Python coding, and SQL coding, and machine learning knowledge, and machine learning case studies. Overall, pretty standard questions for data scientist positions. I met with four people from the team, and 4 rounds of interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What's difference between random forest and xgboost?
I applied online. I interviewed at Whole Foods Market in Apr 2021
Interview
I regret my decision to proceed with the interview. Applied months ago. HR contacted after almost 2 months later asking are you still available? I thought of giving it a shot as I wasn't going to lose anything. A few days later got an autogenerated reply saying they are proceeding further with other candidates. HR got back in touch again via email stating the Hiring manager wants to interview me. I should have seen all these red flags but I thought of giving them a try. The hiring manager didn't switch on the webcam (again a huge red flag) while asking me to be on the video call. It is simply not a normal social interaction where only the interviewer can see you and lead to a strange interview environment. I wasn't comfortable at all. There was no introduction or expectation set from the hiring manager at the start, asking me to go through my resume straightforwardly. I asked the hiring manager to tell me more about the team and the work. The hiring manager introduced himself/herself as the executive (It seemed superficial as seen from the LinkedIn profile and initial HR emails ). Anyways, I was asked to elaborate more on the past projects and work. The hiring manager stopped me in between asking me questions about recent projects/work. I tried to explain the work. The most surprising thing being the manager not aware of industry-standard business models (similar to Whole Foods). I was thinking of ending the interview soon and running away. Please be wise and avoid seeing initial red flags instead of wasting time like me.