All 110 questions
How do you connect a Spring Boot application to a database?
Asked in 2 of 612 interviews · last asked Sep 30 · Tooling · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “How do you connect a database to a Spring Boot application?”
What are the differences between using an ORM and writing raw SQL queries?
Asked in 2 of 612 interviews · last asked Oct 7 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Why use an ORM instead of writing only raw SQL?”
What is row-level security, and how can it be used?
Asked in 2 of 612 interviews · last asked Oct 21 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “What is row-level security?”
What is JDBC?
Asked in 2 of 612 interviews · last asked Jul 21 · Concept · Junior
How do you configure connectivity from Azure Data Factory to an on-premises SQL Server, and what connection parameters are required?
Asked once · last asked Aug 19 · Tooling · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “How do you establish connectivity and move data between Azure Data Factory and an on-premises SQL Server?”
- “How do you configure connectivity between Azure Data Factory and an on-premises SQL Server?”
What are ORM and Active Record, and how are they used to work with databases?
Asked once · last asked Mar 27 · Concept · Mid-level
How can an Azure Function read from or write to a database while processing a request?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Tooling · Mid-level
When importing database rows into an application, how would you generate a unique key and validate missing values?
Asked once · last asked Aug 22 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “When importing database rows into an application, how would you generate a unique key and assign values for missing fields?”
How would you verify an AI agent's SQL read and write actions before allowing them to reach production?
Asked once · last asked Sep 8 · Scenario · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you verify an AI agent's SQL read and write actions before production, for example with dry-run transactions or approval gates?”
How would you design an AI bot that converts natural-language questions into safe SQL queries against a customer database?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you design an AI bot that accepts natural-language questions, queries a customer's SQL database, and responds through a website?”
What is the difference between a .NET application calling SQL Server and SQL Server calling .NET code?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you retrieve the dynamic data from the live database, including through MCP?
Asked once · last asked Feb 5 · Scenario · Mid-level
If your application is running in production but cannot reach a database resource, how would you investigate the problem and identify its root cause?
Asked once · last asked Feb 9 · Scenario · Senior
What tools can make Kotlin Multiplatform interoperability with Swift easier, and what database technologies can be used in a Kotlin Multiplatform app?
Asked once · last asked Feb 12 · Tooling · Mid-level
Can you describe a time you encountered a database or data security issue and what you did to address it?
Asked once · last asked Feb 24 · Behavioral · Senior
What is the difference between JPA and JDBC, and when would you use each?
Asked once · last asked Mar 6 · Concept · Mid-level
How do you configure JPA to generate primary key values automatically?
Asked once · last asked Mar 10 · Tooling · Junior
In Spring Boot, how would you design a GET endpoint that accepts a user's ID and returns their information, including retrieving the data from the database?
Asked once · last asked Mar 18 · Tooling · Mid-level
With a MySQL server, how would you access a database and prevent users from accessing data they are not authorized to see?
Asked once · last asked Mar 20 · Scenario · Mid-level
When an API request creates or updates data, how does the application persist that data in the database?
Asked once · last asked Mar 27 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you structure and implement a simple user API that creates and retrieves a user—holding the user temporarily in memory or, alternatively, saving and retrieving it from a database—and returns appropriate HTTP status codes?
Asked once · last asked Apr 9 · Write code · Mid-level
How do you connect a Python file to a MySQL database?
Asked once · last asked Apr 9 · Tooling · Junior
Build a mobile app for pet owners to sign up or sign in, add pet details, and book veterinary care, boarding, or grooming for a specific date. Focus on the front end, with no backend required, but include basic database handling.
Asked once · last asked Apr 11 · Write code · Junior
What are the key components you need to define when integrating a Room database into an application?
Asked once · last asked Apr 11 · Concept · Mid-level
How do you define a Room database class, including its database name and entities?
Asked once · last asked Apr 11 · Write code · Mid-level
How would you implement an offline database strategy in an e-commerce app?
