9 Altria SQL Interview Questions (Updated 2024)
At Altria Group, SQL is used for analyzing sales data to identify trends and patterns, giving them insights into consumer behavior and preferences and also for managing large-scale databases to track product performance and consumer interactions effectively. For this reason, Altria asks SQL questions during interviews for Data Science, Analytics, and Data Engineering jobs.
Thus, to help you prepare, here's 9 Altria Group SQL interview questions – able to solve them?
9 Altria Group SQL Interview Questions
SQL Question 1: Calculate monthly average rating for each product.
At Altria, one of the key metrics that the company tracks is how well its products are being received in the market. The company collects reviews from its customers, and each review includes a rating (from 1 to 5 stars). Altria is interested in understanding how each product's monthly average rating is changing over time. For instance, an increase in a product's average rating could indicate a successful marketing campaign or an improvement in product quality.
To provide insights for the team, your task is to write a SQL query that calculates the monthly average rating for each product.
Here's an example of the data you have to work with:
Example Input:
| review_id | user_id | submit_date | product_id | stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | 123 | 2022-06-08 | 50001 | 3 |
| 102 | 265 | 2022-06-10 | 69852 | 4 |
| 103 | 362 | 2022-06-18 | 50001 | 4 |
| 104 | 192 | 2022-07-26 | 69852 | 3 |
| 105 | 981 | 2022-07-05 | 69852 | 2 |
We want to have the output as follows:
Example Output:
| month | product | avg_rating |
|---|---|---|
| June | 50001 | 3.5 |
| June | 69852 | 4.0 |
| July | 69852 | 2.5 |
Answer:
You can achieve this with the following SQL query:
This SQL query uses the clause to group the reviews by month and product_id. We then use the function to calculate the average rating for each group. The is used to round the average to two decimal places. The function is used to convert the date into a month name.
The clause in a SQL statement is used to arrange identical data into groups. The function returns the average value of a numeric column. Worthy to note that within the function is PostgreSQL specific syntax for type casting. For MySQL, it would be
To solve a related window function SQL problem on DataLemur's free interactive SQL code editor, try this Google SQL Interview Question:
Discover how Altria is harnessing technology to drive progress and innovation in their operations and product offerings! Understanding Altria's technological advancements can provide valuable insights into how companies are evolving in a competitive landscape.
SQL Question 2: Department Salaries
You're given a table of Altria employee and department salaries. Write a SQL query to find departments where the departments average salary is higher than the company's average salary.
Write a SQL query for this interview question directly within the browser on DataLemur:
The answer is LONG – 30+ lines of SQL. You can find a step-by-step solution here: Department vs. Company Salary.
SQL Question 3: Can you describe the concept of a database index and the various types of indexes?
An index in a database is a data structure that helps to quickly find and access specific records in a table.
For example, if you had a database of Altria customers, you could create a primary index on the column.
Having a primary index on the column can speed up performance in several ways. For example, if you want to retrieve a specific customer record based on their , the database can use the primary index to quickly locate and retrieve the desired record. The primary index acts like a map, allowing the database to quickly find the location of the desired record without having to search through the entire table.
Additionally, a primary index can also be used to enforce the uniqueness of the column, ensuring that no duplicate values are inserted into the table. This can help to prevent errors and maintain the integrity of the data in the table.
SQL Question 4: Analyzing Altria's Digital Marketing Click-Through Rates
Altria is a company that uses digital marketing heavily to promote its products. Therefore, they need to frequently analyze their ads' click-through rates to optimize marketing effectiveness.
Given the and tables below, write a SQL query to calculate the click-through rate for each ad per day.
:
| ad_id | launch_date | product_id |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | 06/01/2023 00:00:00 | 0001 |
| 102 | 06/01/2023 00:00:00 | 0002 |
| 103 | 06/02/2023 00:00:00 | 0003 |
:
| click_id | ad_id | click_timestamp | user_id |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5001 | 101 | 06/01/2023 01:00:00 | 1234 |
| 5002 | 101 | 06/01/2023 03:00:00 | 5678 |
| 5003 | 101 | 06/02/2023 13:00:00 | 1234 |
| 5004 | 102 | 06/01/2023 11:00:00 | 5678 |
| 5005 | 102 | 06/02/2023 14:00:00 | 1234 |
The click-through rate (CTR) is calculated as the number of unique clicks per ad divided by the number of unique views per ad, expressed as a percentage.
Answer:
This query joins the and tables on and computes the as the number of unique clicks per ad, divided by the number of unique views per ad, multiplied by 100 to represent as a percentage. The clause ensures we compare the clicks and views from the same day, while the clause ensures we calculate for each ad per day. The clause sorts the result by and .
To practice another question about calculating rates, solve this TikTok SQL question on DataLemur's online SQL code editor:
SQL Question 5: What's the operator do, and can you give an example?
The operator combines the results from multiple statements into a single result set.
Here's an example of using the operator to combine the results of two statements that retrieve data from tables of Altria's Facebook ads and their Google ads:
This statement would return a combined result set of both Facebook and Google ads that have a spend greater than $200. The result set would include the following columns: , , , , , and .
Note that the two statements within the must have the same number of columns and the columns must have similar data types. In this example, both statements have the same number of columns and the data types of the columns are all compatible.
