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Informatica is a software development company that owns the eponymous ETL tool Informatica. Needless to say, you need full proficiency in the Informatica ETL tool if you are looking to make a career at this company. You also need to be thoroughly prepared with common Informatica interview questions to be able to crack their interview process.
Informatica tool is one of the most popular tools in the data warehousing sector. Having a software engineering career at Informatica means that you get to work with a wide range of enterprise data integration and cloud data management solutions.
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In this article, we will look at the sample interview questions that you can expect at Informatica’s tech interview. Here’s what we will cover in this guide:
- Informatica interview questions and answers
- Practice Informatica interviews questions for freshers
- Informatica interview questions and answers for experienced professionals
- Practice Informatica interviews questions for experienced professionals
- Frequently Asked Questions on Informatica
Informatica Interview Questions and Answers
To start off, here are some generic interview questions you can expect at Informatica, along with sample answers:
1. What are the different tools in the workflow manager?
These are the different tools in workflow manager:
- Task Designer
- Worklet Designer
- Workflow Designer
2. Define Workflow.
Workflow is the manner in which the task should be implemented. In other words, it is a collection of instructions that let the server know how to implement the task.
3. What is the target load order?
This is a common Informatica interview question. Here’s how you can answer it:
Target load order is defined as the basis of source qualifiers in a mapping. If there are multifold source qualifiers linked to different targets, any one of them can decide the manner in which the Informatica server will load the data in the target.
4. What are the different Caches in lookup transformation?
On the basis of designs done at the query change/Session Property level:
- Un-stored query: where the query change doesn't make the reserve.
- Cached Lookup: this query change can make the reserve.
On the basis of Caches designed, Static and Dynamic caches.
5. What is the Target Designer and Target Load Order?
The use of a target designer is to define the Target of data. In case there are multiple sources or a single source with multiple partitions linked to different targets through the Informatica server, target load order is used by the server to decide in what order the data will be loaded.
6. Can you enlist a few PowerCenter client applications with their basic purpose?
A popular interview question at Informatica. Have a look at the following applications to answer:
- Administration Console: Used to perform service tasks
- PowerCenter Designer: has several designing tools such as source analyzer, target designer, mapplet designer, mapping manager, etc.
- Workflow Manager: provides a set of instructions needed to execute mappings
- Workflow Monitor: Monitors workflows and tasks
- Repository Manager: An admin tool primarily used to manage repository folders, objects, and groups.
7. What is Dynamic Cache?
Informatica lookups can be categorized as cached or uncached. For Dynamic cache, rows can be inserted or deleted when they are passing the rows and are synchronized with the target. The cache memory gets refreshed after the user deletes/updates operations within a session.
Practice Informatica Interviews Questions for Freshers
Freshers preparing for Informatica interviews should practice the following types of questions to prepare:
- What is the ETL program? Provide some examples.
- Can we store previous session logs in Informatica? How to do it?
- What are the benefits of Session Partitioning?
- What is Mapping
- What can we do to improve the performance of Informatica Aggregator Transformation?
- Define sorter transformation.
- What do you understand about Status Code in Informatica?
- Define complex mapping.
- What is the difference between persistent cache and shared cache?
- What are the types of metadata that are stored in the repository?
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Informatica Interview Questions and Answers for Experienced Professionals
If you are an experienced software developer, you can expect the following interview questions at Informatica:
1. Name the different Databases that Powercenter Server on Unix can connect to.
PowerCenter Server on UNIX can connect to:
- IBM DB2
- Informix
- Oracle
- Sybase
2. Name the scenarios when you should opt for Joiner transformation instead of Source Qualifier transformation.
Here’s the answer to this common Informatice interview question:
When you are joining Source Data of heterogeneous sources or joining flat files, it is advisable to use Joiner transformation. For joining data from different Relational Databases, Flat Files, and joining relational sources and flat files, Joiner transformation is useful.
3. What is the advantage of Informatica?
It is faster than hand-code scripting and can communicate with all major data sources. It also comes with Informatica different “adapters” that can be used for extracting data from packaged ERP applications (such as SAP or PeopleSoft). It can run on both Windows and Unix environments.
4. How can you create or import flat file definition into the warehouse designer?
This is not possible directly. You need to first analyze the file in the source analyzer and then move it into the warehouse designer. However, when you drag it, the warehouse designer creates a relational target definition. If you plan to load to a file, you will need to configure the session to write to a flat file.
5. Define a Repository Manager.
This is a pretty straightforward Informatica interview question; here’s the answer:
A GVI based administrative client that permits a range of administrative tasks such as assigning users to access folders and creating, editing, and deleting folders.
6. Define Status Code.
Status Code takes care of the system during every meeting by providing an error code. It can perceive whether the put away has been submitted effectively or not. It also provides an option to the Informatica server to choose whether the meeting must be halted or preceded.
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Practice Informatica Interviews Questions for Experienced Professionals
Here’s a list of some more frequently asked Informatica interview questions for practice:
- Highlight the differences between Connected LookUp and Unconnected LookUp.
- Define surrogate key.
- What is Joiner Transformation in Informatica?
- Define Informatica Worklet.
- What do you understand by filter transformation?
- Describe the features of Informatica Developer 9.1.0.
- Explain the advantages of using Informatica as an ETL tool over Teradata?
- What is a target designer?
- Explain the following terms: Mapping, transformation, and expression transformation.
- What is a standalone command task?
- Explain how you will create indices after completing the load process on Informatica.
- Define complex mapping.
- Describe Informatica PowerCenter.
- What is the difference between mapping parameter and mapping variable?
- Define Workflow Manager
- How many repositories can be created in Informatica Workflow Manager?
- Can you access repository reports without SQL or other transformations?
- Explain is Rank Transformation in Informatica?
- Define OLAP and the different types of OLAP.
- Define the surrogate key.
- Explain enterprise data warehouse in Informatica?
- What is Aggregator Transformation?
- What type of output files can you create using Informatica server at runtime?
- What is database partitioning?
- What does Worklet mean?
- Enlist the key differences between SQL Override and Lookup Override.
- How will you explain Tracing Level?
- What is Informatica PowerCenter?
- What steps can you take to improve the performance of Informatica Aggregator Transformation?
- What are the chief differences between Router and Filter?
Be sure to practice these interview questions to prepare yourself for the Informatica interview. If you are anxious about the interview, check out this article on how to deal with interview-related stress. All the best!
Frequently Asked Questions on Informatica
1. What is the average software engineer salary at Informatica?
The average salary of a software engineer at Informatica is $130,474 (glassdoor.com).
2. How can I prepare for the Informatica interview?
To prepare for Informatica interviews, you should be well-versed with the Informatica ETL tool. You can go for certifications to gain the required expertise. Then, practice the frequently asked interview questions to strengthen your prep further.
3. Is there any certification to learn Informatica tool?
You can get certified as a specialist or an expert via a written exam. Having a Specialist certification means that you understand Informatica tool products and have the necessary skills to contribute to a project as a full team member. These certifications can be obtained from Informatica University.
4. What are the popular Informatica products?
Some of the products include Power Center, Power Mart, Power Exchange, Power Center Connect, Power Channel, Metadata Exchange, Power Analyzer, and Super Glue.
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