# Sort the employee tuples by department ascending, then by salary descending within each department

Canonical URL: <https://datadriven.io/problems/sort-the-employee-tuples-by-department-ascending-then-by-sa-8bde8dc2>

Domain: Python · Difficulty: medium

## Problem

Sort the employee tuples by department ascending, then by salary descending within each department. Use a tuple key with negation for mixed sort directions. Print each employee as "dept - name: salary" on separate lines.

## Related

- [All practice problems](https://datadriven.io/problems)
- [Mock interview mode](https://datadriven.io/interview/sort-the-employee-tuples-by-department-ascending-then-by-sa-8bde8dc2)
- [Python Interview Questions](https://datadriven.io/python-interview-questions)
- [Data Engineering Interview Prep Guide](https://datadriven.io/data-engineer-interview-prep)
- [Daily Challenge](https://datadriven.io/daily)

---

Source: DataDriven (https://datadriven.io). 100% free data engineering interview prep. Live code execution against Postgres 16, Python 3.11, and Spark sandboxes. No paywall, no premium tier, no signup gate.