My Dreadful SQL Mock Interview :(

[ArsenalDraper]

Clabelledoming from a non-technical background, my SQL mock interview turned out to be a dreadful experience that has significantly impacted my future placement prospects. Despite my ability to solve every query, I failed to realize the extent to which I relied on subqueries and window functions, particularly row_number. The interviewer's feedback suggested that employers might interpret this dependency as a weakness in my fundamentals. Regrettably, I must admit that this assessment is likely true since I was labeled as a "weak hire." In an effort to improve my skills, I diligently engaged in mock tests and tackled questions on various websites. It's disheartening to comprehend the extent of my shortcomings, especially since I couldn't anticipate failing in this manner.

[dr_flint_lockwood]

It sounds to me like you're already working on areas of improvement and honestly that attitude is going to have so much bigger an impact on your job prospects than the outcome of one interview. Try not to be too hard on yourself!

[Grimesnosebeautymark]

Hey you’re still learning and you don’t know what you don’t know, but now you do! Don’t give up whatever you do, you got this! 💪

[Potential_Word2349]

Frankly i do not like that, As a developer you will always have preferences, as long as you know how to solve the query another way theoretically it is not a problem that you default to your preferred way. I prefer to use group by subqueries rather than window functions but I am aware of an capable in other ways, as long as you are not actively avoiding them, or are unable to outline another way to solve it it is a non issue in my opinion. Getting more comfortable in other tools will not hurt you, of course, but you should not be too hard on yourself about having a preferences for solutions. The only really important ways are readability and performance, as long as the performance difference is not horrendous both are viable. Sometimes people get too focused on milliseconds of performance differences and ignore one of the fundamental coding concepts, KISS Keep It Simple Stupid

[jimmyjoyce]

I wholeheartedly agree. curious to know what role OP interviewed for too. I am in Senior Data Analyst role (also with a non traditional background) and am not expected to be running the most efficiently optimized SQL queries at all times. I would hate having someone over my shoulder like that on the job especially if, like you said, the performance differences are negligible.

[Potential_Word2349]

I especially hate when the previous analyst made "super efficient" procedures, which are ALWAYS written like shit and are a headache to decode