This article concerns real-time and knowledgeable Databricks Scenario-Based Questions 2025. It is drafted with the interview theme in mind to provide maximum support for your interview. Go through these Databricks Scenario-Based Questions 2025 to the end, as all scenarios have their importance and learning potential.
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Disclaimer:
These solutions are based on my experience and best effort. Actual results may vary depending on your setup. Codes may need some tweaking.
Question 1: How would you handle slow-performing ETL jobs caused by large joins in Databricks?
- I’d first analyze the join plan to check for data skew or shuffle bottlenecks.
- I’d prefer broadcast joins when one table is small enough to fit in memory.
- I’d also try sorting or bucketing to reduce shuffle overhead.
- Adaptive Query Execution (AQE) helps optimize joins dynamically at runtime.
- Trade-off: broadcast joins help speed, but risk out-of-memory if not controlled.
- In one project, repartitioning based on join keys reduced ETL job time by 60%.
Question 2: What’s your approach when schema evolution in Delta Lake breaks a downstream pipeline?
- I’d trace the issue to identify which column change or addition caused the break.
- I’d enable
mergeSchema
to allow safe evolution during writes. - For critical pipelines, I’d version schemas and validate in staging before prod.
- Risk is high if downstream consumers aren’t schema-flexible, like BI tools.
- Trade-off: too much flexibility may hide schema quality issues.
- We avoided major failure once by setting alerts for schema drift before merges.
Question 3: How do you manage batch and streaming workloads on the same Databricks cluster?
- I prefer separating critical streaming jobs from batch workloads using job clusters.
- If shared, I assign workload tags and use cluster pools to prioritize.
- Trade-off: isolated clusters add cost, but give stable SLAs.
- In one project, real-time dashboards were delayed due to unoptimized shared clusters.
- After moving streaming to its own cluster, latency dropped from 20s to 3s.
- I also cap cluster size per job type to avoid hogging compute.
Question 4: How would you identify and prevent unexpected cost spikes in a Databricks environment?
- I’d begin by checking for idle or long-running interactive clusters.
- I’d implement auto-termination and enforce cluster pool usage.
- Tagging clusters per team helps with cost attribution and accountability.
- Trade-off: aggressive auto-termination can kill active dev sessions.
- In our team, introducing 30-minute idle shutdown saved us $10K per quarter.
- I also set up cost dashboards using Databricks REST API and alerts.
Question 5: What’s your solution when you observe severe data skew slowing down job execution?
- I’d start with examining task runtimes to identify skewed partitions.
- I’d apply key salting or custom partitioning logic to distribute data better.
- Trade-off: salting complicates joins and post-processing logic.
- In one case, a single customer ID had 80% of data — salting cut job time by 5x.
- I also regularly monitor partition size histograms via Spark UI.
- Lesson: catch skew in dev, not prod — logs don’t lie.
Question 6: How do you prevent data corruption when multiple jobs update a Delta table simultaneously?
- I use Delta’s optimistic concurrency and enforce retries with exponential backoff.
- I avoid overlapping writes on the same keys or partitions.
- Trade-off: retries can increase latency or fail under high contention.
- We once avoided serious corruption by wrapping merges in retry-safe workflows.
- I also use orchestration tools like Jobs API to serialize critical operations.
- For high-throughput updates, I batch inserts and use ACID merge strategies.
Question 7: When would you recommend using the Photon engine over standard Databricks runtime?
- I’d suggest Photon for SQL-heavy analytics, especially large aggregations.
- It offers vectorized execution and better CPU efficiency.
- Trade-off: not all workloads benefit — UDFs or streaming don’t gain much.
- On one dashboard workload, Photon reduced runtime from 35 mins to 9 mins.
- I’d test Photon on a staging job first before adopting org-wide.
- Photon is ideal when CPU bottlenecks, not IO, are your main issue.
Question 8: How do you ensure secure and scalable data governance across workspaces?
- I’d use Unity Catalog to define centralized access controls and lineage tracking.
- Trade-off: requires early planning around metastore and schema structuring.
- We reduced data leak risk by switching from legacy ACLs to catalog-level permissions.
- I also automate permission audits via Terraform or Databricks APIs.
- One mistake to avoid: giving blanket schema-level access without field-level filters.
- Unity Catalog really shines in multi-tenant or regulated setups.
Question 9: What’s the best way to manage notebook collaboration in large teams?
- I always push for Git integration and PR-based notebook development.
- Trade-off: Git adds process overhead, but improves accountability.
