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Top SQL Interview Questions

Review this list of 71 SQL interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Video answer for 'Employee Earnings.'
    +67

    "select e.firstname as firstname, m.salary as manager_salary from employees e join employees m on e.manager_id = m.id where e.salary > m.salary; `"

    Ravi K. - "select e.firstname as firstname, m.salary as manager_salary from employees e join employees m on e.manager_id = m.id where e.salary > m.salary; `"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    SQL
    +4 more
  • IBM logoAsked at IBM 
    +62

    "SELECT MIN(id) AS id, TRIM(LOWER(email)) AS cleaned_email FROM users GROUP BY cleaned_email ORDER BY id `"

    Salome L. - "SELECT MIN(id) AS id, TRIM(LOWER(email)) AS cleaned_email FROM users GROUP BY cleaned_email ORDER BY id `"See full answer

    Backend Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +8

    "Answer: select fromcaller, count(DISTINCT tocallee) as num_calls from calls group by fromcaller having count(DISTINCT tocallee) >= 3 Setup: CREATE TABLE calls ( from_caller VARCHAR(20), to_callee VARCHAR(20) ); INSERT INTO calls (fromcaller, tocallee) VALUES ('Alice', 'Bob'), ('Charlie', 'Dave'), ('Alice', 'Frank'), ('Charlie', 'Heidi'), ('Charlie', 'Judy'); "

    KAI - "Answer: select fromcaller, count(DISTINCT tocallee) as num_calls from calls group by fromcaller having count(DISTINCT tocallee) >= 3 Setup: CREATE TABLE calls ( from_caller VARCHAR(20), to_callee VARCHAR(20) ); INSERT INTO calls (fromcaller, tocallee) VALUES ('Alice', 'Bob'), ('Charlie', 'Dave'), ('Alice', 'Frank'), ('Charlie', 'Heidi'), ('Charlie', 'Judy'); "See full answer

    Data Scientist
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +34

    "SELECT customer_id, order_date, orderid AS secondearliestorderid FROM ( SELECT order_id, customer_id, order_date, ROWNUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY customerid, orderdate ORDER BY orderid ASC) AS rank FROM orders ) WHERE rank = 2 ORDER BY orderdate, customerid `"

    Tiffany A. - "SELECT customer_id, order_date, orderid AS secondearliestorderid FROM ( SELECT order_id, customer_id, order_date, ROWNUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY customerid, orderdate ORDER BY orderid ASC) AS rank FROM orders ) WHERE rank = 2 ORDER BY orderdate, customerid `"See full answer

    SQL
    Coding
  • +1

    "it is really good explanation thanks it is really good explanation thanks"

    Amney M. - "it is really good explanation thanks it is really good explanation thanks"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +4 more
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  • +22

    "-- Write your query here select id, (case when p_id is null then 'Root' when pid in (select id from treenode_table) and id in (select pid from treenode_table) then 'Inner' else 'Leaf' end) as node_types from treenodetable order by 1; `"

    Anonymous Roadrunner - "-- Write your query here select id, (case when p_id is null then 'Root' when pid in (select id from treenode_table) and id in (select pid from treenode_table) then 'Inner' else 'Leaf' end) as node_types from treenodetable order by 1; `"See full answer

    SQL
    Coding
  • +42

    "Here's a simpler solution: select u.username , count(p.postid) as countposts from posts as p join users as u on p.userid = u.userid where p.likes >= 100 group by 1 order by 2 desc, 1 asc limit 3 `"

    Bradley E. - "Here's a simpler solution: select u.username , count(p.postid) as countposts from posts as p join users as u on p.userid = u.userid where p.likes >= 100 group by 1 order by 2 desc, 1 asc limit 3 `"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +60

    "Limit and rank() only works if there are no 2 employees with same salary ( which is okay for this use case) For the query to pass all the test results, we need to use dense_rank with ranked_employees as ( select id, firstname, lastname, salary, denserank() over(order by salary desc) as salaryrank from employees ) select id, firstname, lastname, salary from ranked_employees where salary_rank <= 3 `"

    Vysali K. - "Limit and rank() only works if there are no 2 employees with same salary ( which is okay for this use case) For the query to pass all the test results, we need to use dense_rank with ranked_employees as ( select id, firstname, lastname, salary, denserank() over(order by salary desc) as salaryrank from employees ) select id, firstname, lastname, salary from ranked_employees where salary_rank <= 3 `"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +31

