# dbt - Fundamentals (Data Engineering)

> dbt project, models, sources, refs, tests, documentation, materializations (table, view, incremental), seeds

- 20 interview questions
- Mid-Level
- [Interview Questions: Data Engineering](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-engineering/interview-questions.md)

## 1. What is dbt (data build tool)?

**Answer**

dbt is a data transformation tool that allows writing transformations in SQL and executing them in a data warehouse. It applies software engineering principles (versioning, tests, documentation) to data transformation work. dbt does not handle extraction or loading (the E and L of ELT), only transformation.

## 2. What is the basic structure of a dbt project?

**Answer**

A dbt project contains a dbt_project.yml file at the root that defines the project configuration. The main folders are models (containing SQL files), tests for custom tests, macros for Jinja macros, seeds for CSV files, and snapshots for historical data captures. The profiles.yml file (usually outside the project) defines warehouse connections.

## 3. What is the role of the profiles.yml file in dbt?

**Answer**

The profiles.yml file contains connection information to data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, PostgreSQL, etc.). It is usually stored in the ~/.dbt/ folder and not in the project to avoid versioning sensitive credentials. Each profile can have multiple targets (dev, prod) allowing easy switching between environments.

## 17 more questions available

- What is a model in dbt?
- What is the role of the ref() function in dbt?

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