SQL Quest › SQL Interview Prep › Microsoft
This page is about SQL in Microsoft's data scientist and analyst interviews — joins, aggregation, window functions and "customers who bought from every category" — not SQL Server administration questions.
16 practice challenges · 4 Easy / 7 Medium / 5 Hard · 12 play free · runs in the browser
Microsoft does not publish the format. Each row is what candidates and prep guides have described publicly, with its source; where sources disagree, the row says so. Formats change — treat every specific as reported, not official.
| Roles | Data Analyst, Data Scientist and BI roles; SQL is described as almost always tested.[2] |
|---|---|
| Data science stages | A recruiter screen of about 30 minutes, a 45-minute technical screen (SQL, statistics, ML fundamentals), then a final loop of four or five rounds of 45–60 minutes in one day.[1] |
| Online assessment | Sources disagree. One guide describes a data science assessment on CodeSignal; another describes live coding only, with no online assessment. We could not confirm either.[3][1] |
| What the loop weighs | A dedicated coding round (SQL and/or Python) sits beside ML, experimentation, a business case and behavioural rounds.[1] |
Sources: Exponent — Microsoft Data Scientist interview guide (by Microsoft candidates) (updated mid-2026); DataLemur — Microsoft SQL interview questions and data science guide (8 May 2025); DataLemur — Microsoft data science interview guide (8 May 2025); DataLemur — supercloud customer question (undated); StrataScratch — Microsoft SQL interview questions (30 Oct 2023). Accessed 13 Sep 2026.
Reported most often, in order
Difficulty: Mostly medium, with easy filter and concept questions mixed in. The data is product purchases and cloud product categories, app downloads by paying vs free accounts, and messaging activity.
Our Microsoft practice set, by skill
The 16 SQL Quest challenges tagged Microsoft, resolved onto the nine Skillmap skills. A challenge exercises several skills, so shares do not sum to 100%. This is the composition of the practice set on this page, not a measurement of Microsoft’s interview.
Shapes candidates and guides report (paraphrased)
Practise now — SQL Quest challenges matched to those patterns
Our challenges, chosen because their SQL matches the shapes above; not questions Microsoft has asked. Each card opens the challenge in the browser — no signup.
Skillmap
Ten questions, no signup. You get a readiness score weighted to the SQL this page covers, your Skillmap across joins, window functions, aggregation and the rest, and the weakest skill to practise first.
Drill the skills the Microsoft set leans on, one at a time: GROUP BY exercises · CTE practice · CASE WHEN practice · JOIN practice · Window function practice — or browse every SQL practice question.
Every question in the Microsoft set, one page each with the schema and a hint: Your First JOIN · Membership Display Labels · Monthly Order Count · Give a Query a Name (WITH) · Pivot: Order Status by Country · Membership Tier Revenue Analysis · Your First CTE (WITH Clause) · Window Functions: ROW_NUMBER · Conditional Counting with CASE · Multi-Month Active Customers · Active Spender Cohort (HAVING) · Salary Rank Within Department · Correlated Subquery: Employees Above Department Median · Revenue Share by Category (Window %) · Customers with Orders in ALL Categories · Order Funnel Conversion.
No signup, no card. Start with the free challenges in the set; the Skillmap shows what to fix before the interview.
Start the Microsoft set — free