- We established naming conventions and folder structures for smoother reviews.
- Version control helped rollback a faulty model that otherwise would’ve gone to prod.
- I also set up CI checks to lint notebooks for quality.
- Lesson: shared notebooks are great for ideation, but Git is a must for prod workflows.
Question 10: How do you deal with frequent out-of-memory (OOM) issues in Spark jobs?
- I look for broadcast joins and excessive caching — main culprits.
- I adjust shuffle partitions and limit caching to key stages.
- Trade-off: less caching means more recompute, but safer memory.
- We halved OOMs by partitioning based on data volume, not default settings.
- Also, I monitor “Spill” metrics in Spark UI to tune memory per executor.
- If needed, I downsample or work with test data slices first.
Question 11: What would you do if your Spark job keeps failing due to driver memory issues?
- I’d check if large collect or toPandas calls are overloading the driver.
- Trade-off: keeping data in driver is fast for debugging, but crashes with big volumes.
- We avoided this in one project by writing intermediate outputs to Delta instead.
- Also, I increase driver memory only after eliminating inefficient code patterns.
- Memory profiling tools like Ganglia or Spark UI help trace bloated operations.
- Lesson: driver is for coordination, not data crunching — keep it lean.
Question 12: How would you approach a scenario where data engineers and data scientists are clashing over notebook workflows?
- I’d push for clearer role-based environments — prod pipelines vs exploration.
- Git branches with dev/prod segregation help avoid conflict.
- Trade-off: data scientists want agility, engineers want control — balance is key.
- In one case, we created “experimentation clusters” with looser governance.
- Meanwhile, critical pipelines ran under stricter jobs framework.
- Communication + branching strategy = peaceful coexistence.
Question 13: How do you handle performance issues caused by over-caching in Databricks?
- I’d audit all
.cache()
and.persist()
calls to identify misuse. - Over-caching fills up memory and triggers disk spills or job retries.
- Trade-off: caching speeds up reuse, but not if it crashes the cluster.
- In one use case, removing unused cached DataFrames cut job duration by 40%.
- I set cache limits and educate devs on when caching is truly helpful.
- Always profile before caching — not all stages are worth it.
Question 14: What would you do if Delta table reads suddenly slow down in production?
- First, I’d check for file explosion or small file problems.
- I’d consider optimizing using
OPTIMIZE
with ZORDER on high-read columns. - Trade-off: optimize adds cost but drastically improves read latency.
- We once reduced report load time from 90s to 15s by ZORDERing on
customer_id
. - I also validate partition pruning is working as expected.
- Read patterns change — tables need periodic optimization tuning.
Question 15: How would you decide when to use Databricks SQL vs Spark notebooks?
- I use Databricks SQL for dashboards, BI reports, and analysts with SQL skills.
- Spark notebooks are better for complex ETL, ML, and dynamic workflows.
- Trade-off: SQL UI is fast but less flexible than programmatic notebooks.
- In one project, migrating static reporting to Databricks SQL reduced notebook sprawl.
- I also consider user type — SQL Analysts vs Engineers need different tools.
- Right tool = right user = cleaner platform.
Question 16: What if your Delta Lake merge operation keeps getting slower over time?
- I’d suspect growing data files and lack of vacuum or compaction.
- Trade-off: frequent merges without file management increases job time.
- I set up scheduled
OPTIMIZE
andVACUUM
to maintain table health. - One project improved merge speed by 3× after compaction routines.
- I also verify that merge keys are indexed or ZORDERed when needed.
- Delta performance isn’t just about logic — physical layout matters.
Question 17: How do you decide between using Auto Loader vs traditional file ingestion?
- I use Auto Loader when files land frequently and latency matters.
- For one-time or batch-heavy loads, traditional copy jobs work fine.
- Trade-off: Auto Loader is event-driven but adds orchestration overhead.
- In one retail use case, Auto Loader reduced data lag from 30 mins to under 5.
- It also handles schema evolution better for streaming sources.
- Pick Auto Loader when freshness = business value.
Question 18: What steps do you take when multiple teams dump data into the same Lakehouse zone?
- I enforce folder-level ownership and catalog access boundaries.
- I tag data by producer team and set Unity Catalog policies per zone.
- Trade-off: strong governance adds friction, but saves long-term chaos.
- We had a case where overlapping writes caused inconsistent KPIs.
- Since then, we moved to separate staging zones with CI triggers to prod.
- Shared lake is good, but rules are better.
Question 19: What are the risks of not cleaning up old checkpoint data in structured streaming?
