The State of Data Engineering Interviews in 2024
Using Deloittes PySpark questions
In this post, I will provide career and interview tips for data engineers based on the types of questions asked by Deloitte in their PySpark data engineering interview.
I was recently recommended a great post by Medium from Ronit Malhotra that gave a glimpse into the PySpark interview questions posed by Deloitte. Ronit worked through each question providing example answers through his experience and knowledge of each question.
I’m going to zoom out a little to see what we can understand about data engineering interviews in 2024 to see which skills are worth learning. The aim is to pick out the evergreen skills — those that will always be required — from the specialist skills to give you an idea of where you should focus your efforts.
These questions were focussed on PySpark but the format and high-level skill requirements can be applied to any tool, technology or data engineering interview in general.
Technical Proficiency
The first 7 questions in the interview focus on your technical proficiency with PySpark. When interviewing for any engineering-type role, it should come as no surprise that the interviewers will be looking to assess your technical skills.
