MYSQL Stuck Generating temp table (massive query) - mysql

Question

I have 4 tables (1 to many):
Dont say anything about that "email" relation. It is how my developer boss built it years ago.
EMPLOYEES (+-50 results)
------------------------------------------------
id name
1 EmpName 1
2 EmpName 2
CUSTOMERS (+50k results)
------------------------------------------------
id name email employee_assigned
1 John john#doe.com 12
2 Donald donald#duck.com 6
INTERESTS_CATEGORIES (+650k results)
------------------------------------------------
id customer_email category_id
1 john#doe.com 97
2 john#doe.com 13
3 donald#duck.com 56
4 donald#duck.com 126
5 donald#duck.com 45
INTERESTS_PRODUCTS (+650k results)
------------------------------------------------
id customer_email product_id
1 john#doe.com 78
2 john#doe.com 23
3 donald#duck.com 19
4 donald#duck.com 56
5 donald#duck.com 45
So I need to filter the customers by their assigned employee and their interests.
And here is the query:
SELECT
*
FROM
(
SELECT
customers.id AS 'id',
customers.name AS 'first_name',
customers.email,
employees.id AS 'employee_id'
FROM
customers,
employees
WHERE
employees.id = 2
AND
customers.employee_assigned = employees.id
) AS myCustomers
LEFT JOIN interests_categories
ON interests_categories.customer_email = myCustomers.email
LEFT JOIN interests_products
ON interests_categories.customer_email = myCustomers.email
WHERE
(
interests_categories.category_id = 20
OR
interests_categories.category_id = 21
)
GROUP BY myCustomers.email
So, the problem:
If the employee has a low number of assigned customers (like 3) query
is successfull.
If the employee has a medium-high number of assigned customers (over 100) query stucks.
I execute SHOW PROCESSLIST and it is stucked "Generating temp table".
Anyone has idea? :(
Thank you.

Answer 1

Check the indexes on your tables and try this:
SELECT
c.id AS 'id',
c.name AS 'first_name',
c.email,
e.id AS 'employee_id'
ic.*,
ip.*
FROM customers c
JOIN employees e
ON c.employee_assigned = e.id
LEFT JOIN interests_categories ic
ON ic.customer_email = c.email
LEFT JOIN interests_products ip
ON ic.customer_email = c.email
WHERE
(
ic.category_id IN (20,21)
AND e.id = 2
)
GROUP BY myCustomers.email

Answer 2

Incidentally, a less dumb design might look like as follows. If it was me, I'd start with this, and provide properly representative CREATE and INSERT statements accordingly. Also, I'm curious about where category_id comes from - because that's potentially an area for further optimization.
EMPLOYEES
------------------------------------------------
employee_id name
6 EmpName 1
12 EmpName 2
CUSTOMERS
------------------------------------------------
customer_id name email employee_assigned
1 John john#doe.com 12
2 Donald donald#duck.com 6
INTERESTS_CATEGORIES
------------------------------------------------
customer_id category_id
1 97
1 13
2 56
2 126
2 45
INTERESTS_PRODUCTS
------------------------------------------------
customer_id product_id
1 78
1 23
2 19
2 56
2 45