- Checkpoint folders can grow endlessly, leading to slow restarts or failures.
- Trade-off: long retention aids recovery, but bloats metadata and storage.
- I set TTL policies or compact the metadata manually for long-running jobs.
- We once hit 500k files in a checkpoint folder — restart time was 15 mins.
- After cleaning up, latency dropped, and stability improved.
- Lesson: stream state isn’t forever — manage it like temp files.
Question 20: How would you troubleshoot a Databricks Job that intermittently fails with no clear error?
- I check for dependency drift — external libraries or data sources changing.
- I also inspect logs from multiple attempts to spot non-deterministic behavior.
- Trade-off: intermittent failures are hardest — you need multiple layers of logs.
- In one case, a flaky API call caused 1/10 job retries — fixed with retry logic.
- I add checkpointing and alerting to catch anomalies early.
- Consistency = observability + validation.
Question 21: What would you do if a Databricks cluster keeps hitting autoscaling limits and jobs still lag?
- I’d check whether autoscaling is actually hitting the right worker types or stuck.
- I’d assess if the job logic is inefficient, causing artificial pressure.
- Trade-off: scaling adds nodes, but bad code still drags everything.
- In one project, setting max workers wasn’t enough — we rewrote joins to cut resource load.
- I also review autoscaling logs and tweak job parallelism if needed.
- Scaling works only if jobs are scale-friendly.
Question 22: How do you handle a stakeholder asking for near real-time data from a daily batch pipeline?
- I evaluate latency need vs cost — is hourly mini-batch enough?
- Trade-off: full real-time is expensive and complex for some use cases.
- I often propose micro-batches using structured streaming with Auto Loader.
- In a fintech use case, switching to 15-min batch gave 90% benefit with 30% of cost.
- We added CDC flags and partial updates instead of full refreshes.
- Always question the “real-time” ask — it’s often negotiable.
Question 23: What if you notice that a Delta table has grown to millions of files?
- I’d first run
DESCRIBE DETAIL
to get file counts and table size. - I’d implement
OPTIMIZE
regularly to compact files and improve reads. - Trade-off: more frequent writes cause fragmentation, but delaying cleanup hurts performance.
- We ran into 2-minute query latency — after compaction, it dropped to 15s.
- File growth also bloats metadata; I monitor that separately.
- Delta is powerful, but file hygiene is key.
Question 24: How do you approach setting up a cost-efficient dev environment in Databricks?
- I use job clusters with auto-termination and smallest instance types.
- I avoid interactive clusters unless needed, and apply cluster policies.
- Trade-off: cheaper clusters mean longer startup or slower processing.
- One dev team overspent $5K/month until we enforced idle limits and tagging.
- I also disable photon and GPUs unless absolutely necessary in dev.
- Cost-efficiency starts with access boundaries.
Question 25: What are the risks of relying solely on Delta Time Travel for data recovery?
- Time Travel is great for short-term rollbacks but not a replacement for backups.
- Trade-off: it increases storage cost based on retention duration.
- In one case, a table had 30 days’ retention but rollback was needed for 45-day-old data.
- We now use versioned exports to cloud storage for long-term safety.
- I also educate teams: time travel ≠ archival strategy.
- Use it wisely, not blindly.
Question 26: How would you handle a team using too many different cluster configs across jobs?
- I’d analyze cluster usage patterns and group them by workload types.
- Then, I define reusable cluster policies with limits and defaults.
- Trade-off: some devs resist standardization — education is needed.
- We saw a 40% cost drop just by enforcing two cluster templates org-wide.
- I also review outlier clusters monthly and retire unused ones.
- Simplicity scales — chaos costs.
Question 27: What if multiple teams are running overlapping pipelines writing to the same Delta table?
- I introduce a governance layer using job orchestration and write isolation.
- Trade-off: isolation adds complexity, but prevents overwrite conflicts.
- In one setup, staggered write windows and merge conditions reduced collisions.
- I also use column-based merge filters to avoid whole-table contention.
- Versioning and lineage tracking via Unity Catalog help too.
- Delta isn’t transactional across writers — plan for that.
Question 28: How do you handle a situation where users complain about slow dashboard refreshes from Databricks?
- I check query plan for full table scans or missing ZORDER.
- I also ensure dashboard uses cached or pre-aggregated tables.
- Trade-off: pre-agg improves speed but adds ETL maintenance.
- One team saw refresh drop from 3 mins to 12 seconds using materialized views.
- I recommend not running heavy joins on live dashboards.
