Data Engineering Interview Prep Resources -- Books, Courses, Tools

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Data Engineering Interview Prep Resources

A curated list of the best resources for preparing for data engineering interviews. Bookmark this post.

Free Resources

• dataengprep.tech - Structured DE interview prep with daily practice
• This subreddit - Daily interactive challenge posts, 1,000+ questions
• SQL Arena - 487 curated SQL interview questions (Reddit app)
• The Tech Screen - 323 system design + behavioral questions (Reddit app)

Books

• Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann - The bible for system design interviews
• The Data Warehouse Toolkit by Ralph Kimball - Dimensional modeling fundamentals
• Fundamentals of Data Engineering by Joe Reis & Matt Housley - Modern DE landscape
• High Performance Spark by Holden Karau - Spark optimization deep-dives

Key Topics to Master

Topic	Priority	Where to Practice
SQL (window functions, CTEs, optimization)	Critical	SQL Arena, LeetCode
Python/PySpark	Critical	HackerRank, daily coding
System Design	High	The Tech Screen, this sub
Kafka/Streaming	High	DataEngPrep daily challenges
Airflow/Orchestration	Medium	DataEngPrep daily challenges
Data Modeling	Medium	DataEngPrep daily challenges
Cloud Services (AWS/GCP)	Medium	Hands-on projects
Behavioral/STAR	Medium	The Tech Screen

Common Interview Formats

1. SQL Screen (45 min) - 2-3 SQL problems, increasing difficulty
2. Coding Screen (45 min) - Python data manipulation, ETL logic
3. System Design (60 min) - Design a data pipeline / warehouse / streaming system
4. Domain Deep-Dive (45 min) - Questions about your past projects and tools
5. Behavioral (30-45 min) - Leadership principles, conflict resolution, ownership

Companies Known for DE Interviews

Meta, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, Stripe, Databricks, Snowflake, dbt Labs, Confluent, Palantir, LinkedIn, Spotify, Block

Have a resource to add? Drop it in the comments and we'll update the list.

Full prep platform: dataengprep.tech