Asked once · last asked Apr 11 · Scenario · Mid-level
How do you connect a Java application to a database using JDBC?
Asked once · last asked Apr 17 · Tooling · Junior
How would you use Spring Boot and MyBatis to write a custom SQL query for a list endpoint?
Asked once · last asked Apr 18 · Tooling · Junior
Which tools would you use to handle and process 100 incoming e-commerce orders, and how would you store and process them?
Asked once · last asked May 5 · Design · Mid-level
How would you handle schema isolation and security in a multitenant SaaS application?
Asked once · last asked May 22 · Design · Senior
Can you explain the role of JDBC in connecting a Java application to a MySQL database?
Asked once · last asked May 23 · Concept · Junior
How does a prepared statement improve performance and security when interacting with a database?
Asked once · last asked May 23 · Concept · Junior
Can you explain database connection pooling?
Asked once · last asked May 25 · Concept · Mid-level
When constructing a UNION-based SQL injection query, how do you determine the number of columns and match the data types of the existing query?
Asked once · last asked May 27 · Scenario · Senior
Which database metadata tables does Spring Batch create by default?
Asked once · last asked May 29 · Concept · Mid-level
Can a JMX script access a database through JMeter, and what would you need to do to establish that access?
Asked once · last asked Jun 4 · Tooling · Mid-level
How would you use JMeter to write data to a database and read it back?
Asked once · last asked Jun 4 · Tooling · Mid-level
Can you describe a specific automation you built using R and SQL, including the gains it delivered and the challenges you faced?
Asked once · last asked Jun 16 · Behavioral · Mid-level
How would you use SQL Server encryption features, such as Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), to protect sensitive data?
Asked once · last asked Jun 17 · Tooling · Mid-level
How would you troubleshoot a database connection error?
Asked once · last asked Jun 19 · Scenario · Mid-level
After checking the database credentials and connection string, what would you check next, including whether a test query could help determine if the issue affects a specific operation?
Asked once · last asked Jun 19 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “After checking the database credentials and connection string, what would you check next? Would you run a test query to determine whether the issue affects a specific operation?”
If the database connection string is correct, how would you check whether firewall rules, security rules, or database configuration are causing the connection problem?
Asked once · last asked Jun 19 · Scenario · Mid-level
How would you check network access and permissions when troubleshooting a database connection, including database ports and allowlist rules?
Asked once · last asked Jun 19 · Scenario · Mid-level
How do you approach requirements analysis when developing applications with .NET and T-SQL?
Asked once · last asked Jun 26 · Scenario · Mid-level
How would you ensure dual-write logic cannot be bypassed or abused, resulting in inconsistent authorization states?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
When would you use direct database access instead of an ORM?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Mid-level
How does a repository retrieve users when given a search term, page number, and page size instead of a specific user ID or email?
Asked once · last asked Jul 20 · Concept · Mid-level
How can a repository use a search term to filter users by first name, last name, or email address?
Asked once · last asked Jul 20 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you implement audit logging in a database?
Asked once · last asked Jul 20 · Scenario · Mid-level
What information should a database audit log store?
Asked once · last asked Jul 20 · Concept · Mid-level
When should you use direct SQL queries instead of Odoo's ORM?
Asked once · last asked Jul 23 · Concept · Senior
In Node.js, how do you size and tune the Postgres connection pool, and what symptoms tell you it is too small versus too large?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Tooling · Senior
How would you structure database accounts for privileged access?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Design · Senior
In a Node.js project with TypeScript, what is the point of using an ORM like Prisma, and what are the trade-offs compared to raw SQL?
Asked once · last asked Aug 5 · Concept · Mid-level
What encryption options are available for RDS, and what are their trade-offs?
Asked once · last asked Aug 13 · Concept · Senior
How do row-level security and data masking protect sensitive data?
Asked once · last asked Aug 20 · Concept · Mid-level
How can an application determine which database or schema to use for a tenant?
Asked once · last asked Aug 20 · Scenario · Senior
How would you select the tenant's schema when a user logs in?