- Dashboards need pre-digested data, not raw Delta reads.
Question 29: How would you decide whether to use Unity Catalog or legacy Hive metastore?
- I use Unity Catalog for enterprise-grade governance and RBAC control.
- Trade-off: it needs cleaner structure upfront, but scales better.
- In regulated environments, Unity Catalog made audits and lineage trace much simpler.
- Hive metastore might be faster for simple dev setups, but lacks fine control.
- Once we migrated, cross-workspace data access was way easier.
- Unity is future-proof — Hive is legacy.
Question 30: What would you do if your streaming job keeps falling behind during peak loads?
- I look at processing rate vs input rate — that gap causes lag.
- I scale cluster or increase micro-batch interval to absorb spikes.
- Trade-off: larger batches reduce frequency but increase latency.
- In one case, switching from 1-sec to 10-sec batches stabilized processing.
- I also review schema inference, joins, and shuffles that slow down processing.
- Streams need constant tuning — not fire-and-forget.
Question 31: How do you handle a business team asking for instant rollback after a bad data update in Delta Lake?
- I use Delta’s time travel to rollback to a stable version instantly.
- Trade-off: rollback fixes data but won’t undo downstream effects like reports.
- In one incident, we restored a 2TB table to version N–1 within minutes.
- I also add data quality checks to avoid such rollbacks in the first place.
- Teams now validate in staging before touching prod.
- Time travel is fast — but prevention is faster.
Question 32: What would you do if a stakeholder insists on using Excel with Databricks tables?
- I recommend connecting Excel via Databricks SQL ODBC connector.
- Trade-off: it works well, but not ideal for large datasets or real-time refreshes.
- I also guide them on caching strategies to avoid heavy live queries.
- In one case, we moved Excel reports to Power BI for better governance.
- Educating stakeholders on limitations helps transition smoothly.
- Meet them where they are, then guide them forward.
Question 33: How do you manage inconsistent data definitions across different Databricks teams?
- I set up centralized metadata in Unity Catalog with standard naming conventions.
- Trade-off: enforcing standards takes effort, but prevents chaos later.
- We created a “data contract” model between producers and consumers.
- Weekly schema reviews helped align teams and prevent overlaps.
- I also lock down production schemas to prevent random changes.
- Shared language = smooth delivery.
Question 34: What steps do you take if one long-running notebook affects overall cluster stability?
- I first isolate it to its own job cluster if it’s resource-heavy.
- Trade-off: isolation improves stability but increases cost.
- I use cluster events to check memory leaks, retry patterns, or large shuffles.
- In one case, disabling auto-cache and adjusting partitioning fixed the issue.
- Long jobs need predictability — not shared runtime.
- One bad notebook shouldn’t break everyone.
Question 35: What if your ML model training job on Databricks becomes inconsistent in results?
- I check for randomness in data splits, feature transformations, or seed values.
- Trade-off: consistent training needs deterministic logic, which can slow tests.
- In one real case, inconsistent joins led to duplicate rows across model runs.
- I fixed it by enforcing unique keys and setting random seeds across all stages.
- Stable models = stable pipelines + stable data logic.
- Training must be repeatable — not guesswork.
Question 36: How do you troubleshoot a sudden spike in job failure rate in Databricks?
- I review cluster event logs, task failures, and dependency changes first.
- Trade-off: quick fixes may mask deeper problems — I go for root cause.
- We once traced failures to expired DB credentials used by JDBC connector.
- I added secrets rotation via key vault and set pre-check hooks.
- Automation helps, but alerting saves the day.
- Patterns in failures point to weak links.
Question 37: What would you do if table reads are working fine but writes are consistently slow?
- I check for small files accumulation, write amplification, or too many partitions.
- Trade-off: faster reads can mean fragmented writes.
- In one pipeline, switching to
coalesce()
before write improved job speed 3×. - I avoid dynamic partition overwrite unless absolutely needed.
- Good writers don’t just read fast — they write smart too.
- Tune writes like you tune reads.
Question 38: How do you handle a client pushing to migrate everything to Databricks in one go?
- I propose a phased migration — start with ETL or BI layer first.
- Trade-off: big bang = high risk; phased = stable, testable moves.
- One migration began with daily batch jobs → streaming → ML.
- We created compatibility layers to avoid downtime during transition.
- Migrations fail when rushed — success comes in chunks.
- Crawl → walk → run is the only way.
Question 39: How would you deal with a Databricks workspace that’s become unorganized and chaotic?
