MongoDB Interview Q&As (Part 1)
🔹 Section 1: Fundamentals
Q1. What is MongoDB and why is it used?
Answer: MongoDB is a NoSQL, document-oriented database that
stores data in JSON-like BSON format. It’s used for scalability,
flexibility, and handling unstructured or semi-structured data.
💡 Tip: Always highlight schema flexibility and scalability in
interviews.
Q2. What is a Document in MongoDB?
Answer: A document is the basic unit of data in MongoDB, stored in
BSON format. Example:
{ name: "Aman", age: 25, skills: ["MongoDB", "Node.js"] }
💡 Tip: Think of a document like a “row” in SQL but more flexible.
Q3. What is a Collection in MongoDB?
Answer: A collection is a group of documents, similar to a table in
SQL, but without a fixed schema.
💡 Tip: Collections allow documents with different fields.
Q4. What is BSON and how is it different from JSON?
Answer: BSON (Binary JSON) is MongoDB’s internal storage format. It
supports extra data types like Date, ObjectId, and is more efficient for
storage and traversal.
💡 Tip: Mention ObjectId is BSON-specific and often tested.
Q5. How does MongoDB differ from SQL databases?
Answer:
SQL → Tables, Rows, Columns, Fixed Schema
MongoDB → Collections, Documents, Flexible Schema
💡 Tip: Interviewers love the phrase: “MongoDB = schema-less
JSON database.”
🔹 Section 2: CRUD Operations
Q6. How do you insert a document in MongoDB?
db.users.insertOne({ name: "Aman", age: 25 })
💡 Tip: Use insertMany() for bulk inserts.
Q7. How do you retrieve specific fields from a collection?
db.users.find({}, { name: 1, age: 1, _id: 0 })
💡 Tip: Projections reduce payload size → better performance.
Q8. How do you update a field inside a document?
db.users.updateOne({ name: "Aman" }, { $set: { age: 26 } })
💡 Tip: Use $inc, $push, $addToSet for common updates.
Q9. What is the difference between updateOne() and updateMany()?
Answer:
updateOne() → Updates the first matching document.
updateMany() → Updates all matching documents.
💡Tip: Always clarify which one you’re using in code.
Q10. How do you delete a document?
db.users.deleteOne({ name: "Aman" })
💡 Tip: Use deleteMany() carefully — can wipe large datasets.
🔹 Section 3: Querying & Operators
Q11. How do you filter documents with conditions?
db.users.find({ age: { $gt: 21 } })
💡 Tip: Operators like $gt, $lt, $gte, $lte are standard.
$gt → greater than
$lt → less than
$gte → greater than or equal to
$lte → less than or equal to
Q12. How do you perform pattern matching in MongoDB?
You can use the $regex operator to search for string patterns.
Example:
db.users.find({ name: { $regex: /^A/, $options: "i" } })
^A → Matches names that start with “A”.
$options: "i" → Makes the search case-insensitive (so "Aman" and
"aman" both match).
💡 Tip: Regex queries are usually slow because they scan documents,
but prefix-matched regex (like ^A) can still use indexes and perform
better.
Q13. What are logical operators in MongoDB?
$and → Match all conditions
$or → Match any condition
$not → Negate condition
💡 Tip: Most used in filtering queries.
Q14. How do you use $in and $nin operators?
db.users.find({ age: { $in: [21, 22, 23] } })
db.users.find({ status: { $nin: ["inactive", "banned"] } })
status → The field being checked.
$nin: [...] = NOT IN → Excludes documents where status is "inactive"
or "banned"
💡 Tip: Good for matching against multiple values.
Q15. How do you sort and limit query results?
db.users.find().sort({ age: -1 }).limit(5)
1. db.users.find() → Fetches all documents from the users collection.
2. .sort({ age: -1 }) → Sorts the documents by the age field in
descending order (-1 = descending, 1 = ascending).
So the oldest users come first.
3. .limit(5) → Returns only the top 5 results after sorting.
If users have ages [18, 21, 25, 30, 40, 50] → query returns [50, 40, 30,
25, 21].
💡 Tip: Combine sort + limit for top-N queries.
🔹 Section 4: Indexing & Performance
Q16. What is an Index in MongoDB and why is it used?
Answer: Indexes speed up queries by avoiding full collection scans.
Example:
db.users.createIndex({ name: 1 })
💡 Tip: Indexes = faster reads, slower writes.
Q17. What is a Compound Index?
Answer: Index with multiple fields:
db.orders.createIndex({ customerId: 1, orderDate: -1 })
💡 Tip: Order of fields in compound indexes matters.
Q18. What is a Covered Query?
Answer: A query where all required fields are in the index → no need
to fetch full document.
💡 Tip: Helps in optimizing read-heavy queries.
Q19. What is a TTL Index and where is it used?
Answer: Time-to-live index auto-deletes documents after expiry.
db.sessions.createIndex({ createdAt: 1 }, { expireAfterSeconds: 3600
})
💡 Tip: Perfect for sessions, cache, logs.
Q20. How do you analyze query performance in MongoDB?
Answer: Use .explain("executionStats") to see index usage and
scanned docs.
💡 Tip: Compare nReturned vs totalDocsExamined.
🔹 Section 5: Aggregation Framework
Q21. What is the Aggregation Framework?
Answer: A pipeline-based framework for transforming and analyzing
documents using stages like $match, $group, $project.
💡 Tip: Think of it like SQL’s GROUP BY + functions.
Q22. How do you use $group in aggregation?
db.sales.aggregate([
{ $group: { _id: "$product", total: { $sum: "$amount" } } }
])
💡 Tip: Common for totals, averages, counts.
Q23. What is $match and how is it different from find()?
Answer:
$match → Used inside aggregation pipelines.
find() → Standalone query method.
💡 Tip: $match can leverage indexes too.
Q24. What is $lookup in MongoDB?
Answer: Performs a left outer join with another collection.
db.orders.aggregate([
{ $lookup: {
from: "customers",
localField: "customerId",
foreignField: "_id",
as: "customerInfo"
}}
])
💡 Tip: Great for joins but expensive if not indexed.
Q25. What is $unwind used for?
Answer: Deconstructs array fields → outputs one document per
element.
💡 Tip: Combine with $group to aggregate arrays.
🔹 Section 6: Schema Design & Advanced Concepts
Q26. When do you Embed vs Reference data?
Answer:
Embed → small, bounded, frequently accessed together (e.g., user
+ address).
Reference → large, unbounded, or shared data (e.g., users ↔ posts).
💡 Tip: Classic interview question — always give example.
Q27. What is the maximum document size in MongoDB?
Answer: 16 MB. Larger data must use GridFS or multiple documents.
💡 Tip: Mention GridFS if asked about large files.
Q28. What are Capped Collections?
Answer: Fixed-size collections that overwrite oldest data when full.
💡 Tip: Great for logs and real-time data.
Q29. What is Sharding in MongoDB and why is it needed?
Answer: Horizontal partitioning of data across multiple servers for
scalability.
💡 Tip: Choosing the right shard key is critical.
Q30. What is Replication and why is it important?
Answer: Storing copies of data across multiple servers for high
availability. Replica set = Primary + Secondaries.
💡 Tip: Mention automatic failover in replica sets.
