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Research Scientist Interview Questions

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Research Scientist Interview Questions

In a research scientist interview, you'll be expected to show that you have the necessary technical knowledge and expertise pertaining to the specific position you're applying for. Some of the common topics include basic statistical methods, machine learning concepts, and case study analysis. Also, the interviewer will most likely assess your communication and interpersonal skills, which are essential for effective teamwork and funding acquisition.

Top Research Scientist Interview Questions & How to Answer

Question 1

Question #1: What is X concept? What are its assumptions and how do you apply it?

How to answer
How to answer: Basically, such an interview question asks for a textbook recall of a certain machine learning concept and its conditions and applications. Avoid overcomplicating it. Just give a simple and straightforward answer that shows that you have a solid grasp of the concept.
Question 2

Question #2: Provide an example of a problem you faced in your previous role and how you solved it.

How to answer
How to answer: The interviewer wants to evaluate your problem-solving skills. Carefully choose a challenging situation that best reflects your ability to solve problems and explain what you did to overcome it. Preferably, the problem should be one that's relevant to your desired position.
Question 3

Question #3: How would you obtain research funding?

How to answer
How to answer: If you had successfully secured research funding in the past, you can talk about some of the methods you used. If not, highlight the abilities you possess that can help you acquire funding, such as grant writing skills and networking skills.

14,625 research scientist interview questions shared by candidates

You're about to get on a plane to Seattle. You want to know if you should bring an umbrella. You call 3 random friends of yours who live there and ask each independently if it's raining. Each of your friends has a 2/3 chance of telling you the truth and a 1/3 chance of messing with you by lying. All 3 friends tell you that "Yes" it is raining. What is the probability that it's actually raining in Seattle?
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Meta

3.6★
Sep 12, 2013

You're about to get on a plane to Seattle. You want to know if you should bring an umbrella. You call 3 random friends of yours who live there and ask each independently if it's raining. Each of your friends has a 2/3 chance of telling you the truth and a 1/3 chance of messing with you by lying. All 3 friends tell you that "Yes" it is raining. What is the probability that it's actually raining in Seattle?

1) Provided a table with user_id and dates they visited platform, find the top 100 users with the longest continuous streak of visiting the platform as of yesterday. 2) Provided a table with page_id, event timestamp and a flag for a state (which is on/off), find the number of pages that are currently on.
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Meta

3.6★
Apr 29, 2020

1) Provided a table with user_id and dates they visited platform, find the top 100 users with the longest continuous streak of visiting the platform as of yesterday. 2) Provided a table with page_id, event timestamp and a flag for a state (which is on/off), find the number of pages that are currently on.

They asked probability question: 1) The probability that item an item at location A is 0.6 , and 0.8 at location B. What is the probability that item would be found on Amazon website. 2). I have table 1, with 1million records, with ID, AGE (column names) , Table 2 with 100 records with ID and Salary then the interviewer gave me the following SQL script SELECT A.ID,A.AGE,B.SALARY FROM TABLE 1 A LEFT JOIN TABLE 2 B ON A.ID = B.ID + WHERE B.SALARY > 50000 ( HE ASKED TO MODIFY THIS LINE OF QUERY) How many records would be returned? 3. Give a csv file with ID, and Quantity columns, 50million records and size of data is 2gig, write a program in any language of your choice to aggregate the QUANTITY column.
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Amazon

3.5★
Oct 27, 2016

They asked probability question: 1) The probability that item an item at location A is 0.6 , and 0.8 at location B. What is the probability that item would be found on Amazon website. 2). I have table 1, with 1million records, with ID, AGE (column names) , Table 2 with 100 records with ID and Salary then the interviewer gave me the following SQL script SELECT A.ID,A.AGE,B.SALARY FROM TABLE 1 A LEFT JOIN TABLE 2 B ON A.ID = B.ID + WHERE B.SALARY > 50000 ( HE ASKED TO MODIFY THIS LINE OF QUERY) How many records would be returned? 3. Give a csv file with ID, and Quantity columns, 50million records and size of data is 2gig, write a program in any language of your choice to aggregate the QUANTITY column.

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