- I’d start with catalog and workspace audits to identify orphaned assets.
- Trade-off: cleanup takes time, but clutter kills productivity.
- We implemented workspace naming rules, archiving policies, and access tiers.
- In one cleanup, 400+ unused notebooks and 20 stale clusters were retired.
- Clean data zones = clean mindsets.
- Messy workspaces lead to messy decisions.
Question 40: What would you suggest if a pipeline constantly breaks due to external API rate limits?
- I’d implement rate-limiting logic with retries, backoffs, and failover fallbacks.
- Trade-off: retry adds latency, but prevents job failures.
- In one fintech case, calling an API 1000× in parallel caused consistent 429s.
- We grouped calls, added queueing, and reduced retries to only critical paths.
- External APIs don’t care about your SLA — plan around that.
- Respect the pipe, or it’ll choke you.
Question 41: How do you ensure data pipelines built on Databricks stay maintainable over time?
- I follow modular pipeline design using jobs, not hardcoded notebooks.
- Trade-off: more files to manage, but easier to update individual steps.
- In one enterprise setup, we split logic into bronze, silver, and gold jobs.
- We version each pipeline and run regression tests before promoting changes.
- Maintainable pipelines = predictable output + reusable logic.
- Future-proofing beats firefighting.
Question 42: What would you do if analysts complain about outdated or inconsistent datasets?
- I introduce data freshness SLAs and update monitoring in all pipelines.
- Trade-off: stricter SLAs need better infra and alerting.
- We once added a “last updated” column and dashboard to every gold table.
- I also educate analysts on upstream dependencies for better understanding.
- Transparency in data builds trust — not just freshness.
- What’s visible gets fixed.
Question 43: How do you handle a Databricks workspace used by both technical and non-technical users?
- I separate environments — technical users get full access; analysts get SQL endpoints.
- Trade-off: managing access roles adds overhead, but avoids accidents.
- Unity Catalog helps define clear permissions per group or persona.
- In one case, an analyst accidentally deleted a notebook in shared workspace — we learned fast.
- Tools are for people — make them safe to use.
- Access control is empowerment, not restriction.
Question 44: What if a job randomly fails on weekends but runs fine on weekdays?
- I look for environment variables, schedule-based data drops, or weekend API outages.
- Trade-off: weekend support often has blind spots.
- In one retail client setup, API tokens expired over weekends due to misaligned cron jobs.
- We fixed it with pre-run validation and health-checks.
- Weekend errors often point to lazy assumptions in logic.
- Schedule-aware design matters.
Question 45: How do you deal with a client requesting lineage tracking for every pipeline?
- I integrate Unity Catalog’s built-in lineage with external metadata trackers.
- Trade-off: detailed lineage adds overhead, but boosts trust and auditability.
- In one audit, lineage reports helped explain KPIs back to source columns.
- We also added metadata tags like owner, freshness, and sensitivity.
- If data flows matter — track it like code.
- What you can’t trace, you can’t trust.
Question 46: What would you do if your Delta table updates are too slow during peak business hours?
- I avoid running heavy merges or upserts in real-time hours.
- Trade-off: delaying updates ensures performance, but may add freshness lag.
- In one case, we moved updates to off-peak hours and pre-aggregated results.
- I also use change flags and partial updates instead of full table rewrites.
- Smart timing saves compute and improves user experience.
- Don’t compete with the business for compute.
Question 47: How would you manage platform-level changes without breaking running jobs?
- I document platform updates and communicate change windows in advance.
- Trade-off: controlled rollout takes time, but avoids chaos.
- We maintain a staging workspace to test changes like runtime upgrades.
- I also version dependencies using environment files or MLflow artifacts.
- Change control is part of maturity — not just process.
- Break less. Communicate more.
Question 48: What if your team has no visibility into job-level errors across projects?
- I set up centralized logging with Databricks jobs API + webhook alerts.
- Trade-off: centralization adds infra, but improves monitoring.
- One team built a shared “job dashboard” for error tracking and retry history.
- We tagged every job with owner, SLA, and purpose to filter fast.
- Visibility is step one in reliability.
- If it fails silently, it’ll fail forever.
Question 49: How do you plan for disaster recovery in a Databricks Lakehouse environment?
- I back up Delta tables externally using versioned exports to blob or S3.
- Trade-off: backups cost storage, but protect from corruption or loss.
- We test DR by simulating region outage and full table restore quarterly.
- I also version config files, notebooks, and catalog entries in Git.
- DR isn’t optional — it’s insurance.
