Questions that were asked during my interview

  • Hi Friends,

    I had an interview last week and I was asked few questions "1.What is the difference between OLEDB and OLAP and OLTP ? " I was not able to give exact answer difference OLEDB and OLAP. "2. Difference between dimension and fact table ? " , "3. Difference between transaction option in SSIS b/w supported and required ? "

    Can any one please explain me what are they ?

  • For questions 2&3, I recommend you Google those and come back to the forum if you find answers you can't seem to grasp.

    Question 1 - either you took down the info incorrectly or it was a "trick" question that unfortunately you failed. Oltp and olap are four letter acronyms, which again if you Google them will give you vast volumes of description. Oledb is a driver technology, used for accessing data in a database ( ie part of the plumbing)

    Steve.

  • Sorry Steve...

    I was just telling the questions, I was asked. But I am really not having answer for the first and third question.

    1. Difference between OLEDB and OLAP....May be I was tricked like you said...:-)

    2. for the 3rd question he asked me "there are two containers contains two SQL tasks. One container is set to option required and other one to supported. When one task in each container fails, whether other task would roll back or not?"

    I told "both will roll back"

    and he siad "If both of them rolled back, then what is the difference between setting options to required and supported? "

    Steve, Could you please clarify me ?

  • prakashr.r7 (5/5/2014)


    1.What is the difference between OLEDB and OLAP and OLTP ?

    I suspect you either misheard or that was a trick question. OLEDB is something completely, totally different from OLAP and OLTP. Like asking "What's the difference between an airplane, an apple and an orange?"

    Regardless, a google search for each of the three acronyms will give you their definitions, from their definitions you can get the differences.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • I am very sure, that they asked me like that. Because , I asked them twice to make sure that I heard what exactly they asked.

    I told them the answer of What we do with OLEDB. And you know, a month ago, there was another interview, and this guy asked me diff b/w OLEDB and OLTP.

    I know that there are no differences, and they are totally different like you said but I was very confused since I was asked these questions in two interviews.

    Since then I started to think, "is there really any relation b/w OLEDB with OLAP and OLEDB and OLTP.....?? "

    So that's why I just came here so that you gurus will clarify me....

  • prakashr.r7 (5/5/2014)


    I am very sure, that they asked me like that. Because , I asked them twice to make sure that I heard what exactly they asked.

    I told them the answer of What we do with OLEDB. And you know, a month ago, there was another interview, and this guy asked me diff b/w OLEDB and OLTP.

    I know that there are no differences, and they are totally different like you said but I was very confused since I was asked these questions in two interviews.

    Since then I started to think, "is there really any relation b/w OLEDB with OLAP and OLEDB and OLTP.....?? "

    So that's why I just came here so that you gurus will clarify me....

    OLAP and OLTP are architectural designs of a database. The first is optimized for analytical queries, the second one for doing as much transactions as fast as possible. Hence their names...

    OLEDB is a type of provider used to connect to databases. It is something completely different. But it is possible that an ETL system that loads data into database (be it OLAP or OLTP) uses OLE DB connections.

    The answer to the transaction question is: it depends. The required one will roll back, the second one might roll back if its parent container has a transaction setting to Required. If not, it will not roll back.

    "If both of them rolled back, then what is the difference between setting options to required and supported? "

    --> depends on the settings of the parent container

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

  • Just some friendly advice: if you didn't know the answer to those questions, you might want to look for junior positions.

    You have some catching up to do.

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

  • Thank you for the answers and for the advise too..I take it for sure.

    Koen, I have told them the answers. The answers I told them are not exactly like you told but some how I managed to tell them correctly. But they were starring at me like I was wrong. So I got to doubt myself. So that's why I posted these questions in here to clarify myself. And more over I got selected for the position. 🙂

    I really thank and appreciate you for your time that you took to reply my questions (stupid, may be :crazy:)

  • Congrats!! Spotting the trick questions may have grabbed that job for you as another candidate that really didn't know might have started down some path of mumbo jumbo in order to equate OLE DB with OLAP.

    Best of luck in new job!!

  • Thanks Herald...It was ma luck that I also did not try to relate it...:-)

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply