on Cloud/Tools, SQL, and Spark/Big Data. There's a solid mix of fundamental and advanced questions, making it accessible for candidates at multiple experience levels.
Use the difficulty filters above to focus your preparation. For each question, attempt your own answer first, then compare with our expert solution. You can also practice these questions in our AI Mock Interview Coach for real-time feedback.
Explain the differences between Repartition and Coalesce. When would you use each?
Explain the types of triggers in ADF, including schedule, tumbling window, and event-based triggers.
Joins and window functions - INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER, ROW_NUMBER(), RANK(), DENSE_RANK()
Can you explain the architecture of Apache Spark and its components?
Fabric pipelines vs. ADF pipelines
Running multiple notebooks - dbutils.notebook.run()
Types of Integration Runtimes (IR) - self-hosted, Azure, SSIS
Unity Catalog - role in managing and securing data
Highlight the tools and technologies you've used in your current project
What role does data lineage play in your current project?
Explain techniques for ensuring data quality in cross-functional team scenarios
Python libraries - Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib for data processing
Writing Excel sheets to Delta tables in Databricks
Discuss designing a data pipeline for a specific use case
Type or paste your answer to any of these questions and our AI Coach scores it, highlights gaps, and rewrites it at FAANG quality. Free to try.
The Data Engineering Interview Answer Vault bundles 750+ reviewed answers into 7 focused PDF volumes — SQL, Spark, Python, System Design, Cloud, Behavioral, and Data Modeling. Study on any device, no subscription required.
800+ hands-on courses — Grokking System Design, Coding Patterns, and AI mock interviews for your DE loop.
Turn any topic or your own notes into an interactive, personalized course in 60 seconds.
The book that gets data engineers through system-design rounds. Essential reading.
Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep DataEngPrep free.