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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.

54,457 data scientist interview questions shared by candidates

1. FB has hired raters to rate ads. 80% are careful rates and rate 60% of the ads as good and 40% as bad, 20% are lazy raters and rate 100% ads as good. What is the probability that an ad is rated good? Given that 3 ads have been rated as good, what is the probability that they were rated by a lazy rater? Given that n ads have been rated as good, what is the probability that they were rated by a lazy rater? You want to classify raters as careful/lazy, how would you do that using all the probabilities and ideas discussed above (open ended question)?
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Data Scientist

Interviewed at Meta

3.4★
Jan 28, 2019

1. FB has hired raters to rate ads. 80% are careful rates and rate 60% of the ads as good and 40% as bad, 20% are lazy raters and rate 100% ads as good. What is the probability that an ad is rated good? Given that 3 ads have been rated as good, what is the probability that they were rated by a lazy rater? Given that n ads have been rated as good, what is the probability that they were rated by a lazy rater? You want to classify raters as careful/lazy, how would you do that using all the probabilities and ideas discussed above (open ended question)?

Take home challenge - they focus on delivery time, rigor of solution and beating a given score. On site - was as described, took about 3 hours and at the end had to present the approach, results and answer questions related to them.
avatar

Senior Data Scientist

Interviewed at Quanata

4.3★
Jun 11, 2020

Take home challenge - they focus on delivery time, rigor of solution and beating a given score. On site - was as described, took about 3 hours and at the end had to present the approach, results and answer questions related to them.

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Glassdoor has 54,457 interview questions and reports from Data scientist interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.