Top 250 Big Data Interview Questions and Answers
Updated 5 Jul 2025

Asked in KPMG India

Q. How do you initiate SparkContext?
To initiate Sparkcontext, create a SparkConf object and pass it to SparkContext constructor.
Create a SparkConf object with app name and master URL
Pass the SparkConf object to SparkContext constructor
Example: conf = SparkConf().setAppName('myApp').set...read more

Asked in KPMG India

Q. Write PySpark code to read a CSV file and display the top 10 records.
Pyspark code to read csv file and show top 10 records.
Import the necessary libraries
Create a SparkSession
Read the CSV file using the SparkSession
Display the top 10 records using the show() method

Asked in Impetus Technologies

Q. What is troubleshooting in Hadoop?
Troubleshooting in Hadoop involves identifying and resolving issues related to data processing and storage in a Hadoop cluster.
Identify and resolve issues with data ingestion, processing, and storage in Hadoop
Check for errors in log files and analyze...read more

Asked in Accenture and 2 others

Q. Explain Databricks.
Databricks is a unified analytics platform that combines data engineering, data science, and business analytics.
Databricks provides a collaborative workspace for data engineers, data scientists, and business analysts to work together on big data proj...read more

Asked in Birlasoft

Q. What are the features of Apache Spark?
Apache Spark is a fast and general-purpose cluster computing system.
Distributed computing engine
In-memory processing
Supports multiple languages
Machine learning and graph processing libraries
Real-time stream processing
Fault-tolerant
Scalable

Asked in Quess

Kafka Streams is a client library for building real-time, highly scalable, fault-tolerant stream processing applications.
Kafka Streams allows developers to process and analyze data in real-time as it flows through Kafka topics.
It provides a high-leve...read more

Asked in Birlasoft

Q. What are RDDs in PySpark?
RDD stands for Resilient Distributed Datasets in Pyspark, which are fault-tolerant collections of elements that can be processed in parallel.
RDDs are the fundamental data structure in Pyspark.
They are immutable and can be cached in memory for faster ...read more

Asked in LTIMindtree

Q. Do you have hands-on experience with big data tools?
Yes, I have hands-on experience with big data tools.
I have worked extensively with Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka.
I have experience with data ingestion, processing, and storage using these tools.
I have also worked with NoSQL databases like Cassandra and Mo...read more

Asked in PubMatic

Q. What is Apache Kafka?
Apache Kafka is a distributed streaming platform used for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications.
Apache Kafka is designed to handle high-throughput, fault-tolerant, and scalable real-time data streams.
It allows for the publishin...read more

Asked in Fidelity National Financial

Q. What is Delta Lake and what is its architecture?
Delta Lake is an open-source storage layer that brings ACID transactions to Apache Spark and big data workloads.
Delta Lake provides ACID transactions, scalable metadata handling, and unifies streaming and batch data processing.
It stores data in Parqu...read more
Big Data Jobs




Asked in Hexaware Technologies

Q. What is the main advantage of Delta Lake?
Delta Lake provides ACID transactions, schema enforcement, and time travel capabilities for data lakes.
ACID transactions ensure data consistency and reliability.
Schema enforcement helps maintain data quality and prevent data corruption.
Time travel al...read more

Asked in AVEVA

Q. What do you mean by big data?
Big data refers to large and complex data sets that cannot be processed using traditional data processing methods.
Big data is characterized by the 3Vs - volume, velocity, and variety.
It requires specialized tools and techniques for processing and ana...read more

Asked in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail

Q. How much big data have you handled?
I have handled big data in various projects and have experience in analyzing and extracting insights from large datasets.
Managed and analyzed large datasets from multiple sources
Used tools like Hadoop, Spark, and SQL to process and analyze big data
De...read more

Asked in Birlasoft

Q. How is Spark different from MapReduce?
Spark is faster than MapReduce due to in-memory processing and DAG execution model.
Spark uses in-memory processing while MapReduce uses disk-based processing.
Spark has DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) execution model while MapReduce has Map and Reduce ph...read more

Asked in Capgemini

Q. What is EMR?
EMR stands for Electronic Medical Record, a digital version of a patient's paper chart.
EMRs contain patient medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, and test results.
They improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery by allowing easy...read more

