1.

Reading and Writing Data

How would you read a large CSV file from Azure Blob Storage into
a Spark DataFrame?
Describe the process for reading a JSON file with deeply nested
structures and flattening it?
How can you handle different delimiters when reading a text file
into Spark?
Write code to read a Parquet file and save it as a Delta Lake table?
Explain how to read data from a Kafka stream into a Spark
DataFrame?

2. Data Transformation
How would you split a column with concatenated values into
multiple columns?
Describe the process of exploding a column that contains arrays
into separate rows?
Write a PySpark code snippet to remove special characters from a
string column?
How do you normalize numerical data in a DataFrame?
Explain how to convert a column of timestamps into a different
time zone?

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3. Aggregations and Metrics
Write a Spark SQL query to calculate the total sales and average
sales amount per product category?
How would you find the top 10 customers by total spending?
Describe how to compute the running total of a column over a
specified window?
How do you aggregate data by multiple columns and calculate
statistics such as count, sum, and average?
Write code to compute the median value of a column in a
DataFrame?

4. Window Functions
How do you use window functions to rank items within each
partition of a DataFrame?
Write a PySpark example to calculate the moving average of sales
over a 30-day window?
Explain how to use window functions to compute cumulative
sums or averages?
How would you partition data by date and compute the last value
in each partition using window functions?

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 Describe the process to calculate the lag and lead values of a
column in Spark?

5. Performance Optimization
What strategies would you use to optimize the performance of a
Spark job?
How do you handle data skew in a join operation to improve
performance?
Write code to repartition a DataFrame to optimize parallel
processing?
Describe how to cache intermediate results to speed up iterative
computations?
Explain the importance of optimizing shuffle operations and how
to achieve it?

6. Handling Large Datasets

How would you partition a large DataFrame to improve query
performance?
Describe the process of handling and processing a dataset that
exceeds available memory?

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 Explain how to use Delta Lake’s data versioning to manage large
datasets effectively?
Write code to perform an incremental update on a large
DataFrame?
How would you manage large files and ensure efficient processing
in Spark?

7. Data Quality and Validation

How do you handle missing values in a DataFrame?
Describe how to validate and clean data based on specific quality
rules?
Write a PySpark function to identify and remove duplicate
records?
How would you convert inconsistent date formats in a DataFrame
to a standard format?
Explain how to check for and handle data inconsistencies in a
dataset?

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8. Data Integration and ETL

How would you design an ETL pipeline to extract data from

multiple sources and load it into a data lake?
Describe the process of integrating data from relational databases
into Spark?
Write code to perform a merge operation between two
DataFrames, handling conflicts and updates?
Explain how to use PySpark to create a data pipeline that includes
transformation and loading steps?
How would you set up a scheduled ETL job in Databricks?

9. Joins and Unions

Write code to perform an inner join between two DataFrames on
a common key.
How do you handle joins between DataFrames with different
schemas?
Explain the use of broadcast joins and when they are beneficial.
Write a PySpark example to perform a union operation on two
DataFrames with different column names.
Describe how to handle null values during a join operation.

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 Write code to perform a left outer join between two DataFrames
and filter out rows with null values in the right DataFrame.
How would you perform a cross join between two DataFrames
and filter the results based on a condition?
Explain how to perform a self-join on a DataFrame to find
hierarchical relationships, such as employees reporting to
managers.
Write code to perform an anti-join to find records in one
DataFrame that do not have matching records in another
DataFrame.
Describe how to use a full outer join to combine two DataFrames
and include all records from both DataFrames.
How would you handle duplicate records resulting from a union
operation?
Write code to perform a union of two DataFrames with different
column types and ensure compatibility by casting columns
appropriately.

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10. Data Storage and Formats

Compare reading and writing data in Parquet format versus Avro

format. Which is more efficient for large datasets?
Write code to save a DataFrame as a Delta Lake table with
partitioning?
Explain how to read data from an external SQL database and load
it into a Spark DataFrame?
How would you convert a DataFrame into a JSON format and save
it to cloud storage?
Describe the advantages of using Delta Lake for data storage and
management?

