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Grokking SQL for Tech Interviews

Joins, aggregation, window functions and the query patterns that data and backend interviews return to again and again. If your role touches a database, this round is on your loop whether you expected it or not.

Format

Course

Topic

Interview Prep

Provider

Design Gurus

Time needed

2 weeks

Level

Intermediate

Access

Subscription

Who gets asked SQL

More people than expect it. Data engineering and analytics roles obviously, but also backend, platform and full stack loops at companies where the product is the database. The questions are rarely exotic; they are joins done correctly under time pressure, plus window functions.

What it covers

Joins including the outer cases people get wrong, grouping and aggregation, subqueries and common table expressions, window functions such as row number, rank and running totals, and the query patterns that keep reappearing like top N per group and gap detection.

How to use it

Type the queries. SQL is a language where reading gives a false sense of fluency, because the syntax is close enough to English to look obvious and different enough to fail when you write it.

Best for: backend, data and analytics candidates, and anyone whose SQL stops at a basic inner join.

databaseinterview prepbackend

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