- Plan for worst, deliver the best.
Question 50: How would you optimize Databricks jobs that work fine but take too long?
- I profile job execution stages using Spark UI to find bottlenecks.
- Trade-off: optimization can break working code if done blindly.
- In one job, replacing nested loops with broadcast joins saved 80% run time.
- I stagger workloads to avoid cluster saturation and enable AQE.
- “Working” is not the same as “efficient”.
- Never settle for “it runs”.
Question 51: How do you ensure consistent data quality across multiple Databricks pipelines?
- I embed validation rules and null checks in bronze layer pipelines.
- Trade-off: early validation slows ingestion, but saves debug time later.
- We created reusable validation modules for every ingestion source.
- I also track data quality metrics like completeness and uniqueness.
- One pipeline flagged 30% duplicate rows early using quality thresholds.
- Good data is built, not assumed.
Question 52: What would you do if your Delta merge jobs keep locking each other?
- I stagger job schedules and avoid overlapping merges on same table.
- Trade-off: sequencing delays freshness but ensures consistency.
- We switched to partition-level merge logic to reduce lock contention.
- Delta is atomic — not magic. You still need coordination.
- In one finance project, job serialization stopped daily lock timeouts.
- Time = locks. Control them.
Question 53: How do you help non-technical stakeholders understand the Lakehouse architecture?
- I use visual diagrams showing bronze-silver-gold flow with real examples.
- Trade-off: oversimplifying can miss important layers.
- I connect concepts to business needs — raw → curated → analytics.
- In one workshop, comparing Lakehouse to warehouse shelves clicked instantly.
- Stakeholders don’t need tech — they need clarity.
- Speak their language, not yours.
Question 54: What steps would you take when transitioning from a legacy Hadoop system to Databricks?
- I start with assessment: workloads, formats, access patterns, and SLAs.
- Trade-off: 1:1 migration is tempting but not ideal — rethink workflows.
- We moved from Hive to Delta, and custom MapReduce to Spark SQL/MLlib.
- I also replace schedulers with Databricks jobs or orchestration tools.
- Migration = transformation, not just porting.
- Leave legacy behind — don’t carry its weight.
Question 55: How would you handle excessive job retries that never actually fix the issue?
- I review logs to spot root cause — retries often mask deeper problems.
- Trade-off: too many retries cause delays and cloud costs.
- One case involved schema drift — retries didn’t help until fixed upstream.
- I cap retries and alert after a threshold breach.
- Retry is a patch, not a cure.
- If it fails thrice, fix it — don’t repeat it.
Question 56: What would you do if your organization starts scaling globally with multiple Databricks workspaces?
- I define a central governance model using Unity Catalog across regions.
- Trade-off: centralized control slows flexibility — balance is key.
- We mirror critical tables using read-only catalogs and automate replication.
- I also introduce naming and access conventions across workspaces.
- Global scaling needs global rules.
- Structure beats sprawl.
Question 57: How do you avoid overengineering simple data tasks in Databricks?
- I ask: is Spark needed or would a simple script do?
- Trade-off: Spark is powerful but overkill for small flat files.
- In one scenario, using dbutils to move a file replaced 80 lines of Spark code.
- I teach teams to think problem-first, not tool-first.
- Simplicity isn’t laziness — it’s wisdom.
- Don’t flex tech. Solve problems.
Question 58: What would you do if Databricks MLflow experiment tracking becomes cluttered?
- I introduce naming conventions and tag metadata per run.
- Trade-off: too many tags reduce clarity — choose wisely.
- We archive stale runs monthly and clean up unused models.
- One team had 1,200 models with no versioning — chaos until we set rules.
- Tracking needs discipline, not just tooling.
- Logs tell stories — make them readable.
Question 59: How do you handle a scenario where the client wants proof of Databricks ROI?
- I showcase before-after metrics: job runtime, cost savings, latency reduction.
- Trade-off: collecting ROI data needs planning from day one.
- In a telco project, we showed $120K/year savings post migration from on-prem Hadoop.
- I also quantify time saved in developer effort and pipeline failures.
- Data wins arguments — track everything.
- ROI isn’t assumed, it’s measured.
Question 60: What advice would you give to a team just starting with Databricks?
- Start small — pick one pipeline, one use case, and do it right.
- Avoid overloading with features — learn Delta, Spark, and jobs first.
- Build governance and naming habits early.
- Use notebooks for prototyping, but move to modular jobs quickly.
- Embrace community and document what you learn.
- Don’t aim to master it all — aim to master what matters.