Database Engineering & Data Systems Topics
Database design patterns, optimization, scaling strategies, storage technologies, data warehousing, and operational database management. Covers database selection criteria, query optimization, replication strategies, distributed databases, backup and recovery, and performance tuning at database layer. Distinct from Systems Architecture (which addresses service-level distribution) and Data Science (which addresses analytical approaches).
Geospatial and Time-Series Data
Specialized data shapes and their stores: geospatial data types, spatial indexing, and location queries; and time-series data with high-ingest, retention, and downsampling patterns. Covers when purpose-built extensions or databases beat general-purpose stores for these workloads. A niche but recurring topic for location- and telemetry-heavy systems.
SQL Joins and Set Operations
Combining data across multiple tables using inner, outer, cross, and self joins, plus set operations (UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT). Covers join-key selection, fan-out and row-multiplication pitfalls, merge strategies, and integrating data from disparate sources. A high-frequency interview surface for anyone who queries relational data.