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Axa Interview Questions

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Machine Learning

Booking Regression

Missing Housing Data

Lasso vs Ridge

Bagging vs Boosting

Random Forest Explanation

Statistics

P-value to a Layman

What are the assumptions of linear regression?

Assumptions of Linear Regression

Correlation in Regression

Describe linear regression to various audiences with different levels of knowledge.

Explaining Linear Regression to Different Audiences

What is the difference between type I and type II errors?

Type I and II Errors

Write a query to select the top 3 departments with at least ten employees and rank them according to the percentage of their employees making over 100K in salary.

Employee Salaries

Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department

2nd Highest Salary

Duplicate Rows

Write a query to create a pivot table that shows total sales for each branch by year

Branch Sales Pivot

Size of Joins

Data Structures & Algorithms

Given a list of strings, write a Python program to check whether each string has all the same characters or not.

Same Characters

Integer String Addition

Swap Variables

Write a function that returns the shape of an isosceles triangle.

Triangle as Binary Array

Probability

Different Card

Scalped Ticket

Poker Pair

What's the probability that the second card is not an ace?

Second Ace

<p>When an interviewer asks a question along the lines of:</p>

<ul>
<li>What would your current manager say about you? What constructive criticisms might he give?</li>
<li>What are your three biggest strengths and weaknesses you have identified in yourself?</li>
</ul>

<p>How would you respond?</p>


<p>When asked about your strengths in an interview, what is an effective way to respond?</p>

When asked about your strengths in an interview, what is an effective way to respond?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses I

<p>Which of the following is an acceptable strategy when discussing weaknesses in an interview?</p>

Which of the following is an acceptable strategy when discussing weaknesses in an interview?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses II

What do you tell an interviewer when they ask you what your strengths and weaknesses are?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Brainteasers

<p>When an interviewer asks you a question along the lines of:</p>

<ul>
<li>Why did you apply to our company?</li>
<li>What are you looking for in your next job?</li>
<li>What makes you a good fit for our company?</li>
</ul>

<p>How should you respond?</p>


<p>When asked 'What are you looking for in your next job?' in an interview, how can you tie the company's employee benefits into your response?</p>

When asked 'What are you looking for in your next job?' in an interview, how can you tie the company's employee benefits into your response?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us I

<p>How can company values be used effectively in an interview when asked 'What makes you a good fit for our company?'</p>

How can company values be used effectively in an interview when asked 'What makes you a good fit for our company?'

Why Do You Want to Work With Us II

<p>When responding to the question 'Why did you apply to our company?' during an interview, what aspect should you highlight?</p>

When responding to the question 'Why did you apply to our company?' during an interview, what aspect should you highlight?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us III

How would you answer when an Interviewer asks why you applied to their company?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us

<p>Let’s say we’re comparing two machine learning algorithms. In which case would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? </p>

<p>Give an example of the tradeoffs between the two.</p>


<p>In machine learning, when would you use a bagging algorithm over a boosting algorithm?</p>


In machine learning, when would you use a bagging algorithm over a boosting algorithm?

Bagging vs. Boosting

<p>Describe a data project you worked on. What were some of the challenges you faced?</p>


Describing a data project and its challenges

Hurdles In Data Projects

Analytics

<p>Talk about a time when you had trouble communicating with stakeholders. How were you able to overcome it?</p>


Strategically resolving misaligned expectations with stakeholders for a successful project outcome

Stakeholder Communication

<p>How would you explain what a p-value is to someone who is not technical?</p>


<p>What does a p-value in a statistical test represent?</p>

What does a p-value in a statistical test represent?

P-value to a Layman I

<p>In a statistical test, how does a low p-value (less than 0.05) influence our decision about the null hypothesis?</p>

In a statistical test, how does a low p-value (less than 0.05) influence our decision about the null hypothesis?

P-value to a Layman II

<p>What are the assumptions of linear regression?</p>


Which assumption of the residuals of the standard linear regression model can not be overcome by increasing the sample size?

