Databricks Interview Questions & Process (2026)
672 practice questions across 5 Databricks roles, with the Databricks interview process and how to prepare. Databricks is notorious for one of the hardest pure-coding bars in the industry: phone screens and onsite coding rounds regularly use hard coding problems demanding fully working, tested code, followed by deep distributed-systems design given its Spark heritage. The Bengaluru R&D office holds the same bar as San Francisco, and many strong candidates fail on speed-to-correct-code.
Roles covered
5
pick yours below
Questions
672
across all roles
Rounds
6
typical loop
Prep
Free
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Choose your role at Databricks
Databricks interview process
- 1Recruiter Screen30 min
Role calibration and an honest preview of the coding difficulty; sets expectations for the loop.
- 2Coding Phone Screen60 min
One hard-leaning coding problem to complete, working code with edge cases handled - interviewer runs the code mentally or literally.
- 3Onsite Coding I & II60 min
Two more hard implementation rounds; problems often disguise systems concepts (LRU variants, schedulers, query planners) requiring airtight code.
- 4Distributed System Design60 min
Design a data-infrastructure system (distributed query engine, job scheduler, storage layer) with deep follow-ups on failure modes and data layout.
- 5SQL & Data Engineering Round60 min
For data/field roles: Spark/SQL optimization, partitioning strategy and pipeline debugging on realistic lakehouse scenarios.
- 6Hiring Manager Round45 min
Project deep-dive doubling as the behavioral round - motivation, ownership, and technical judgment interrogated through your past work.
Frequently asked questions
What is the interview process at Databricks?
The Databricks interview process usually runs in this order: recruiter screen, coding phone screen, onsite coding I and II, distributed system design, SQL and data engineering round, then hiring manager round.
Which roles can I prepare for at Databricks?
We have dedicated interview-question sets for 5 Databricks roles: Qa Automation Engineer Sdet, Analytics Engineer, Big Data Engineer, Data Analyst, Data Engineer.
How hard is the Databricks interview?
We rate Databricks interviews very high on difficulty, on a scale that runs from low-medium to very high. Plan your preparation around what Databricks screens for: data engineering and distributed systems, Spark/lakehouse depth, and coding.
What does Databricks look for in candidates?
Databricks screens for data engineering and distributed systems, Spark/lakehouse depth, and coding. Culturally, it values customer obsession, raise the bar, truth-seeking and ownership. Line up one example from your own work for each value, alongside the technical preparation.
How do I prepare for Databricks interviews?
Know Spark/distributed data deeply. Strong coding. Prepare data-platform design. On PrepNPlaced, the Company Game Plan builds a preparation plan for Databricks, Resume Score checks your resume against the job description, and the AI Mock Interview lets you practise your answers out loud.
Compiled by PrepNPlaced from interview reports and question banks for Databricks. Updated 2026.