Top Data Science Interview Questions and Answers

You receive a data science interview opportunity from your dream company. You have surveyed many the-top-50-question types of articles but still feel uncertain. Since there are already many similar articles, why do I dare to add an article to this crowded topic? In this article, I re-write many ordinary answers so a short answer can shine. I hope this approach will help your interview.

Answer with the “What — So what — Now What” Formula

An interviewer would like to probe the breadth and depth of a candidate on a topic. This formula prepares you to provide a thorough answer or at least intent to. It lets you articulate

• What the answer is (80%),
• What it can do and what the advantages or disadvantages are (20%).

You do not need to answer every question with the “what — so what” formula. Some of the questions in this article are worded in a specific way that the formula cannot apply.

I group the questions into machine learning, statistics & probability. Many of these questions and answers are drawn from dataman’s articles. So I also provide the reference for those who are first time seeing the topic or want to understand more.

Q. What is data science?