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Handle midstream schema changes gracefully.

System Design/Architectureeasy0.2 min readPremium
Frequency
Low
Asked at 1 company
Category
179
questions in System Design/Architecture
Difficulty Split
15E|6M|158H
in this category
Total Bank
1,863
across 7 categories
Asked at these companies
Google
Interview Pro Tip

Red Flag: 'We'd restart the pipeline.' Pro-Move: 'Additive-only policy; new columns get default null; backfill job for historical.'

Expert AnswerPremium
46 wordsInterview-ready
**Strategy**: (1) Schema evolution—additive changes; new columns, defaults for old; (2) Schema Registry—versioned, backward/forward compatible; (3) Multiple readers—support versions during transition; (4) Dead-letter for incompatible. **Parquet/Delta**: mergeSchema=True. Avro: Schema Registry. Design for evolution; document breaking vs additive; compatibility tests in CI....
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 Google. The answer also includes follow-up discussion points that interviewers commonly explore.

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