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Explain the Medallion Architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold layers).

Spark/Big Datahard2.6 min readPremium
Frequency
Low
Asked at 2 companies
Category
452
questions in Spark/Big Data
Difficulty Split
88E|81M|283H
in this category
Total Bank
1,863
across 7 categories
Asked at these companies
ChubbKaseya
Interview Pro Tip

**Pro-Move**: 'Bronze 90d hot, 1yr Glacier; Silver/Gold 2yr.' **Red Flag**: Logic in Bronze.

Key Concepts Tested
joinoptimizationpartition
Expert AnswerPremium
512 wordsIncludes code examplesInterview-ready
**Section 1 — The Context (The 'Why')** Medallion addresses tension between raw preservation (audit) and curated analytics. Bronze retains everything; Silver/Gold add structure. **Section 2 — The Diagram** ``` [Sources] --> [Bronze] --> [Silver] --> [Gold] Append Dedup/Merge Marts ``` **Section 3 — Component Logic** **Bronze** raw append-only, immutable. **Silver** schema, dedup, Delta MERGE. **Gold** star schemas. **TTL policies** move Bronze to Glacier....
The complete answer continues with detailed implementation patterns, architectural trade-offs, and production-grade considerations. It covers performance optimization strategies, common pitfalls to avoid, and real-world examples from companies like Chubb, Kaseya. The answer also includes follow-up discussion points that interviewers commonly explore.

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