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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.

54,212 data scientist interview questions shared by candidates

PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE PHONE SCREENING LIGHTLY! I did and got rejected. I was expecting SQL questions and in general talk about my resume but she asked me a question on product sense and I was completely unprepared for it. Creation of Facebook user groups has gone down by 20%, what will you do? sounds simple but I messed it up so badly. I was just blabbering anything in an unstructured way, I sounded so stupid and not even fit for a small company forget Facebook. The recruiter was nice and she did not say anything but I were to hear my own answer, I would reject myself on spot. I regret it so much wish I could have prepared for it. I hope someone sees this and it helps them. The SQL questions were easy and I did answer them correctly- what kind of joins to get only common rows, what the natural sorting order etc.
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Meta

3.6★
Mar 9, 2020

PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE PHONE SCREENING LIGHTLY! I did and got rejected. I was expecting SQL questions and in general talk about my resume but she asked me a question on product sense and I was completely unprepared for it. Creation of Facebook user groups has gone down by 20%, what will you do? sounds simple but I messed it up so badly. I was just blabbering anything in an unstructured way, I sounded so stupid and not even fit for a small company forget Facebook. The recruiter was nice and she did not say anything but I were to hear my own answer, I would reject myself on spot. I regret it so much wish I could have prepared for it. I hope someone sees this and it helps them. The SQL questions were easy and I did answer them correctly- what kind of joins to get only common rows, what the natural sorting order etc.

We have two types of reviewers: careful reviewer (80% of reviewers) and lazy reviewers (20% of reviewers). Careful reviewers rate a post positive 60% of time and negative 40% of time). Lazy reviewers however rate a post positive 100% of time. A) what is the probability that a random ad is reviewed positively? B) If an ad gets a negative review, what is the probability that it's reviewed by a lazy reviewer? C) If 3 ads are reviewed positively in a row, what is the probability that they are reviewed by a lazy reviewer? D) Some as above with n positively reviewed ads in a row. What happens when n goes to infinity? E) If we have very few labeled data, how can we build a model to distinguish between careful and lazy reviewers?
avatar

Data Scientist, Analytics

Interviewed at Meta

3.6★
Mar 6, 2019

We have two types of reviewers: careful reviewer (80% of reviewers) and lazy reviewers (20% of reviewers). Careful reviewers rate a post positive 60% of time and negative 40% of time). Lazy reviewers however rate a post positive 100% of time. A) what is the probability that a random ad is reviewed positively? B) If an ad gets a negative review, what is the probability that it's reviewed by a lazy reviewer? C) If 3 ads are reviewed positively in a row, what is the probability that they are reviewed by a lazy reviewer? D) Some as above with n positively reviewed ads in a row. What happens when n goes to infinity? E) If we have very few labeled data, how can we build a model to distinguish between careful and lazy reviewers?

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