Write a query to find churn rate from orders

Last updated: June 1, 2026

Quick Overview

Write a SQL query to calculate churn rate from the orders table, considering nulls and duplicates.

Google
Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
Data Scientist
Google
June 1, 2026
Data Scientist
Phone Screen
Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
Hard

352

7

1,720 solved


Write a SQL query to calculate churn rate from the orders table, considering nulls and duplicates.

Data manipulation questions at Google test your ability to work with real-world datasets. This Phone Screen question evaluates your SQL proficiency, understanding of data modeling, and ability to derive insights from raw data.

What the Interviewer Expects
  • Solve complex analytical problems with elegant, readable SQL
  • Optimize queries for large-scale datasets with partitioning and indexing
  • Use recursive CTEs, lateral joins, and advanced window functions
  • Design the data model alongside the query solution
  • Discuss trade-offs between SQL and programmatic approaches (Python/pandas)
  • Consider the operational aspects: query scheduling, incremental processing
Key Topics to Cover
Date/time manipulation
Index optimization and query performance
Aggregate functions and GROUP BY
Window functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG, LEAD)
Subqueries and correlated subqueries
NULL handling and COALESCE
How to Approach This
  1. Clarify the schema and expected output format before writing queries.
  2. Use CTEs (WITH clauses) to break complex queries into readable steps.
  3. Consider window functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG, LEAD) for ranking and sequential analysis.
  4. Watch for NULLs, duplicates, and edge cases in JOINs and GROUP BY.
  5. For pandas, prefer vectorized operations over row-by-row iteration.
Possible Follow-up Questions
  • How would you handle this if the data was spread across multiple databases?
  • How would you optimize this query for a table with 100 million rows?
  • What would you do if this query needs to run every 5 minutes?
  • What indexes would you create to support this query?
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