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Nth Highest Salary per Department
Write a SQL query to find the top 3 earners in each department. Return department, name, salary, and dept_rank (rank within the department, using DENSE_RANK so ties don't create gaps). Order by department ascending, then dept_rank ascending, then name ascending.
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Schema
employees
| emp_id | name | department | position | salary | hire_date | manager_id | performance_rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alice Johnson | Engineering | Senior Developer | 95000 | 2019-03-15 | 5 | 4.5 |
| 2 | Bob Smith | Engineering | Developer | 75000 | 2020-06-01 | 1 | 3.8 |
| 3 | Carol Williams | Marketing | Marketing Manager | 85000 | 2018-09-20 | NULL | 4.2 |
Expected output: Top 3 paid employees per department
Hint
Concepts
SELECT Subquery Window Functions WHERE Window Function
Practise the topic: SQL practice questions · CTE practice · Window function practice · Ranking function practice · Advanced SQL interview questions
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