    "WITH filtered_posts AS ( SELECT p.user_id, p.issuccessfulpost FROM post p WHERE p.postdate >= '2023-11-01' AND p.postdate < '2023-12-01' ), post_summary AS ( SELECT pu.user_type, COUNT(*) AS post_attempt, SUM(CASE WHEN fp.issuccessfulpost = 1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS post_success FROM filtered_posts fp JOIN postuser pu ON fp.userid = pu.user_id GROUP BY pu.user_type ) SELECT user_type, post_success, post_attempt, CAST(postsuccess AS FLOAT) / postattempt AS postsuccessrate FROM po"

    David I. - "WITH filtered_posts AS ( SELECT p.user_id, p.issuccessfulpost FROM post p WHERE p.postdate >= '2023-11-01' AND p.postdate < '2023-12-01' ), post_summary AS ( SELECT pu.user_type, COUNT(*) AS post_attempt, SUM(CASE WHEN fp.issuccessfulpost = 1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS post_success FROM filtered_posts fp JOIN postuser pu ON fp.userid = pu.user_id GROUP BY pu.user_type ) SELECT user_type, post_success, post_attempt, CAST(postsuccess AS FLOAT) / postattempt AS postsuccessrate FROM po"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +15

    "SELECT SUM(orderquantity) AS totalunitsorderedyesterday FROM orders WHERE order_date = DATE('now', '-1 DAY') `"

    Akshay D. - "SELECT SUM(orderquantity) AS totalunitsorderedyesterday FROM orders WHERE order_date = DATE('now', '-1 DAY') `"See full answer

    SQL
    Coding
  • +31

    "with empbysalary as ( select id, firstname, lastname, salary, department_id, rank() over (partition by department_id order by salary desc) as rnk from employees ) select d.name as department_name, e.id as employee_id, e.firstname, e.lastname, e.salary from empbysalary e join departments d on e.department_id=d.id where e.rnk=1 order by 1; `"

    Rishabh L. - "with empbysalary as ( select id, firstname, lastname, salary, department_id, rank() over (partition by department_id order by salary desc) as rnk from employees ) select d.name as department_name, e.id as employee_id, e.firstname, e.lastname, e.salary from empbysalary e join departments d on e.department_id=d.id where e.rnk=1 order by 1; `"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +10

    "SELECT items.item_category, SUM(orders.orderquantity) AS totalunitsorderedlast7days FROM orders JOIN items ON orders.itemid = items.itemid WHERE orders.order_date BETWEEN DATE('now', '-6 days') AND DATE('now') GROUP BY items.item_category `"

    Salome L. - "SELECT items.item_category, SUM(orders.orderquantity) AS totalunitsorderedlast7days FROM orders JOIN items ON orders.itemid = items.itemid WHERE orders.order_date BETWEEN DATE('now', '-6 days') AND DATE('now') GROUP BY items.item_category `"See full answer

    SQL
    Coding
  • +20

    "Wording is a bit confusing on this one. This one can be interpreted as asking for count of unmatched bookings per user. By saying average here, what they really mean "what is the proportion of unmatched bookings to total bookings for each user." Important clarifying question to ask here if this was asked in a real interview!"

    Chase C. - "Wording is a bit confusing on this one. This one can be interpreted as asking for count of unmatched bookings per user. By saying average here, what they really mean "what is the proportion of unmatched bookings to total bookings for each user." Important clarifying question to ask here if this was asked in a real interview!"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +21

    "The user table no longer exists as expected - I get an error that user does not contain user_id. Note that querying the table results in only user:swuoevkivrjfta select * FROM user `"

    Evan R. - "The user table no longer exists as expected - I get an error that user does not contain user_id. Note that querying the table results in only user:swuoevkivrjfta select * FROM user `"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +17

    "--country names are UPPERCASE but the table in the in the question showing lowercase. That's why it took me a while to figure it out until I ran the country column WITH RECURSIVE Hierarchy AS ( SELECT e.Emp_ID, CONCAT(e.FirstName, ' ', e.MiddleName, ' ', e.LastName) AS FullName, e.Manager_ID, 0 AS Level, CASE WHEN e.Country = 'IRELAND' THEN s.Salary * 1.09 WHEN e.Country = 'INDIA' THEN s.Salary * 0.012 ELSE s.Salary "