11. Streaming Data

How do you set up a Spark Streaming job to process data from
Kafka?
Write code to write streaming data to a Delta Lake table with real-
time updates?
Explain how to handle late-arriving data in a streaming job?
Describe how to perform aggregations on streaming data using
Spark?

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 How would you implement windowed aggregations on streaming
data?
Write code to process streaming data with schema evolution in
mind?
Explain how to manage stateful transformations in Spark
Streaming?
How would you handle data schema changes in real-time
streaming pipelines?
Write code to implement exactly-once processing semantics in a
streaming job?
Describe how to monitor and manage the performance of Spark
Streaming jobs?

12. Advanced Transformations

Write a PySpark UDF to perform sentiment analysis on text data.
How would you apply a function to compute custom metrics for
each record in a DataFrame? Provide a code example.
Describe how to use PySpark’s `explode` function to normalize a
DataFrame with nested array columns.
Explain how to create a derived column based on multiple existing
columns using PySpark SQL functions.

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 Write a PySpark code snippet to pivot a DataFrame based on a
dynamic list of column values.
How would you apply hierarchical clustering to a DataFrame?
Describe the approach and provide code.
Explain how to use PySpark’s `flatMap` to handle complex nested
data structures in a DataFrame.
Describe the process of using PySpark’s `withColumn` to perform
conditional transformations based on complex business rules.
Write a PySpark example to transform a DataFrame by merging
multiple columns into a single JSON column.
How would you perform a series of transformations on a
DataFrame using PySpark’s `transform` function? Provide an
example.
Explain how to use `groupBy` and aggregation functions to
perform custom rolling calculations across partitions.
Write a PySpark code snippet to handle and process complex XML
data by extracting specific elements into a DataFrame.

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13. Data Security and Compliance

How do you implement row-level security in Spark?

Write code to encrypt data before saving it to a data lake?
Describe how to ensure data compliance with privacy regulations
in a Spark environment?
Explain how to audit data access and modifications in a Spark job?
How would you implement data anonymization techniques in a
DataFrame?

14. Custom Functions and UDFs

How do you register and use a user-defined function (UDF) in

Spark?
Write a PySpark UDF to calculate the Levenshtein distance
between two strings?
Describe how to optimize the performance of UDFs in Spark?
How would you implement a custom aggregation function in
Spark?
Explain how to handle exceptions within UDFs and ensure data
consistency?

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15.Incremental Loading
How would you design an incremental loading strategy to process
new and updated records in a DataFrame?
Write a PySpark code snippet to implement incremental loading
by comparing timestamp columns to identify new or modified
records.
Describe how to use Delta Lake for incremental updates and how
to handle schema evolution in this context.
Explain the process of maintaining and managing a watermark for
handling late-arriving data in a streaming incremental load.
How would you handle data deduplication in an incremental
loading process to ensure that only unique records are loaded?

16. Data Versioning and Time Travel

How do you use Delta Lake’s time travel feature to query historical
data?
Describe the process of implementing data versioning in a Delta
Lake table?
Write code to roll back to a previous version of a Delta Lake table?
Explain how to manage schema changes and maintain historical
versions in a data lake?

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 How would you use time travel to compare data snapshots in
Delta Lake?

17. Error Handling and Logging

How do you handle and log errors in a Spark job?

Write code to implement custom error handling strategies in
PySpark?
Describe how to use Spark’s logging features to monitor job
execution?
Explain how to capture and debug exceptions that occur during
data processing?
How would you set up alerts for job failures or performance
issues?

18. Scalability and Resource Management

How do you configure Spark to scale from a small cluster to a large

cluster?

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 Describe how to manage Spark resources and optimize cluster
utilization?
Write code to dynamically adjust the number of partitions based
on data size?
Explain how to use Spark’s resource management features to
handle varying workloads?
How would you monitor and optimize Spark job performance
across a distributed environment?

19. Data Engineering Best Practices

How do you ensure data consistency and reliability in an ETL
pipeline?
Describe best practices for designing scalable data pipelines in
Spark?
Write code to implement data partitioning strategies for optimal
performance?
Explain how to manage and deploy Spark jobs in a production
environment?
How would you document and maintain data engineering
workflows and processes?

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