Ola DE-1 Interview Experience — Selected

Hi everyone! Sharing my Ola DE-1 interview experience in case it helps someone preparing for Data Engineering roles.

I had 1.5 years of experience and randomly applied through LinkedIn for the DE-1 role at Ola.

The interview process consisted of 3 rounds.

Round 1 — DSA + SQL + Spark

The first round was a 1-hour round, which was extended by 15 more minutes.

The round consisted of:

• 2 DSA questions

• 1 SQL question

• Spark-related questions

I solved the DSA questions using Python.

DSA

Q1: Merge Intervals

Q2: Longest Increasing Subsequence

SQL

Friend Requests II: Who Has the Most Friends from LeetCode.

Spark

Spark-related questions included:

• Spark Architecture

• Join strategies

• Serializers and its type

• Deployment modes in Spark

I answered all these Spark questions in 2–3 lines each, as I spent an entire hour solving the DSA and SQL questions.

The interviewer was really helpful and was giving hints whenever I was stuck somewhere.

Round 2 — Project Architecture + Spark + SQL

The second round focused on:

• Project Architecture

• Spark coding

• Spark discussion

• Open file formats in detail (Delta)

• 1 SQL question

Spark Coding

The Spark coding questions involved reading files and using functions like:

• when

• otherwise

• etc.

SQL

Q: Select 3 consecutive records with same value.

I explained the logic using LAG but wasn't able to implement it due to time constraints.

Round 3 — TechnoManagerial

The third round was a TechnoManagerial round focused on System / Data Pipeline Design.

I was asked about my work experience.

System / Data Pipeline Design

The interviewer asked me to design an alert system for Ola/Uber.

The example was:

If a woman is traveling alone after 11 PM and the cab stops on a remote road for 10–15 minutes, the system should trigger an alert.

Also, integrate a 5-star safety feature for immediate contact.

Overall Experience

The interviewers were helpful and gave hints whenever I was stuck. The rounds focused not only on problem-solving but also on understanding Spark concepts, project architecture, and practical system design.

For anyone preparing for a similar Data Engineering role, I would recommend being comfortable with DSA, SQL, Spark fundamentals, coding in Spark, project architecture, and system/data pipeline design.

Overall, it was a good learning experience, and I was happy to be selected for the DE-1 role at Ola.