How to prepare a SQL case interview
在SQL场景题面试中,关键是清晰地理解问题、解释你的思考过程,并展示你如何使用SQL解决实际问题。以下是一些常见的SQL面试场景题及如何用英语回答的示例:
1. Basic Query – Retrieving Data
题目:Retrieve the names, job titles, and salaries of all employees, ordered by salary in descending order.
Example Answer: “To retrieve the employee names, job titles, and salaries, and order them by salary in descending order, I would use the following query:”
SELECT employee_name, job_title, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC;
“This query selects the relevant columns from the ‘employees’ table and orders the results by the ‘salary’ column in descending order, showing the highest-paid employees first.”
2. Aggregation – Counting Employees
题目:Find the number of employees in each department.
Example Answer: “To find the number of employees in each department, I would use the COUNT() function and GROUP BY to group the employees by their department.”
SELECT department_id, COUNT(*) AS employee_count
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id;
“This query counts the number of employees in each department by grouping the results based on the ‘department_id’. The COUNT() function counts all employees within each group.”*
3. Subquery – Average Salary Comparison
题目:List the employees whose salary is greater than the average salary of all employees.
Example Answer: “To retrieve employees with a salary higher than the average salary of all employees, I would use a subquery to first calculate the average salary and then compare each employee’s salary to that average.”
SELECT employee_name, salary
FROM employees
WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees);
“The subquery calculates the average salary for all employees, and the outer query retrieves the names and salaries of those employees whose salary is greater than this average.”
4. Join Query – Employee and Department Info
题目:Retrieve employee names and their respective department names.
Example Answer: “To get the employee names and their department names, I would use an INNER JOIN between the ‘employees’ and ‘departments’ tables on the ‘department_id’ field.”
SELECT e.employee_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e
JOIN departments d ON e.department_id = d.department_id;
“This query joins the ‘employees’ table with the ‘departments’ table on the ‘department_id’ column to retrieve both the employee name and their corresponding department name.”
5. Group By and Having – Average Salary by Department
题目:Find the average salary of employees in each department where the average salary is above 5000.
Example Answer: “To find the average salary in each department, and filter those departments where the average salary is above 5000, I would use the GROUP BY and HAVING clauses.”
SELECT department_id, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id
HAVING AVG(salary) > 5000;
“The GROUP BY clause groups employees by their department, and the HAVING clause filters the departments to only show those with an average salary greater than 5000.”
6. Left Join – Manager Information
题目:Retrieve employee names along with their manager’s name.
Example Answer: “To get the employee names along with their manager’s names, I would perform a LEFT JOIN on the ‘employees’ table where the ‘manager_id’ in one record matches the ‘employee_id’ in another record.”
SELECT e.employee_name, m.employee_name AS manager_name
FROM employees e
LEFT JOIN employees m ON e.manager_id = m.employee_id;
“This query uses a LEFT JOIN to link each employee to their manager by matching the ‘manager_id’ of the employee to the ‘employee_id’ of the manager. If an employee does not have a manager (i.e., the ‘manager_id’ is NULL), the result will still include the employee but with a NULL value for ‘manager_name’.”
7. Window Functions – Salary Rank
题目:Find the salary rank of each employee.
Example Answer: “To assign a salary rank to each employee, I would use the RANK() window function. This will rank employees based on their salary in descending order.”
SELECT employee_name, salary,
RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS salary_rank
FROM employees;
“The RANK() function assigns a rank to each employee based on their salary, with the highest salary receiving rank 1. If multiple employees have the same salary, they will receive the same rank.”
8. Complex Query – Department with Most Employees
题目:Find the department with the most employees.
Example Answer: “To find the department with the most employees, I would use a subquery to count the number of employees in each department and then sort the results in descending order.”
SELECT department_name
FROM departments
WHERE department_id = (
SELECT department_id
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC
LIMIT 1
);
“The subquery counts the number of employees in each department and orders them by the count in descending order. The main query then retrieves the name of the department with the highest employee count.”
9. Update Query – Increase Salary
题目:Increase the salary of an employee by 10%.
Example Answer: “To increase an employee’s salary by 10%, I would use the UPDATE statement to modify the ‘salary’ column.”
UPDATE employees
SET salary = salary * 1.1
WHERE employee_id = 12345;
“This query multiplies the salary by 1.1 to increase it by 10% for the employee with ID 12345.”
10. Delete Query – Remove Employees from a Department
题目:Delete all employees in a specific department (e.g., department ID 10).
Example Answer: “To delete all employees from a specific department, I would use the DELETE statement with a WHERE clause that filters by department ID.”
DELETE FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 10;
“This query deletes all records from the ‘employees’ table where the ‘department_id’ is 10.”
General Tips for SQL Interview Questions:
- Understand the problem: Before writing any query, make sure you fully understand the requirements and clarify any ambiguities with the interviewer.
- Explain your thought process: As you write the query, explain why you are choosing a particular SQL function (e.g., JOIN, GROUP BY, etc.) and how it fits the problem.
- Optimize when necessary: If the query can be optimized (e.g., using indexes, reducing subqueries), mention it and explain why it’s important.
- Stay calm and methodical: If you encounter a challenging question, break it down into smaller steps and walk the interviewer through your solution.
Conclusion:
When answering SQL scene-based interview questions in English, focus on clearly explaining your thought process, the logic behind the SQL syntax, and how it addresses the specific problem. By demonstrating both your technical skills and communication abilities, you will stand out as a strong candidate.