Data Architecture Skills Test to evaluate candidates proficient in data architecture engineering

The Data Architecture Online Skills Test has been designed by Mercer | Mettl’s subject matter experts (SME) to assess the candidate's knowledge of data architecture. It helps recruiters and hiring managers screen candidates with excellent data governance, data lineage, and data modelling skills. 

What is data architecture?

Data architecture includes managing data, encompassing its collection, transformation, distribution, and consumption. It establishes the blueprint for data flow within storage systems, serving as a foundation for data processing operations and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. 

Responsibilities of a data architect

Data architects play a crucial role within an organization. Their responsibilities include developing and implementing an organizational data strategy, identifying data sources, collaborating with cross-functional teams, managing the data architecture process, planning and executing big data solutions, defining data flow, integrating technical functionality, and conducting continuous audits. Overall, the data architect drives the development and implementation of the organizational data strategy and ensures efficient and secure data management and integration. 

What is inside this Data Architecture Skills Test?

The Data Architecture Test consists of thirty multiple-choice questions with a time limit of thirty minutes. There are twenty-three questions with intermediate and seven with higher difficulty levels. 

What skills does this Data Architecture Assessment cover?

• Data architect: This competency comprises sub-skills such as enterprise and technical architecture.

• Data governance: This competency refers to understanding the legal and ethical considerations surrounding data, staying current with evolving regulations, and translating these requirements into actionable governance frameworks.  

• Big data: This competency includes the following sub-skills- Apache Spark, Big Data - General and Fundamental Concepts, Hadoop, Big Data - Data Mining and Hadoop - Architecture. 

What roles can you assess using the Data Architecture Skills Assessment?  

• Data architects: They define an organization's data vision and implement it.  
• Project managers: They oversee projects associated with the planning and building of data architecture.  
• Cloud architects: They employ company data in a cloud environment for optimal performance.  
• Security architects: They design and employ safeguards to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.  
• Machine learning architects: They design scalable systems with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) models. 

Sample questions for the Data Architecture Online Skills Test

1. What’s the difference between a third normal form (3NF) model and a dimensional model? 

A dimensional model is optimized for querying, and readability is typically used in data warehousing. On the other hand, a 3NF model is designed to eliminate data redundancy. 

2. What is the difference between OLTP and OLAP, and where does one use them?  

OLTP systems are used for transactional and everyday operations. On the contrary, OLAP systems are optimized for analytical querying and used in business intelligence applications.  

3. What elements must be considered when creating a data warehouse architecture?  

Data volume, data variety, data velocity, data latency, scalability, performance, security, and integration needs are a few considerations when creating a data warehouse architecture.  

4. How would you create a data architecture for a platform for real-time analytics?  

Choosing the right data streaming technologies, creating event-driven data processing pipelines, and guaranteeing low-latency data intake and analytics capabilities are required to make a data architecture for a platform for real-time analytics.  

5. What function does data governance serve inside the data architecture?  

Data governance guarantees that data assets are appropriately managed, arranged, and used. It involves establishing data standards, developing policies, and enforcing data security and quality controls.  

6. What distinguishes a conceptual data model from a physical data model?  

While a physical data model describes the database design, tables, columns, and constraints, a conceptual data model represents high-level business concepts and their connections.  

7. What is a data mesh, and how does it affect data architecture?  

Data mesh is an architectural strategy that transfers data ownership and access to specific organizational domains. It encourages self-serve data capabilities and decentralized data management.  

8. What is snowflake schema?  

A snowflake schema implies a normalized form of a star schema in a data warehouse that minimizes data redundancy but can be more complex to query.  

9. How can data accessibility be ensured in a data architecture?  

Implementing suitable data access restrictions, providing user-friendly interfaces and APIs, optimizing data retrieval techniques, and ensuring data availability can help ensure data accessibility.  

10. Could you define data streaming and its function in real-time data processing?  

Data streaming is the real-time processing and analysis of continuous streams of data. It makes it possible to perform real-time analytics, process events, and react quickly to changing data.