Asked once · last asked Aug 20 · Scenario · Senior
How would you design a proxy between an application and a database to forward requests and responses?
Asked once · last asked Aug 21 · Design · Senior
What security capabilities could a proxy between an application and a database provide?
Asked once · last asked Aug 21 · Concept · Senior
Why use Sequelize when we can write raw SQL queries directly?
Asked once · last asked Dec 9 · Concept · Mid-level
What is the difference between joins and associations?
Asked once · last asked Aug 25 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you architect an MCP server to let an agent safely query a financial database without breaking the production system?
Asked once · last asked Aug 26 · Design · Senior
When would you use Python transformations instead of implementing the logic in SQL?
Asked once · last asked Aug 29 · Concept · Mid-level
How do you use connection pooling for microservices connecting to an on-premises relational database?
Asked once · last asked Aug 30 · Concept · Senior
In a React, Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL app, walk me through the end-to-end data flow when a user submits a form to create a new record, including validation and error handling.
Asked once · last asked Sep 3 · Scenario · Mid-level
In TypeScript, how would you model and handle errors from asynchronous database calls so you can distinguish a unique-constraint violation from other failures without using `any`?
Asked once · last asked Sep 3 · Concept · Mid-level
How can Python connect to a SQL database?
Asked once · last asked Sep 3 · Concept · Mid-level
Why would you use Prisma or another ORM instead of writing raw SQL?
Asked once · last asked Sep 3 · Concept · Mid-level
When pulling a database containing 50,000,000 rows from SQL Server into Python, how do you prevent memory error exceptions? Compare memory-safe techniques.
Asked once · last asked Sep 5 · Scenario · Senior
How does connection pooling work in Python applications connecting to SQL Server, and why is it useful for distributed application services?
Asked once · last asked Sep 5 · Concept · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How does Python connection pooling operate behind the scenes in systems like SQL Server, and why is it mandatory for distributed application services?”
How could you use SQL and Python in a banking risk role?
Asked once · last asked Sep 5 · Scenario · Junior
Could you elaborate on a specific challenge you faced during a project's data-cleaning phase and how you addressed it using SQL and Pandas?
Asked once · last asked Sep 8 · Behavioral · Mid-level
How would you design the complete flow for a like, including the controller, Redis, and database, and how would those components interact?
Asked once · last asked Sep 18 · Design · Senior
How would you structure an application’s connection to PostgreSQL through an ORM?
Asked once · last asked Sep 22 · Design · Mid-level
How would you design a backend architecture that handles a user request through database access, caching, and response generation?
Asked once · last asked Sep 22 · Design · Mid-level
What are the benefits of using an open schema or direct SAP HANA access beneath SAP Datasphere?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Senior
How can you connect SQL Server with .NET code using APIs or executables?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Concept · Mid-level
Why might you choose Spring Boot and MySQL for an application?
Asked once · last asked Sep 27 · Concept · Junior
How would you integrate a MySQL-backed application with a government portal to submit requests?
Asked once · last asked Sep 28 · Scenario · Mid-level
How would you persist validated data in a Spring application, and when would you use Spring Data, JPA, Hibernate, or native queries?
Asked once · last asked Sep 29 · Concept · Mid-level
Can an ORM execute a query that uses a window function, and what would you do if that query significantly improved the results?
Asked once · last asked Oct 2 · Scenario · Senior
When a commerce application uses Redis and PostgreSQL, what data should be cached in Redis, and which data should remain authoritative in PostgreSQL?
Asked once · last asked Oct 5 · Design · Mid-level
How would you design a text-to-SQL pipeline for live database analytics, such as finding total sales from Delhi in the last month?
Asked once · last asked Oct 7 · Design · Senior
A Flask or Django application works locally, but after deployment its API starts and database requests fail. How would you diagnose the problem?
Asked once · last asked Oct 7 · Scenario · Mid-level
When a user clicks Submit, how do you create records in the employee, address, and emergency contact tables while maintaining their relationships?
