9 Rapid7 SQL Interview Questions (Updated 2024)
At Rapid7, SQL is used often for analyzing security data trends and managing client's vulnerability information. For this reason Rapid7 LOVES to ask SQL query questions during interviews for Data Science and Data Engineering positions.
As such, to help you ace the Rapid7 SQL interview, we've collected 9 Rapid7 SQL interview questions – can you solve them?
9 Rapid7 SQL Interview Questions
SQL Question 1: Identify Top Customers for Rapid7's Solutions
Rapid7 is a cybersecurity company providing advanced technology solutions. Some of their products include InsightVM, InsightIDR, InsightAppSec, and DivvyCloud. In the customer database, each customer activity with any of the products is logged. The importance of a customer (which makes them a 'power' or 'VIP' user) in the context of Rapid7 is often based on the frequency of their system scans (for vulnerabilities or intrusions for example) as this shows a high level of engagement.
Write a SQL query to identify the customers who have conducted more than 50 system scans in the last month.
The tables you have access to are:
| customer_id | name |
|---|---|
| 1 | ABC Corp |
| 2 | DEF Inc |
| 3 | XYZ Ltd |
| product_id | product_name |
|---|---|
| 1 | InsightVM |
| 2 | InsightIDR |
| 3 | InsightAppSec |
| 4 | DivvyCloud |
| activity_id | customer_id | product_id | scan_date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1001 | 1 | 1 | 2022-08-01 00:00:00 |
| 1002 | 1 | 4 | 2022-08-02 00:00:00 |
| 1003 | 2 | 3 | 2022-08-03 00:00:00 |
The columns of these tables are as follows:
- : unique identifier for each customer
- : The Name of the customer
- : unique identifier for each product
- : The name of the product
- : unique identifier for each customer activity
- : the date and time of the scan
Answer:
The above SQL query joins the and tables using the field. This allows us to count the number of scans ( instances in the table) for each customer in the current month. Only customers who conducted more than 50 scans are included in the results and they are ordered in descending order of the number of scans.
To practice a similar VIP customer analysis question on DataLemur's free interactive SQL code editor, try this Microsoft SQL Interview problem:
SQL Question 2: Analyze product utility
Given a table of system logs that Rapid7 collects. Each row in the table represents a system log related to a specific product. For each product, you're supposed to find out the product usage frequency over a span of time (in a month). Write a SQL query that will find the top three most frequently used products in each month.
The table has the following structure:
Example Input:
| log_id | product_id | log_time |
|---|---|---|
| 1001 | P101 | 2021-06-05 10:15:02 |
| 1002 | P102 | 2021-06-10 15:25:30 |
| 1003 | P101 | 2021-06-15 12:55:44 |
| 1004 | P102 | 2021-07-05 09:08:36 |
| 1005 | P101 | 2021-07-10 14:17:52 |
| 1006 | P102 | 2021-07-15 08:27:45 |
| 1007 | P103 | 2021-07-20 10:15:30 |
| 1008 | P103 | 2021-07-25 12:05:22 |
| 1009 | P101 | 2021-07-30 18:25:36 |
Expected Output:
| month | product | frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | P101 | 2 |
| 6 | P102 | 1 |
| 7 | P101 | 2 |
| 7 | P102 | 2 |
| 7 | P103 | 2 |
Answer:
Your PostgreSQL query can be written as follows:
This SQL query uses the aggregate function to find out the frequency of product logs by month from the table. We reordered the output with clause by month and the frequency in descending order which shows the most frequently used products first.
To solve a similar window function question on DataLemur's free interactive coding environment, try this Google SQL Interview Question:
SQL Question 3: What are the similarities and differences between a clustered and non-clustered index?
Clustered and non-clustered indexes are both used to improve query performance, but they differ in how they are implemented.
A clustered index determines the physical order of the data rows in a table, while a non-clustered index does not. As a result, a table can have only one clustered index, but it can have multiple non-clustered indexes.
In terms of query efficiency & performance, a clustered index is generally faster for SELECT queries (reads) but updates (writes) to a clustered index are slower, as they require the data rows to be physically rearranged.
