Hiring data engineers

Different volumes of data require different toolsets. This question can help you evaluate the depth of a candidate’s experience and their level of familiarity with the tools your company uses every day. A great data engineer will be able to tell you which tools need to be applied and when.

Even if their previous company was very different from your own, you want to know your new hire can apply transferable skills and experiences to the position. Whether your candidate brings a coding background, strong proficiency in SQL database manipulation, or just a general knack for aligning datasets with company goals, these technical abilities can facilitate easy onboarding and help your company grow stronger.

Data engineers have to work well with people throughout the organization to understand the business questions they’re trying to solve. You want to hire someone who goes above and beyond the specific tasks they’re assigned to proactively seek out answers to big picture questions.

ETL stands for extract, transform, and load — the three key steps for designing and structuring most data pipelines. You want a new hire who is familiar with the operational aspects of data engineering, such as code reliability. Asking this question will also help you get a sense of what performance means to candidates and how they’re measuring it.

Good code is reusable. All data engineers know that, but not all of them stop and consider whether there are assets in the company code vault that can be re-used for a different purpose. If you find you’re talking to a data engineer whose first order of business is to peruse through your existing database before jumping into writing code on a new project, you may have a winner.

This answer will help you gauge the candidate’s leadership potential and current level of experience handling complex tasks. Data engineers must be resilient, often thinking on their feet and adapting to sudden deviations from the original path. From deadline pressure and technical inefficiencies to communication gaps and tedium, there’s no shortage of challenges to choose from, but a strong candidate stays positive.

Studies show that people who are passionate about what they do and take pride in their successes often make the best employees, regardless of the situation, project, or role. Whether it’s a worthy data project or an employee they helped mentor, a candidate’s answer will help you understand what motivates and excites them.

Asking this question explores what a candidate finds challenging and reveals potential areas where more training is required. This question also screens for humility, self-reflection, and problem-solving skills. A great data engineer will view obstacles as an opportunity to learn and grow more confident.

This question reveals the candidate’s communication skills and ability to talk to colleagues who don’t live and breathe data. Can they convey technical or complex concepts clearly and concisely? If they answer confidently, you know that this candidate will be able to liaise with less technically minded leaders and coworkers.