Databricks interview questions

Showing 61–90 of 122 results

• Detect Harmful Content in LLM Prompts and ResponsesMedium

  Design a machine learning system that detects harmful content in prompts sent to, and responses produced by, a large language model. Tests policy-driven framing, labeling and adversarial data, layered classifiers under latency limits, per-category evaluation, streaming checks and monitoring.

  DatabricksMachine Learning EngineerML System DesignOnsite
• Detect a K-in-a-Row Win on a Rectangular BoardMedium

  Implement an efficient win-detection function that checks whether a newly placed token forms at least k consecutive matching tokens along any linear axis on a rectangular grid.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Determine allow/deny for an IP via CIDR rulesHard

  This problem tests your ability to efficiently manage and query hierarchical IP address ranges, requiring knowledge of bitwise operations and data structures for range matching.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Diagnose data quality and pipeline performance issuesMedium

  Diagnose data quality and pipeline performance issues evaluates behavioral evidence, ownership, communication, trade-offs, and measurable outcomes in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

  DatabricksData EngineerBehavioral & LeadershipTechnical Screen
• Discuss Motivation, Feedback, and Technical DisagreementHard

  This interview module evaluates engineering motivation, individual technical ownership, constructive receipt of critical feedback, and principled conflict resolution during technical disagreements.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerBehavioral & LeadershipOnsite
• Earliest Substring That Is a Rearrangement of a PatternMedium

  Find the starting index of the first substring of a text that is a rearrangement of a given pattern, or report that none exists. Tests fixed-length sliding windows, character-frequency bookkeeping and linear-time scanning of long strings with an early exit.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Evaluate ACL rules for IP and CIDRHard

  This problem tests your ability to manipulate binary representations of IP addresses and perform efficient prefix matching using CIDR notation, requiring careful bitwise arithmetic and efficient lookup structures.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Explain Linear Regression AssumptionsHard

  This question tests the candidate's mastery of the Gauss-Markov theorem and the consequences of violating Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) assumptions in real-world data science workflows.

  DatabricksData ScientistStatistics & MathTechnical Screen
• Explain Linear Regression Feature Transformation EquivalenceMedium

  This interview question evaluates core ML concepts, assumptions, math intuition, training/evaluation trade-offs, and practical failure modes in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Explain Linear Regression Feature Transformation Equivalence states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

  DatabricksData ScientistMachine LearningOnline Assessment
• Explain Your Motivation, Fit, and Company UnderstandingMedium

  Prepare a coherent recruiter-screen narrative for a senior forward-deployed engineering role, covering motivation, evidence of fit, and verified company understanding. Use authentic examples of technical depth, delivery through ambiguity, customer communication, measured outcomes, honest gaps, uncertainty, and questions that test mutual fit.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerBehavioral & LeadershipHR Screen
• Explain storing files to disk with concurrencyMedium

  This question tests your understanding of OS-level file I/O operations, the risks of concurrent writes to the same file descriptor, and how to implement robust thread-safe mechanisms to maintain file integrity.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Fastest Single-Mode Commute on a Grid with Per-Step Time and CostMedium

  Given a city grid with a start, a destination and cells usable by only one of four commute modes, choose the mode whose trip takes the least total time, breaking ties by lower total cost. Tests shortest-path search on grids, per-mode reachability and precise tie-breaking.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Find First Anagram OccurrenceMedium

  This question evaluates proficiency in string processing, character-frequency analysis, and efficient substring search techniques, measuring competency in algorithmic reasoning and implementation for pattern matching.

  DatabricksBackend EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find Path Between Fibonacci Tree NodesHard

  This problem tests your ability to map nodes in a recursively defined tree structure without materializing the tree, requiring an understanding of Fibonacci sequences and path-finding algorithms in binary trees.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find Top-5 Similar RowsHard

  This question tests the ability to implement a pairwise similarity comparison between rows using a custom distance metric while handling missing data and ranking results.

