Level up your interview game with real-world scenarios!
Instead of: "Indexes make queries faster"
Say: "Indexes speed up reads but slow down writes—it's a trade-off we evaluate based on our workload"
Instead of: "Always use 3NF"
Say: "I normalize to 3NF for OLTP systems, but consider strategic denormalization for read-heavy analytics"
Instead of: "Triggers are good/bad"
Say: "Triggers are powerful for audit trails and enforcing complex business rules, but I document them thoroughly since they can hide business logic"
Instead of: "Data warehouses store data"
Say: "We separate OLTP for transactions from OLAP for analytics to optimize each for their specific workload patterns"
Instead of: "ACID means... um... atomic something?"
Say: "Atomicity ensures all-or-nothing, Consistency maintains valid states, Isolation prevents interference, and Durability makes commits permanent—critical for financial transactions"
Remember: Interviewers aren't looking for textbook answers. They want to see you understand trade-offs, can explain complex concepts simply, and have actually thought about these decisions.
When in doubt, mention a real scenario: "In my last project, we faced this exact challenge when..."
You've got this! 🚀