Pluralsight Data Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

It was on online objective test consisting of 4 sections: Aptitude, Technical MCQs, Code snippet based MCQs and Coding part.

Q1. 
Valid Parentheses Problem Statement
Given a string 'STR' consisting solely of the characters “{”, “}”, “(”, “)”, “[” and “]”, determine if the parentheses are balanced.
Input:
The first line contains an...read more
Add your answer
Q2. 
Palindrome Linked List Problem Statement
Determine if a given singly linked list of integers is a palindrome. Return true if it is a palindrome, otherwise return false.
Example:
Input:
1 -> 2 -> ...read more
Ans. 
Check if a given singly linked list of integers is a palindrome.
• Use two pointers to find the middle of the linked list.

• Reverse the second half of the linked list.

• Compare the first half with the reversed second half to determine if it is a palindrome.
Answered by AI
Add your answer

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a technical and managerial round. The interviewer gave me a situation where I am in testing team and I found that customer requirement was drop down list at a place but developer has used bullet selection, and is not ready to change it. How will you manage? I gave some good replies and he was convinced.

Q1. What is a virtual function?
Add your answer
Q2. Can you explain how to perform a level order traversal of a binary tree in spiral form?
Add your answer
Q3. What are abstract classes in C++?
Ans. 
Abstract classes in C++ are classes that cannot be instantiated and are designed to be base classes for other classes.
• Abstract classes may contain pure virtual functions, making them incomplete and unable to be instantiated.

• Derived classes must implement all pure virtual functions from the abstract class in order to be concrete classes.

• Abstract classes can have non-virtual functions and member variables like regular cl...read more
Answered by AI
Add your answer

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was also a technical round. He asked to optimize the code I wrote in coding round. Then he asked me a few puzzles and questions on OOPS, OS and DBMS.

Q1. Can you explain the ACID properties in the context of database management systems?
Add your answer
Q2. What is the difference between paging and segmentation in operating systems?
Ans. 
Paging and segmentation are memory management techniques in operating systems.
• Paging divides physical memory into fixed-size blocks called pages, while segmentation divides logical memory into variable-size segments.

• Paging allows for efficient memory allocation and management, while segmentation provides protection and sharing of memory.

• Paging is simpler to implement but can lead to internal fragmentation, while segmen...read more
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q3. What is concurrency control?
Ans. 
Concurrency control is a technique used in databases to manage simultaneous access and modification of data by multiple users or processes.
• Concurrency control ensures that transactions are executed in a way that maintains data consistency and integrity.

• Techniques like locking, timestamp ordering, and optimistic concurrency control are used to implement concurrency control.

• For example, in a banking system, concurrency c...read more
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q4. What is the difference between String Buffer and String Builder in Java?
Ans. 
String Buffer is synchronized and thread-safe, while String Builder is not synchronized and faster.
• String Buffer is synchronized, making it thread-safe for use in multi-threaded environments.

• String Builder is not synchronized, resulting in faster performance but not thread-safe.

• String Builder is preferred for single-threaded operations, while String Buffer is preferred for multi-threaded operations.
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q5. What are smart pointers in C++?
Ans. 
Smart pointers in C++ are objects that act like pointers but provide automatic memory management.
• Smart pointers help prevent memory leaks by automatically managing memory allocation and deallocation.

• Examples include unique_ptr, shared_ptr, and weak_ptr.

• unique_ptr is used for exclusive ownership, shared_ptr for shared ownership, and weak_ptr to prevent circular references.
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q6. What is the difference between a mutex and a semaphore?
Add your answer