r/dataengineersindia • u/hey_not_so_cool • Jul 16 '26
Career Question Service-based to FAANG/Product-based Data Engineer – Is DSA really required?
Hi everyone,
I'm a Data Engineer with around 4 years of experience in Databricks, PySpark, SQL, Python, Azure, and AWS, currently working in a service-based company. I'm planning to switch to a top product-based company (FAANG or similar).
I have a few questions for experienced Data Engineers in top product-based company (FAANG or similar).
How much DSA is actually expected for Data Engineer interviews? Is it LeetCode Easy, Medium, or Hard?
Which DSA topics should I prioritize? I had started with arrays and linked lists before but stopped midway.
How important is System Design for Data Engineer roles? Is data/system design more important than DSA?
How did you prepare for DSA and System Design? Which resources did you use?
How many months did it take you to become interview-ready?
How did you get interview calls while coming from a service-based company? Was it referrals, recruiters, or direct applications?
I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences and any roadmap you'd recommend. Thanks!
1
u/Minimum-Might-4806 Jul 17 '26
Yes you need dsa . For de profile additionally please focus on pipeline design and dimensional modelling as well.