  DatabricksData ScientistData Manipulation (SQL/Python)Technical Screen
• Find all anagram start indicesHard

  This problem tests your ability to efficiently detect pattern matches within a stream or string using a sliding window technique and frequency mapping.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Find first CIDR block covering IPMedium

  This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of IPv4 and CIDR notation, ability to perform prefix-based address containment checks using bitwise reasoning, and competence in parsing and efficient lookup across many ranges.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find k customers with least revenueMedium

  This question evaluates a candidate's ability to aggregate per-customer revenue from event streams and perform selection on aggregated totals, testing knowledge of data aggregation, selection algorithms, and efficient use of data structures.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find path between nodes in Fibonacci treeHard

  This problem tests your ability to navigate implicit tree structures defined by recurrence relations and your proficiency in pathfinding within large graphs without materializing them.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find shortest path in a Fibonacci-ordered treeHard

  This question evaluates understanding of recursive binary tree structures, preorder indexing, Fibonacci-like size relations, and arithmetic-based navigation for computing paths in an implicitly defined tree.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Find top-5 most similar rows across datasetsEasy

  This question evaluates understanding and implementation of similarity/distance metrics (e.g., MSE), data preprocessing issues such as handling NULLs and feature scaling, and the ability to perform efficient cross-dataset comparisons and top-k ranking.

  DatabricksData ScientistData Manipulation (SQL/Python)Technical Screen
• First-Match CIDR Firewall: Status of an IP Address or a Whole CIDR BlockMedium

  Implement an ordered first-match IPv4 firewall that returns ALLOW or DENY for an address, then extend it so the target can be a whole CIDR block that is allowed only if every address inside it is. Tests bit-level prefix matching and reasoning about address ranges at scale.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Forward Deployed Engineer Screen: Role Fit, Client Work and Databricks ProjectsMedium

  Practice answers for a short recruiter phone screen for a Forward Deployed Engineer role at Databricks. It covers preferred location, understanding of the role, an experience walkthrough, client-facing work, data engineering tools built, a project delivered on Databricks, and programming languages, testing concise and honest communication.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerBehavioral & LeadershipHR Screen
• Generalized m x n Tic-Tac-Toe with a k-in-a-Row Win CheckMedium

  Implement tic-tac-toe on an m by n board where a player wins with k consecutive marks in a row, column or either diagonal, returning the winner after each move. Tests incremental win detection that avoids rescanning the board, plus careful handling of edges and both diagonal directions.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Identify and handle race conditionsHard

  This question evaluates understanding of concurrency, race conditions, synchronization mechanisms, and performance trade-offs in designing thread-safe in-memory data structures like key-value stores and hit counters.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerSystem DesignTechnical Screen
• Implement CIDR firewall matcherMedium

  This interview question evaluates requirements, scale assumptions, API/data design, architecture, trade-offs, failure modes, and rollout in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Implement CIDR firewall matcher states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen
• Implement Column Pruning and Filter Pushdown on a Query Plan TreeMedium

  Given a SQL query represented as a tree of scan, filter, project and join nodes, write runnable rewrites that prune unused columns from every scan and push filter conditions down toward the tables. Tests query-optimizer fundamentals, recursive tree rewriting and preserving query results.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Implement Generalized Tic-Tac-ToeHard

  Design and implement a generalized m x n Tic-Tac-Toe game supporting an arbitrary winning streak length k. Tests grid simulation, efficient line checking around the latest move, and handling boundary conditions.

  DatabricksSoftware EngineerCoding & AlgorithmsOnsite
• Implement Gradient Descent RegressionMedium

  This problem tests your understanding of linear regression by requiring the implementation of a gradient descent optimizer from scratch to minimize the Mean Squared Error loss.

  DatabricksMachine Learning EngineerMachine LearningOnsite
• Implement Linear Regression Gradient DescentMedium

  This question tests the ability to implement batch gradient descent for simple linear regression from scratch, requiring the derivation of gradients for weights and bias, and understanding how to optimize convergence.

  DatabricksMachine Learning EngineerMachine LearningOnsite