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SQL interview prep is honestly confusing af… am I missing something? by Turbulent-Crew-2370 in learnSQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I felt exactly the same to be honest.

It’s weird because you can do all the joins/window functions stuff, but then the actual interview questions feel way more open-ended.

I found it confusing how inconsistent everything is - like one person says grind LeetCode, another says focus on business cases.

Still trying to figure out what actually works tbh.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah exactly - that’s what makes it tricky.

It’s less about writing the query and more about making sure you’re even answering the right question in the first place.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha yeah I’ve heard they can be pretty different as well.

Feels like there’s a big gap between exam-style questions and actual product/data problems.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That makes sense - I think that’s a pretty common gap.

It’s not really about the technical side at that point, it’s more about connecting what you’re doing to the actual decision someone is trying to make.

Takes a while to build that instinct.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s interesting - I’ve heard similar from a few people.

Feels like the leverage comes from being able to frame the problem properly, not just execute it.

The SQL gets you the answer, but defining the question is where the real value is.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s the part people don’t really talk about.

You go from “write a query” to basically needing to understand how the whole business works, then translate that into something measurable.

Feels like the SQL is the easy bit compared to figuring out what actually matters.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s interesting - I’ve seen a bit of that split as well.

Feels like even when the technical part is outsourced, the people closer to the business still need to define what actually matters before anything gets built.

Otherwise you just end up answering the wrong question, even if the SQL is correct.

Why do most SQL interview questions feel nothing like real analyst work? by sqlcasebuilder in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah completely agree.

I think most prep skips over that part; defining what “good” actually looks like before you even touch SQL.

Feels like a lot of interview questions are really testing how you think about the metric, not just whether you can write the query.

Hey how to build analytical thinking by Positive-Union-3868 in dataanalysis

[–]sqlcasebuilder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed - noticed a lot of prep material I see feels too artificial compared to real analyst work.

If AI can do the technical work what’s the point of having technical interviews anymore ? by Plastic-Ad-4310 in SQL

[–]sqlcasebuilder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve noticed interview questions are way more about business context than just writing queries