Aetna Data Engineer Interview Guide

The Aetna data engineer loop, round by round: what each stage tests, example questions with the guidance interviewers actually score, the mistakes that sink strong candidates, and how to prepare.

Last updated: Proudly published by: Jeff Wahl

What the Aetna loop tests: domains and difficulty

Our prediction of the question mix by domain and difficulty for this company's data engineer loop, from live listings and interview reports.

By domain
SQL
20%
2
Python
80%
8
By difficulty
Easy
70%
7
Medium
10%
1
Hard
20%
2

The domain and difficulty mix we predict for a Aetna data engineer loop, across 10 problems. It updates as more Aetna data lands.

Updated 10 predicted Aetna problems

2 real Aetna interview questions

Reported by candidates from real loops, tagged by domain, round, level, and year. Expand for what the round is scoring.

SQLL5
sql coding questions
Technical · screen
+
PythonL5 · 2017
Data Structures questions on Arrays
Phone screen · screen sql
+

How candidates rate the Aetna loop

How hard candidates rated the loop and how they felt, summarized across the reports below.

How hard candidates rated it
Easy
20%
Medium
70%
Hard
10%

10 rated reports

How candidates felt
Positive
50%
Neutral
20%
Negative
30%

10 rated Aetna reports

Try a Aetna-style SQL round

Find every user active on 3 or more CONSECUTIVE days. This gaps-and-islands shape shows up in nearly every DE SQL round. Edit the query and run it against the seed data.

/* Users active on 3+ consecutive days. */
/* Hint: date minus a per-user ROW_NUMBER is constant within a streak. */
WITH streaks AS (
SELECT
user_id,
activity_date,
activity_date - CAST(
(ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
PARTITION BY user_id
ORDER BY activity_date
))
AS INT
) AS grp
FROM user_sessions
)
SELECT
user_id
FROM streaks
GROUP BY user_id, grp
HAVING COUNT(*) >= 3

Practice the Aetna loop

The problems our model expects in this company's interview, grouped by round. Work the shapes that come up, not the ones that read well on a list.

Aetna is hiring data engineers now

The roles behind this loop. Prep against the levels and locations they are actually filling.

Aetna
Hiring now
Aetna data engineer · live from career pages
78
open roles
Aetna

Build and optimize real-time data pipelines using Kafka, CDC, and streaming frameworks

L5Multiple locations31d ago
Aetna

Data Engineer to analyze data engineering problems and develop, build and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L5Irving31d ago
Aetna

Contributing to large-scale applications development, data science, or data analytics projects

L4Woonsocket38d ago
Aetna

Creation of SQL queries and procedures to extract data based on business requirements

L4Irving38d ago
Aetna

Data Engineer to analyze data engineering problems and develop, build, and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines, and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L5Irving38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Aetna Resources, LLC, a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Hartford, CT: Data Engineer to develop, build, and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines, and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L4Hartford38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Aetna Resources LLC, a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Irving, TX: Data Engineer to develop, build and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L4Irving38d ago
Aetna

Data Engineer to Design, build, and manage large-scale data pipelines and backend services to support analytics, machine learning and AI platform initiatives.

L5Woonsocket38d ago
Aetna

Data Engineer to design, build and manage large scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/LoadfTransform (ETL) workflows to support business applications.

L5Woonsocket38d ago
Aetna

Data structures and pipelines to organize, collect and standardize data to generate insights and addresses reporting needs; write ETL (Extract/Transform/Load) processes, design database

L6Woonsocket38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Aetna Resources LLC, a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Blue Bell, PA: Staff Data Engineer to Develop, build and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L6Blue Bell38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Caremark LLC., a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Alpharetta, GA: Staff Data Engineer to develop, build, and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines, and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L6Alpharetta38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Caremark LLC, a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Irving, TX: Staff Data Engineer to design, build and manage large scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to support business applications.

L6Irving38d ago
Aetna

Position Summary: Caremark LLC, a CVS Health company, is hiring for the following role in Irving, TX: Staff Data Engineer to develop, build and manage large-scale data structures, pipelines and efficient Extract/Load/Transform (ETL) workflows to address complex problems and support business applications.

L6Irving38d ago
Where they hire
New York
4
Chicago
2
Levels hiring
L44L55L65
Updated 78 open listings across 2 cities

Aetna compensation and culture

The numbers, tech stack, and team structure live on the company overview.

Compare Aetna with other data engineering employers

How the role, pay, and loop stack up against peer companies.

02 / Why practice

Prepare at Aetna interview difficulty

  1. 01

    Reading a solution is not the same as writing one

    Every engineer who has frozen on a query they had read a dozen times knows the gap. The only preparation that closes it is producing the answer yourself, under time, before the interview does it for you

  2. 02

    76% of hiring managers reject on the coding task, not the resume

    From HackerRank's 2024 Developer Skills Report. Candidates who look strong on paper still fail the live screen if they haven't done timed, executable practice

  3. 03

    5 problem shapes cover 80% of data engineer loops

    Dedup, sessionization, top-N-per-group, slowly-changing dimensions, partition tricks. Writing the shapes by hand turns the unfamiliar into pattern recognition

Related Guides