SQL Question 6: Calculate the average monthly sales of each product
Altria Group is an American corporation that is one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and related products. Suppose you have been given a database that contains the sales data for Altria Group. The sales data is presented in a table titled and has the following structure:
Example Input:
| sale_id | product_name | sale_date | sale_price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marlboro | 2022-04-05 | 5.20 |
| 2 | Marlboro | 2022-04-07 | 5.20 |
| 3 | Marlboro | 2022-06-08 | 5.15 |
| 4 | Meritage | 2022-07-15 | 13.70 |
| 5 | Meritage | 2022-07-16 | 13.70 |
| 6 | Marlboro | 2022-08-12 | 5.25 |
| 7 | Marlboro | 2022-08-15 | 5.25 |
| 8 | Meritage | 2022-08-20 | 13.85 |
| 9 | Meritage | 2022-08-21 | 13.85 |
Your task is to write an SQL query that calculates the average monthly sales by product and returns this information in a table with three columns: , , and .
Answer:
By grouping by both and , we are able to calculate the average sale price for each product for every month. We've made use of PostgreSQL's function to extract the month component from the timestamp. The function is used to compute mean price, and the results are ordered first by month and then by product_name to enhance readability. Each of the resulting rows thus represent the average sale value of a given product for a particular month.
SQL Question 7: What are the differences between an inner and a full outer join?
An inner join only includes rows from both tables that satisfy the join condition, whereas a full outer join includes all rows from both tables, regardless of whether they match the join condition or not.
For example, suppose you had a table of Altria orders and Altria customers.
INNER JOIN: When there is a match in the shared key or keys, rows from both tables are retrieved. In this example, an between the Orders and Customers tables would retrieve rows where the in the Orders table matches the in the Customers table.
FULL OUTER JOIN: A retrieves all rows from both tables, regardless of whether there is a match in the shared key or keys. If there is no match, NULL values will be returned for the columns of the non-matching table.
SQL Question 8: Find Customers Based on City
You're a data analyst working for Altria, a giant multinational company with numerous customers across the world. Your task is to search the customer database and find all customers who reside in a city with 'York' in its title (like New York, York, Yorkton, etc). Keep in mind you should provide the whole record of these customers.
Example Input:
| customer_id | first_name | last_name | city | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2971 | John | Doe | johndoe@example.com | New York |
| 5023 | Sarah | Smith | sarahsmith@example.com | York |
| 3012 | Peter | Parker | peterparker@example.com | London |
| 8019 | Rachel | Green | rachelgreen@example.com | Yorkton |
Example Output:
| customer_id | first_name | last_name | city | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2971 | John | Doe | johndoe@example.com | New York |
| 5023 | Sarah | Smith | sarahsmith@example.com | York |
| 8019 | Rachel | Green | rachelgreen@example.com | Yorkton |
Answer:
This SQL query uses the operator in combination with the wildcard to search for all customers who live in a city containing the string 'York'. The symbol in SQL is used to represent zero, one or multiple characters. The result will be a table with the whole record of these customers.
SQL Question 9: Analyze Customer and Product Interaction
Altria maintains two tables for their customer records and product purchases. The first table, , contains customer details like their unique customer_id, name, and contact details. The second table, , logs , , , for every product purchase made by the customers.
Write a SQL query to analyze the customer database and join that table with the purchases table to find out which customer bought what product and when. Also, sort the results by and .
Sample Input:
| customer_id | name | contact_details |
|---|---|---|
| 1001 | John Doe | johndoe@example.com |
| 1002 | Jane Doe | janedoe@example.com |
| 1003 | Alice Smith | alicesmith@example.com |
| 1004 | Bob Smith | bobsmith@example.com |
| 1005 | Charlie Davidson | charliedavidson@example.com |
Sample Input:
| customer_id | product_id | purchase_date | units |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1001 | P01 | 2021-12-12 | 1 |
| 1002 | P02 | 2021-08-09 | 3 |
| 1005 | P03 | 2022-02-16 | 2 |
| 1004 | P01 | 2021-09-19 | 1 |
| 1003 | P01 | 2022-04-03 | 1 |
Answer:
This query joins the two tables on the column, returns names of customers along with the details of their purchases, and then sorts the results by and .
Because joins come up frequently during SQL interviews, practice this Snapchat SQL Interview question using JOINS:
Altria SQL Interview Tips
Assuming that you've already got basic SQL skills, the next best tip we have to prepare for the Altria SQL interview is to solve as many practice SQL interview questions as you can! Beyond just solving the earlier Altria SQL interview questions, you should also solve the 200+ DataLemur interview questions which come from companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and tech startups.
Each DataLemur SQL question has multiple hints, fully explained answers along with a discussion board to see how others solved it and most importantly, there is an interactive coding environment so you can instantly run your SQL query and have it graded.
To prep for the Altria SQL interview it is also wise to solve SQL problems from other food and facilities companies like:
In case your SQL foundations are weak, don't worry about diving straight into solving questions – refresh your SQL knowledge with this SQL tutorial for Data Analytics.
This tutorial covers things like grouping by multiple columns and filtering data with WHERE – both of which come up often in SQL job interviews at Altria.
Altria Group Data Science Interview Tips
What Do Altria Data Science Interviews Cover?
Beyond writing SQL queries, the other types of problems tested in the Altria Data Science Interview include:
- AB Testing Questions
- Python Pandas or R Coding Questions
- Product-Sense Questions
- ML Interview Questions
- Behavioral & Resume-Based Questions
How To Prepare for Altria Data Science Interviews?
To prepare for the Altria Data Science interview make sure you have a firm understanding of the company's culture and values – this will be key to acing the behavioral interview. For the technical Data Science interviews, get ready by reading Ace the Data Science Interview. The book's got:
- 201 Interview Questions from companies like Google, Tesla, & Goldman Sachs
- A Crash Course covering Product Analytics, SQL & ML
- Great Reviews (1000+ reviews, 4.5-star rating)