Asked once · last asked Oct 8 · Tooling · Mid-level
How would you audit or track every change made to a database table?
Asked once · last asked Oct 9 · Concept · Mid-level
When would you use direct database queries in Bitrix?
Asked once · last asked Oct 12 · Concept · Mid-level
Explain the complete request lifecycle from a frontend click to the Django database response.
Asked once · last asked Oct 14 · Concept · Mid-level
How do you handle testing code that involves database operations, and what strategies can you use to avoid hitting a real database?
Asked once · last asked Oct 15 · Scenario · Mid-level
An endpoint receives a user's ID, debt, and payment amount. What would you validate before processing the request, and how would you protect the payment process?
Asked once · last asked Oct 20 · Scenario · Senior
How can batch processing be used to insert records into a database?
Asked once · last asked Sep 23 · Tooling · Mid-level
Can you give me an example of a REST API that creates a user or retrieves one from a database?
Asked once · last asked Apr 9 · Write code · Junior
What information is required to connect a Laravel application to a database?
Asked once · last asked May 5 · Tooling · Junior
How do you work with databases, ORM tools, migrations, and SQL?
Asked once · last asked Jun 24 · Tooling · Mid-level
How would you implement database access in a Java backend?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Mid-level
In PostgreSQL, what is RLS?
Asked once · last asked Jul 22 · Concept · Junior
How does Odoo store model data in the database?
Asked once · last asked Jul 23 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you use SQL with Excel?
Asked once · last asked Jul 30 · Tooling · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “When would you use SQL, and when is Excel appropriate for handling a dataset?”
If you need to list all MySQL users, what command do you use?
Asked once · last asked Aug 11 · Tooling · Junior
How would you connect to a database, retrieve two rows, and import them into an application?
Asked once · last asked Aug 22 · Write code · Mid-level
How do you handle communication between an application and a database?
Asked once · last asked Aug 25 · Concept · Mid-level
What are general best practices for configuring and securing a database?
Asked once · last asked Aug 28 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you read data directly from a database rather than using an API?
Asked once · last asked Sep 3 · Scenario · Mid-level
What approaches to database access do you know and use in .NET?
Asked once · last asked Sep 10 · Concept · Mid-level
How would an application running on EC2 connect to a database?
Asked once · last asked Sep 10 · Design · Mid-level
What Java frameworks or libraries can you use to query a database?
Asked once · last asked Sep 10 · Concept · Mid-level
How do the client, back-end API, and database interact on a typical create-item request?
Asked once · last asked Oct 14 · Scenario · Junior
When would you use direct database access versus a code-first approach?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Concept · Mid-level
In a code-first approach, is it easier to switch to a different database?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Concept · Mid-level
More SQL interview questions
- All SQL interview questions
- SQL Basics Interview Questions
- Database Design Interview Questions
- SQL Joins and Aggregation Interview Questions
- Advanced SQL Query Interview Questions
- SQL Views and Stored Procedures Interview Questions
- SQL Query Optimization and Indexing Interview Questions
- SQL Transactions and Concurrency Interview Questions
- Database Administration and Scaling Interview Questions
How this list is made
Every question here was asked by a real interviewer in a real job interview that a candidate ran MeetAssist in. After the call, the interviewer's questions are pulled from the transcript. Practice sessions, tests, exams and anything that was not a job interview are dropped.
Questions are rewritten so they make sense on their own: names of people, employers and clients are removed, and speech-to-text mistakes are fixed. Small talk, logistics and questions about one candidate's own résumé are left out. Rephrasings of the same question are merged, and the count is the number of different interviews it came up in.
The interviews come from candidates who use MeetAssist, so they lean towards software, data and AI roles: the shares describe these interviews, not every SQL interview. Answers to the most asked questions are written and checked by an editor; a "common mistake" is shown only when reviews of real answers in these interviews show it, with the count.
612 interviews, 357 candidates, Nov 2025 to Oct 2026. Updated every month with new interviews.
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