Data Scientist Interviews

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.

54,405 data scientist interview questions shared by candidates

How would you join and summarize these tables? If you had an app that recommends restaurants based on customer reviews (think yelp), how would your app make recommendations for new restaurants (for which there would be no reviews)?
avatar

Senior Data Scientist

Interviewed at Flatiron Health

3.2
Apr 12, 2021

How would you join and summarize these tables? If you had an app that recommends restaurants based on customer reviews (think yelp), how would your app make recommendations for new restaurants (for which there would be no reviews)?

There was a dataset example and the questions were around that problem. For example, the type of ML algorithm appropriate for that dataset, type of metrics should be used, supervised unsupervised and many other details. The questions were reasonable and the timing was also good. I ran out of time for the programming section. It should be easier for a very experienced programmer. The programming part required me to have a lot of practice beforehand and be very fast to develop my approach and implement it. Use Hackerrank for practice and preparation. I believe it can be very helpful.
avatar

Data Scientist(S)- MI and AI

Interviewed at Ericsson

4
Jun 22, 2019

There was a dataset example and the questions were around that problem. For example, the type of ML algorithm appropriate for that dataset, type of metrics should be used, supervised unsupervised and many other details. The questions were reasonable and the timing was also good. I ran out of time for the programming section. It should be easier for a very experienced programmer. The programming part required me to have a lot of practice beforehand and be very fast to develop my approach and implement it. Use Hackerrank for practice and preparation. I believe it can be very helpful.

1st round 10 ML Questions. 3 coding questions. Not sure if they want a Software Developer or a Data Scientist. Even google gives you easier question for a Software Engineering position, than Ericsson gives for their specialist "Data Science" position. If you donot want to hire people, please dont invite and stop wasting our time and yours as well.!
avatar

Junior Data Scientist

Interviewed at Ericsson

4
Mar 19, 2019

1st round 10 ML Questions. 3 coding questions. Not sure if they want a Software Developer or a Data Scientist. Even google gives you easier question for a Software Engineering position, than Ericsson gives for their specialist "Data Science" position. If you donot want to hire people, please dont invite and stop wasting our time and yours as well.!

Viewing 2821 - 2830 interview questions

Glassdoor has 54,405 interview questions and reports from Data scientist interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.