    Victor N. - "--country names are UPPERCASE but the table in the in the question showing lowercase. That's why it took me a while to figure it out until I ran the country column WITH RECURSIVE Hierarchy AS ( SELECT e.Emp_ID, CONCAT(e.FirstName, ' ', e.MiddleName, ' ', e.LastName) AS FullName, e.Manager_ID, 0 AS Level, CASE WHEN e.Country = 'IRELAND' THEN s.Salary * 1.09 WHEN e.Country = 'INDIA' THEN s.Salary * 0.012 ELSE s.Salary "See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • +1

    "WITH ActiveUsersYesterday AS ( SELECT DISTINCT user_id FROM user_activity WHERE activity_date = CAST(GETDATE() - 1 AS DATE) ), VideoCallUsersYesterday AS ( SELECT DISTINCT user_id FROM video_calls WHERE call_date = CAST(GETDATE() - 1 AS DATE) ) SELECT (CAST(COUNT(DISTINCT v.userid) AS FLOAT) / NULLIF(COUNT(DISTINCT a.userid), 0)) * 100 AS percentagevideocall_users FROM ActiveUsersYesterday a LEFT JOIN VideoCallUsersYesterday v ON a.userid = v.userid;"

    Bala G. - "WITH ActiveUsersYesterday AS ( SELECT DISTINCT user_id FROM user_activity WHERE activity_date = CAST(GETDATE() - 1 AS DATE) ), VideoCallUsersYesterday AS ( SELECT DISTINCT user_id FROM video_calls WHERE call_date = CAST(GETDATE() - 1 AS DATE) ) SELECT (CAST(COUNT(DISTINCT v.userid) AS FLOAT) / NULLIF(COUNT(DISTINCT a.userid), 0)) * 100 AS percentagevideocall_users FROM ActiveUsersYesterday a LEFT JOIN VideoCallUsersYesterday v ON a.userid = v.userid;"See full answer

    Data Scientist
    SQL
    +2 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +2

    "WITH RECURSIVE fibonacci_series AS ( SELECT 1 AS n, 0 AS fib1, 1 AS fib2 UNION ALL SELECT n + 1 AS n, fib2 AS fib1, fib1 + fib2 AS fib2 FROM fibonacci_series WHERE n < 20 -- Limit the series to 20 numbers ) SELECT n, fib1 AS fib FROM fibonacci_series ORDER BY n; `"

    Yashasvi V. - "WITH RECURSIVE fibonacci_series AS ( SELECT 1 AS n, 0 AS fib1, 1 AS fib2 UNION ALL SELECT n + 1 AS n, fib2 AS fib1, fib1 + fib2 AS fib2 FROM fibonacci_series WHERE n < 20 -- Limit the series to 20 numbers ) SELECT n, fib1 AS fib FROM fibonacci_series ORDER BY n; `"See full answer

    Data Analyst
    SQL
    +4 more
  • Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
  • Amazon logoAsked at Amazon 

    "1) select avg(session) from table where session> 180 2) select round(sessiontime/300)*300 as sessionbin, count() as sessioncount from table group by round(sessiontime/300)300 order by session_bin 3) SELECT t1.country AS country_a, t2.country AS country_b FROM ( SELECT country, COUNT(*) AS session_count FROM yourtablename GROUP BY country ) AS t1 JOIN ( SELECT country, COUNT(*) AS session_count FROM yourtablename `GROUP BY countr"

    Erjan G. - "1) select avg(session) from table where session> 180 2) select round(sessiontime/300)*300 as sessionbin, count() as sessioncount from table group by round(sessiontime/300)300 order by session_bin 3) SELECT t1.country AS country_a, t2.country AS country_b FROM ( SELECT country, COUNT(*) AS session_count FROM yourtablename GROUP BY country ) AS t1 JOIN ( SELECT country, COUNT(*) AS session_count FROM yourtablename `GROUP BY countr"See full answer

    Data Analyst
    SQL
    +4 more
  • +25

    "select name, stock from products p left join transactions t on p.id = t.product_id order by date desc limit 1"

    Daniel C. - "select name, stock from products p left join transactions t on p.id = t.product_id order by date desc limit 1"See full answer

    Data Engineer
    SQL
    +3 more
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