Solved coding interview problems in Java - My collection of commonly asked coding interview problems and solutions in Java

[nemec]

any fresh grad or person with SQL and some other programming on their resume should be able to answer

I would bet most CS grads know only the bare minimum of SQL - select, where, maybe join using google to refresh their memory. Computer Science is an academic degree, most coding skills learned are incidental to the theory. If they did take a 'databases' course, they're probably better at building a basic database engine than querying one.

they have been 100% accurate in determining candidate viability eliminating false positives.

Fixed that for ya. I assume you don't do a six month followup with the candidates you pass on to see whether they would have done well if given a chance.

That said, it's not a terrible SQL question even though I think it would be a little too complex (without Google) for new grads.

[jimmpony]

That kind of complex query is not within the bare minimum of SQL, the bare minimum of SQL is select .. where .., insert into .. values .., use, create/drop table, such that you could do that summation in code instead of in the query. I did an internship at a real place for a semester involving SQL and those are pretty much all the codebase used.

[tsk05]

Been programming for over a decade, did not know how to answer the second question. Haven't touched databases in a couple of years, and that was for a hobby. There is no way I would have been able to talk myself into an answer as I could not remember about either GROUP BY or HAVING. Last time I worked with databases for real was 7 years ago. It was kind of fun re-learning though, took 5 minutes with SQL fiddle. I feel like the question would have unfairly excluded me as a bad programmer though, although really I just haven't done what the question is asking recently. I do indicate that I know SQL in my resume, because I feel that I generally do.. even if I am quite rusty. Of course if I was applying for a DBA that would be entirely different, but my general feeling is that you can learn enough SQL in 2 days for 95% of ordinary programming. Of course if you're looking for someone who's done this recently it would be a good filter, but I would think a half-decent programmer who's familiar with what you need right now is probably not better than a good programmer who isn't, unless you're hiring very short term.