𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐈 Interview Experience at PayPal.

I wanted to share my experience interviewing for the 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐈 position at PayPal.

Here's a breakdown of the process:

𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐎𝐀):
The first step was an online assessment sent by the recruiter. Clearing this assessment led to two technical rounds being scheduled, separated by a gap of five days.

𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟏:
This round was with a Data Engineer III and focused on problem-solving and SQL.

𝐀). 𝐃𝐒𝐀 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
1. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑝 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚.
2. 𝐴 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑢𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 (I don't recall the exact details but was similar to those dealing with task prioritization).

𝐁). 𝐒𝐐𝐋 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
Focused on window functions, their usage, and optimization strategies.

𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟐 (𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝):
This was done with a Staff Data Engineer and had three main parts:

A). 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Shared details about my past projects. Also discussed best practices for software and data engineering, including how I implemented these in my projects.

B). 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
The scenario involved multiple data sources such as Hadoop, S3, and Oracle DB. I was tasked with designing a solution to migrate data to a final S3 bucket.
Explained my choices for services and tools, including error logging, scalability, and fault tolerance.

C). 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞:
Given two data frames, I had to perform some processing and store the final output in another data frame.

𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 (𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟑):
This was with the Senior Engineering Manager, who was also the hiring manager for this role.

𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝:
A). 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 : A deep dive into my projects, focusing on why specific tools and services were chosen.
B). 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 :
How I would handle pipeline issues, like overload situations or service downtimes.
Behavioral Questions: Highlighted my problem-solving, teamwork, and adaptability skills.

𝐇𝐑 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 (𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟒):
The final round was with HR. We discussed the offer details PayPal was providing, covered some standard behavioral questions related to company culture and expectations.

Credit- Shubham shukla