SQL Question 4: Filtering Customer Database
You are working for Rapid7, a cybersecurity company that offers numerous products to a wide range of customers. The company maintains a database that contains a customers' table.
This customers' table contains several columns including , , , and . The product can be either 'InsightIDR', 'InsightVM', 'InsightAppSec', 'DivvyCloud', or 'Komand'. The license_type can be either 'Trial' or 'Paid'. The region can be 'North America', 'Europe', 'Asia-Pacific', 'Latin America', or 'Middle East Africa'.
Your task is to write a SQL query to filter out all the customers in North America who are using a trial license of either the 'InsightIDR' or 'InsightVM' products and purchased it after '2019-01-01'.
Example Input:
| customer_id | product_purchased | license_type | purchase_date | region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InsightIDR | Trial | 2020-03-15 | North America |
| 2 | InsightVM | Paid | 2019-05-18 | Europe |
| 3 | InsightAppSec | Trial | 2021-06-11 | North America |
| 4 | InsightIDR | Paid | 2020-09-05 | Asia-Pacific |
| 5 | InsightVM | Trial | 2019-02-15 | North America |
Example Output:
| customer_id | product_purchased | license_type | purchase_date | region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InsightIDR | Trial | 2020-03-15 | North America |
| 5 | InsightVM | Trial | 2019-02-15 | North America |
Answer:
This query filters the customers table based on multiple boolean conditions. The WHERE clause filters records where is 'North America', is 'Trial', is either 'InsightIDR' or 'InsightVM' and is after '2019-01-01'. The AND operator between each condition ensures that all conditions must be satisfied.
SQL Question 5: Give a few ways in SQL that you can identify duplicate records in a table?
"One creative way is to use the window function ROW_NUMBER() and partition by whichver columns you are loooking for duplicates in. If any row has a row_number() more than 1, then it's a duplicate!
You could also use COUNT(DISTINCT col1) vs. COUNT(*) and see if they return different numbers, indicating the prescence of duplicates!
SQL Question 6: Average Monthly Vulnerabilities Detected
Rapid7 is a cybersecurity company, one of their main product is InsightIDR, a security information and event management system. Suppose you have client data and vulnerability detection data from this system. The client data includes the client id, the plan they are subscribed to and the region they are located in. The vulnerability data includes the client id, detection timestamp and the severity of the vulnerability. Write an SQL query that determines the average number of 'high' severity vulnerabilities detected per client each month in the 'USA' region.
Example Input:
| client_id | plan | region |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | Basic | USA |
| 102 | Premium | EU |
| 103 | Premium | USA |
Example Input:
| detect_id | client_id | detect_time | severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101 | 06/08/2022 00:00:00 | high |
| 2 | 101 | 06/10/2022 00:00:00 | low |
| 3 | 102 | 06/18/2022 00:00:00 | high |
| 4 | 102 | 07/26/2022 00:00:00 | medium |
| 5 | 103 | 07/26/2022 00:00:00 | high |
| 6 | 103 | 07/27/2022 00:00:00 | high |
Example Output:
| mth | client_id | avg_high_severity |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 101 | 1 |
| 7 | 103 | 2 |
Answer:
This query first joins the 'clients' and 'vulnerabilities' tables on the 'client_id' field. It then uses a conditional CASE statement within the AVG function to only count rows where the severity is 'high'. The result is grouped by month and client.
SQL Question 7: What are the various forms of normalization?
Normal forms are guidelines that are used to help design a relational database in a way that minimizes redundancy and ensures the integrity of the data. The 3 most commonly use normal forms are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd normal forms. Here's a brief explanation of each:
-
1st Normal Form (1NF) is all about keeping it simple - each column should only have one value and there should be no repeating groups of data.
-
2nd Normal Form (2NF) is about organization - your database should already be in 1NF and all the non-key columns should depend on the primary key. This means that each non-key column should be completely dependent on the entire primary key, not just part of it.
-
3rd Normal Form (3NF) is about independence - if your database is already in 2NF, then all the non-key columns should not depend on each other. They should be self-sufficient and not rely on other non-key columns.
