Write a query to find conversion rate from transactions
Last updated: February 16, 2026
Quick Overview
Write a SQL query to calculate conversion rate from the transactions table, considering nulls and duplicates.
HashiCorp
February 16, 2026144
14
589 solved
Write a SQL query to calculate conversion rate from the transactions table, considering nulls and duplicates.
HashiCorp asks this during the Phone Screen because data engineering skills are critical for the role. You should be comfortable with complex joins, window functions, CTEs, and performance optimization.
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
How to Approach This
- Clarify the schema and expected output format before writing queries.
- Use CTEs (WITH clauses) to break complex queries into readable steps.
- Consider window functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG, LEAD) for ranking and sequential analysis.
- Watch for NULLs, duplicates, and edge cases in JOINs and GROUP BY.
- For pandas, prefer vectorized operations over row-by-row iteration.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- What would you do if this query needs to run every 5 minutes?
- How would you optimize this query for a table with 100 million rows?
- What indexes would you create to support this query?
- Can you rewrite this without using subqueries?
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