OpenAI
Leading AI research laboratory developing state-of-the-art foundation models like GPT-4.
5 Rounds
~21 Days
Very Hard
The Interview Loop
Recruiter Screen (30 min)
Standard fit check, behavioral questions, and resume overview.
Technical Loop (3-4 Rounds)
Deep dive into domain knowledge, coding, and system design.
Interview Question Bank
Data Engineer
•
Technical
•
hard
Explain how you would handle an OutOfMemory (OOM) error in a Spark job processing a highly skewed dataset.
#Apache Spark
#OOM
#Data Skew
#Performance Tuning
Data Engineer
•
Technical
•
medium
Compare and contrast Apache Spark and Ray. When would you choose Ray over Spark for data processing at OpenAI?
#Apache Spark
#Ray
#Architecture
#Machine Learning
Data Engineer
•
Technical
•
hard
How do you ensure exactly-once processing semantics in a Kafka to Spark Streaming pipeline?
#Kafka
#Spark Streaming
#Exactly-Once
#Checkpoints
Data Engineer
•
Technical
•
medium
Explain how Broadcast Joins work in Spark and when they should be avoided.
#Apache Spark
#Joins
#Optimization
Difficulty Radar
Based on recent AI-sourced data.
Meet Your Interviewers
The "Standard" Interviewer
Senior EngineerFocuses on core competencies, system constraints, and clear communication.
SimulateUnwritten Rules
Think Out Loud
Always explain your thought process before writing code or drawing architecture.