SQL Question 8: Find Customer Records Matching Specific Geographic Area
Rapid7 is global cybersecurity company that provides organizations with visibility, analytics, and automation. It is important for the company to track its customer base across various regions. For this task, your job is to filter customer records and find customers whose location contain the term 'America'.
For simplicity, we will use the table which includes all necessary information:
Example Input:
| customer_id | first_name | last_name | location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1275 | Molly | Brown | mbrown@email.com | North America |
| 5690 | John | Doe | jdoe@email.com | West Europe |
| 2563 | Daniel | Smith | dsmith@email.com | North America |
| 7187 | Samantha | Johnson | johnson@email.com | South America |
| 3256 | James | Williams | williams@email.com | Asia |
Your task is to return a table with the , , , and of each customer located in a region containing the term 'America'.
Example Output:
| customer_id | first_name | last_name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1275 | Molly | Brown | mbrown@email.com |
| 2563 | Daniel | Smith | dsmith@email.com |
| 7187 | Samantha | Johnson | johnson@email.com |
Answer:
The following query uses the clause in SQL to filter customers whose location contains the term 'America':
This query scans the column in the table and uses '%' as a wildcard to match any string of characters before or after 'America'. If a match is found, it returns that customer's , , , and .
SQL Question 9: Analyze Customers' Product Purchase Behavior
Given two tables, and , you are asked to write a SQL query to find out the number of unique products each customer has bought so far and the average cost of those products.
The table has columns: (unique identifier for customers), (name of the customer), and (registration date).
The table has columns: (unique identifier for each purchase), (identifies which customer made the purchase), (identifies which product was purchased), and (cost of the purchased product).
Sample tables are provided below:
Example Input:
| customer_id | customer_name | signup_date |
|---|---|---|
| 1001 | John | 01/05/2018 |
| 2002 | Lucy | 12/18/2017 |
| 3003 | Sam | 07/22/2019 |
| 4004 | Emma | 03/14/2020 |
Example Input:
| purchase_id | customer_id | product_id | product_cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9782 | 1001 | 4501 | 15.50 |
| 6458 | 2002 | 3202 | 20.00 |
| 3091 | 3003 | 8809 | 30.00 |
| 9254 | 1001 | 7527 | 25.50 |
| 4873 | 1001 | 3202 | 20.00 |
Answer:
This query joins the and tables on the field. It then groups the joined table by and calculates two aggregate measures: the number of unique products each customer has bought () and the average cost of those products (). The result will give us a clear picture of each customer's product purchase behavior.
Since join questions come up so often during SQL interviews, try this Snapchat Join SQL question:
Preparing For The Rapid7 SQL Interview
The best way to prepare for a Rapid7 SQL interview is to practice, practice, practice.
In addition to solving the above Rapid7 SQL interview questions, you should also solve the 200+ SQL exercises on DataLemur which come from companies like Facebook, Google and unicorn tech startups.
Each exercise has hints to guide you, step-by-step solutions and best of all, there's an online SQL code editor so you can right in the browser run your SQL query answer and have it graded.
To prep for the Rapid7 SQL interview it is also useful to solve interview questions from other tech companies like:
But if your SQL query skills are weak, don't worry about jumping right into solving questions – improve your SQL foundations with this DataLemur SQL tutorial.
This tutorial covers SQL concepts such as filtering groups with HAVING and CASE/WHEN/ELSE statements – both of these pop up routinely in SQL job interviews at Rapid7.
Rapid7 Data Science Interview Tips
What Do Rapid7 Data Science Interviews Cover?
In addition to SQL interview questions, the other topics to prepare for the Rapid7 Data Science Interview are:
- Statistics and AB Testing Questions
- Python or R Coding Questions
- Business Sense and Product-Sense Questions
- ML Modelling Questions
- Resume-Based Behavioral Questions
How To Prepare for Rapid7 Data Science Interviews?
The best way to prepare for Rapid7 Data Science interviews is by reading Ace the Data Science Interview. The book's got:
- 201 Interview Questions from FAANG, tech startups, and Wall Street
- A Crash Course covering SQL, Product-Sense & ML
- Amazing Reviews (900+ 5-star reviews on Amazon)