Senior Data Engineer Interview Experience - United States
Process
Interviewed with the Lead Engineer on Spark, although the recruiter said it was on Python. Not a big deal.
Was asked to perform a group by aggregation. I did a groupby and sum, then joined the results. Was then asked if I could do it without a join. I accomplished this with a sum over a partition. They inquired if there was another way. I added a withColumn statement and placed the groupby statement as the second argument. The interviewer mentioned it was starting to look good, although that's not possible in PySpark.
The recruiter later let me know I failed the tech screen.
Questions
What is an inner vs. left join?
How would you deduplicate a table?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 3 interview experiences for the Disney Senior Data Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
Disney's interview process for their Senior Data Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Disney's Senior Data Engineer interview process in United States.
Disney Work Experiences
- 1.0Good Pay, Toxic TeamSenior Data Engineer • Former EmployeeLos Angeles, California, United StatesAugust 21, 2025Pros: Good payment, and new skills if you are interested in learning.Cons: I worked with the STOI team, where temporary contractors were given autonomy and expected to follow strict directions without the opportunity to share input. I also experienced frequent disrespectful remarks from team members and management. The best thing that happened was ending my work with them. I’m aware that other temporary staff have raised similar concerns, but at the time, no alternative resources or replacements were available.
- 1.0Good team, but bad managementSenior Data Engineer • Former EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesFebruary 16, 2025Pros: Not many. Work is fine.Cons: Bad management; they change policies suddenly.
- 4.0Good Stock, Corporate DragSenior Data Engineer • Current EmployeeSanta Monica, California, United StatesSeptember 25, 2024Pros: Good stock, benefits, comp, culture (Hulu Santa Monica).Cons: Classic corporate structure. Pay isn't as high as some other tech companies due to brand name.
Disney Interview Questions
