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Data Scientist Interviews

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Data Scientist Interview Questions

In a data scientist interview, expect employers to ask questions that assess your data modeling, problem-solving, and programming skills. Be prepared to answer general questions that test your knowledge of statistics and data science. You should also be ready to answer open-ended questions that test your creativity, communication skills, and formal education in data modeling and programming.

Top Data Scientist Interview Questions & How to Answer

Question 1

Question #1: Which data modeling techniques do you prefer and why?

How to answer
How to answer: Turning data into understandable and actionable information is a critical part of the data scientist's job. This question allows employers to understand your data modeling skills and background. List and discuss your preferred data modeling techniques, including benefits such as ease of use, flexibility, etc.
Question 2

Question #2: How would you detect bogus Instagram accounts used for scamming consumers?

How to answer
How to answer: Questions like this one allow an employer to test your problem-solving skills. When answering open-ended questions such as these, feel free to ask clarifying questions and use whiteboards to demonstrate your coding and diagramming skills. Share your thought process as you work through the problem.
Question 3

Question #3: Describe circumstances that require a list, tuple, or set in Python.

How to answer
How to answer: Interviewers will use questions such as this one to test your Python programming skills. Review Python basics such as lists, tuples, and sets before your interview. You should be able to explain when and how each tool is used by data scientists.

54,361 data scientist interview questions shared by candidates

I won't give details about the question as I respect the confidentiality of the interview. However, to give a general feeling, I think it doesn't hurt to mention the following. For example, code a class that implements a very popular ML algorithm. Even if the algorithm is very simple there are lots of possible improvements and generalisations, how to make it robust, efficient etc. Same thing for a class storing common data formats: dataframe, time-series, etc... how would you efficiently code access methods and/or storing according to the features of these data types?
avatar

Machine Learning Scientist Intern

Interviewed at Amazon

3.5★
May 10, 2017

I won't give details about the question as I respect the confidentiality of the interview. However, to give a general feeling, I think it doesn't hurt to mention the following. For example, code a class that implements a very popular ML algorithm. Even if the algorithm is very simple there are lots of possible improvements and generalisations, how to make it robust, efficient etc. Same thing for a class storing common data formats: dataframe, time-series, etc... how would you efficiently code access methods and/or storing according to the features of these data types?

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Glassdoor has 54,361 interview questions and reports from Data scientist interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.