Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Coding Questions
77+ questions from real Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Coding rounds, reported by candidates who interviewed there.
What does the Databricks Onsite Coding round test?
The Databricks onsite coding round is the core technical evaluation. Software Engineer candidates typically see 2-3 algorithm and data structure problems. Problems range from medium to hard difficulty, and interviewers evaluate both correctness and code quality.
Top Topics in This Round
Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Coding Questions
Databricks Onsite Interview Experience for SDE Position
Phone: Classic snapshot sets VO: 1st Design WAL writer, single machine, highest throughput, log is durablely written before the call returns to the caller. 2nd. Map get and put and calculate QPS. 3rd.
Databricks Full Interview Experience for SDE Role
Storefront SD: Bookseller platform (Original question from the forum). Here are some additional details: 1) This is an asynchronous request. The focus is not on how to return the request quickly, but
Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Interview Experience and Insights
This post was last edited by Anonymous on 2025-10-7 14:17. Requesting points! The following content requires points higher than 180. You can already view it. Phone: IP to CIDR VO: coding The first rou
Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Interview Details
Coding 1: Tic-Tac-Toe The follow-up requires you to add a boolean param: isAi. When isAi is reached, automatically move to the next sub. The function should allow for wins, losses, and draws. Coding 2
Many posts describe Databricks' somewhat absurd processes, including references, background checks, interviewers, and the difficulty of interview questions. Here's another data point to share: TL'DR d
#751 IP to CIDR
LeetCode #751: IP to CIDR. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: String, Bit Manipulation. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#362 Design Hit Counter
LeetCode #362: Design Hit Counter. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Array, Binary Search, Design, Queue, Data Stream. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#438 Find All Anagrams in a String
LeetCode #438: Find All Anagrams in a String. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Hash Table, String, Sliding Window. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#348 Design Tic-Tac-Toe
LeetCode #348: Design Tic-Tac-Toe. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Array, Hash Table, Design, Matrix, Simulation. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
LeetCode #2096: Step-By-Step Directions From a Binary Tree Node to Another. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: String, Tree, Depth-First Search, Binary Tree. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
LeetCode #981: Time Based Key-Value Store. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Hash Table, String, Binary Search, Design. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#900 RLE Iterator
LeetCode #900: RLE Iterator. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Array, Design, Counting, Iterator. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
LeetCode #1293: Shortest Path in a Grid with Obstacles Elimination. Difficulty: Hard. Topics: Array, Breadth-First Search, Matrix. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#567 Permutation in String
LeetCode #567: Permutation in String. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Hash Table, Two Pointers, String, Sliding Window. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#994 Rotting Oranges
LeetCode #994: Rotting Oranges. Difficulty: Medium. Topics: Array, Breadth-First Search, Matrix. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
#1928 Minimum Cost to Reach Destination in Time
LeetCode #1928: Minimum Cost to Reach Destination in Time. Difficulty: Hard. Topics: Array, Dynamic Programming, Graph Theory. Asked at Databricks in the last 6 months.
Databricks SWE Onsite - Web Crawler Design
## Problem Design a distributed web crawler that fetches and indexes pages at scale, handling politeness, deduplication, and storage. ## Tags system_design, graph
You are given a 2D character grid `grid`, where: - `'S'` is the start cell - `'D'` is the destination cell - `'X'` is a blocked cell - `'1'..'4'` are road/type cells You may move one step at a time
You are given `n` connected undirected graphs `G1, G2, ..., Gn` whose vertex sets are pairwise disjoint. Implement a function `sample_edges(graphs)` that returns an additional **set of edges** `E_add`
Given an `m x n` grid, you need to move from the top-left cell `(0,0)` to the bottom-right cell `(m-1,n-1)`. Each move/cell contributes to two metrics: - `time`: total time to reach the target - `cos
What to Expect in the Databricks Onsite Coding Round
The Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Coding round has a specific calibration purpose distinct from other rounds in the loop. Across 77+ verified reports on LeakCode for this exact round type, the consistent expectations: clear scoping of the problem before diving into a solution, explicit reasoning about complexity, structured handling of edge cases, and the ability to discuss trade-offs between two reasonable approaches.
Reports tagged with the Onsite Coding round at Databricks show recurring patterns in difficulty and topic distribution. The Onsite Coding round is typically 45-60 minutes; the interviewer is calibrated against a specific rubric. The discriminator between candidates who advance and candidates who do not is rarely the final correctness of the answer. It is the path: did you clarify, did you verbalize your approach, did you handle edge cases, and did you communicate throughout.
How To Prepare for This Specific Round
Filter the questions below to the most recent reports (past 6-12 months). Questions tagged for this exact round type from this exact company at this exact role level are the highest-signal data available. Older reports may reference questions that have since rotated out of the company's pool.
Practice 4-6 representative problems from this set under timed conditions. The goal is not memorization (companies rotate questions); the goal is to internalize the patterns the interviewer typically reaches for and the depth of follow-up to expect. Reports on LeakCode also tag the typical follow-up depth at this round type, which is the discriminating signal between hire and no-hire calibration.
Onsite Coding Round Timing and Format
The Onsite Coding round at Databricks typically runs 45-60 minutes. Use the first 2-3 minutes to clarify requirements; you should never start coding or designing without verifying the input/output format, constraints, and edge cases out loud. Use the next 5-7 minutes to verbalize your approach before writing any code. The middle 20-30 minutes are implementation. Reserve the final 10 minutes for testing with concrete examples and discussing optimization or trade-offs.
Time budget discipline is one of the most reliable senior-vs-junior discriminators in this round. Strong candidates verbalize where they are in their budget out loud ("I've used about 20 minutes, I have 15 minutes left for testing and one optimization"). This signals engineering maturity to the interviewer and creates positive feedback they can capture in writing.
Common Failure Modes in This Round
Reports tagged "no hire" at Databricks Software Engineer Onsite Coding commonly cite: coding silently without verbalizing approach, jumping to implementation before clarifying requirements, missing edge cases (empty input, single element, very large input), producing working code that the candidate cannot refactor when asked, and failing to test their solution with concrete examples before declaring done.
The single most predictive failure mode in 2025-2026 reports: not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers at all FAANG companies are explicitly trained to weight this dimension. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's notes.
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