Asked in LTIMindtree

Q. Explain Spark Architecture in detail.
Spark Architecture is a distributed computing framework that provides high-level APIs for in-memory computing.
Spark Architecture consists of a cluster manager, worker nodes, and a driver program.
It uses Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDDs) for fault...read more

Asked in Accenture

Q. What is the Delta Table concept?
Delta Table is a type of table in Delta Lake that supports ACID transactions and time travel capabilities.
Delta Table is a type of table in Delta Lake that supports ACID transactions.
It allows users to read and write data in an Apache Spark environme...read more

Asked in CGI Group

Hadoop is an open-source framework for distributed storage and processing of large data sets.
Core components include Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Yet Another Resource Negotiator (YARN), and MapReduce.
HDFS is responsible for storing data acr...read more

Asked in Cornerstone OnDemand

Q. Write a word count program in PySpark.
A program to count the number of words in a text file using PySpark.
Read the text file using SparkContext
Split the lines into words using flatMap
Map each word to a tuple of (word, 1)
Reduce by key to count the occurrences of each word
Save the output t...read more

Asked in Deloitte

Q. Using PySpark, how would you find the products with sales for three consecutive years?
Use window function to find products with 3 consecutive years sales in Pyspark
Use window function to partition by product and order by year
Filter the results where the count of consecutive years is 3

Asked in Deloitte

Q. Tell me about Azure Databricks.
Azure Databricks is a unified analytics platform that provides collaborative environment for big data and machine learning.
Azure Databricks is built on Apache Spark and provides a collaborative workspace for data engineers, data scientists, and machi...read more

Asked in Nielsen

Q. Write a query to remove duplicate rows in PySpark based on the primary key.
Use dropDuplicates() function in pyspark to remove duplicate rows based on primary key.
Use dropDuplicates() function on the DataFrame with the primary key column specified.
Specify the subset parameter in dropDuplicates() to specify the primary key co...read more

Asked in SRF

Q. How can you check Spark testing?
Spark testing can be checked by using a spark tester to measure the strength and consistency of the spark.
Use a spark tester to check the strength and consistency of the spark
Ensure that the spark is strong and consistent across all cylinders
Check fo...read more

Asked in LTIMindtree

Q. How much experience do you have in Big Data Administration?
I have 3 years of experience in Big Data Administration.
I have worked with Hadoop, Spark, and Hive.
I have experience in setting up and maintaining Hadoop clusters.
I have worked with various Big Data tools and technologies.
I have experience in trouble...read more

Asked in HashedIn by Deloitte

Q. How do you handle Spark memory management?
Spark Memory management involves configuring memory allocation, monitoring memory usage, and optimizing performance.
Set memory allocation parameters in Spark configuration (e.g. spark.executor.memory, spark.driver.memory)
Monitor memory usage using Sp...read more

Asked in Abzooba India Infotech

Q. What are technology related to big data
Technologies related to big data include Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, and NoSQL databases.
Hadoop - Distributed storage and processing framework for big data
Spark - In-memory data processing engine for big data analytics
Kafka - Distributed streaming platform...read more

Asked in Luxoft

Q. How do you create a Spark DataFrame?
To create a Spark DataFrame, use the createDataFrame() method.
Import the necessary libraries
Create a list of tuples or a dictionary containing the data
Create a schema for the DataFrame
Use the createDataFrame() method to create the DataFrame

Asked in S&P Global

Q. Explain your day-to-day activities related to Spark applications.
My day to day activities related to Spark application involve writing and optimizing Spark jobs, troubleshooting issues, and collaborating with team members.
Writing and optimizing Spark jobs to process large volumes of data efficiently
Troubleshooting...read more

Asked in GEP Worldwide

Q. How do you handle large amounts of data using interfaces like Hadoop?
Hadoop can handle big data by distributing it across multiple nodes and processing it in parallel.
Hadoop uses HDFS to store data across multiple nodes
MapReduce is used to process data in parallel
Hadoop ecosystem includes tools like Hive, Pig, and Spa...read more

Asked in PwC

Q. If we have streaming data coming from Kafka and Spark, how will you handle fault tolerance?
Implement fault tolerance by using checkpointing, replication, and monitoring mechanisms.
Enable checkpointing in Spark Streaming to save the state of the computation periodically to a reliable storage like HDFS or S3.
Use replication in Kafka to ensur...read more
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