Regression assumptions

<p>Let’s say that you’re training a classification model.</p>

<p>How would you combat overfitting when building tree-based models?</p>


Let's say that you're training a classification model.   How would you combat overfitting when building tree-based models?

Overfit Avoidance

<p>How would you handle the data preparation for building a machine learning model using imbalanced data?</p>


Addressing imbalanced data in machine learning through carefully prepared techniques.

Data Preparation for Imbalanced Data

<p>Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department.</p>

<p><strong>Note:</strong> If more than one person shares the highest salary, the query should select the next highest salary.</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

<p><strong>Input:</strong></p>

<p><code>employees</code> table</p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>first_name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>last_name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>salary</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>department_id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><code>departments</code> table</p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Output:</strong></p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>salary</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>


<p>Explain the difference between the XGBoost and random forest algorithms and give an example where you would use one over the other.</p>


<p>Why might a data scientist choose to use XGBoost instead of Random Forest for a particular machine learning task?</p>


Why might a data scientist choose to use XGBoost instead of Random Forest for a particular machine learning task?

XGBoost vs Random Forest: Choice

Xgboost vs Random Forest

<p>How does random forest generate the forest? Additionally, why would we use it over other algorithms such as logistic regression?</p>


<p>What happens when you average the output on multiple decision trees?</p>


What happens when you average the output on multiple decision trees?

Average Trees

<p>What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression?</p>

<p>When would use one instead of the other in practice?</p>


What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression?

Linear vs Logistic Regression

<p>Tell me about a project in which you had to clean and organize a large dataset.</p>


Describing a real-world data cleaning and organization project

Data Cleaning Experiences

Data Pipelines

<p>What are the key differences between classification models and regression models?</p>


<p>What is the MOST important difference between regression and classification models?</p>


What is the MOST important difference between regression and classification models?

Classification vs Regression

Classification and Regression

<p>Let’s say you work at Allstate. Allstate is running <code>N</code>  online ads right now. The table <code>ads</code> contains all those ads, ranked by popularity via the <code>id</code> column (e.g., the entry with <code>id = 1</code> is the most popular, etc.).</p>

<p>Create a subquery or common table expression named <code>top_ads</code> containing the top 3 ads (by popularity) and return the number of rows that would result from the following operations</p>

<ol>
<li><code>ads INNER JOIN top_ads</code></li>
<li><code>ads LEFT JOIN top_ads</code></li>
<li><code>ads RIGHT JOIN top_ads</code></li>
<li><code>ads CROSS JOIN top_ads</code></li>
</ol>

<p><em>Note: Please make the <code>join_type</code> column in your output have the values <code>inner_join</code>, <code>left_join</code>, etc. for each of their respective join types</em></p>

<p><em>Note: Please return only one query with each number in a different row</em></p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

<p><strong>Input:</strong></p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Output:</strong></p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>join_type</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>number_of_rows</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>


<p>What’s the difference between Lasso and Ridge Regression?</p>


<p>Under what circumstances is it recommended to use Lasso regression over Ridge regression?</p>

Under what circumstances is it recommended to use Lasso regression over Ridge regression?

<p>Let’s say you are working on Google Docs. A product manager comes to you and asks how the product is doing. </p>

<p>What are the top five metrics that you would start tracking to understand the health of Google Docs?</p>


Docs Metrics

Product Sense & Metrics

<p>What’s the relationship between PCA and K-means clustering?</p>


<p>What does the variable “k” in k-means clustering refer to?</p>


What does the variable "k" in k-means clustering refer to?

Input of K-means

PCA and K-Means

<p>In the context of hypothesis testing, what are type I errors (type one errors) and type II errors (type two errors)? What is the difference between the two?</p>

<p><em>Bonus: Describe the probability of making each type of error mathematically.</em></p>


<p>How would you tackle multicollinearity in multiple linear regression?</p>


Multicollinearity in Regression

<p>How do you detect and handle correlation between variables in linear regression? What will happen if you ignore the correlation in the regression model?</p>


<p>Describe a time when you had to define a long-term vision for a project or team and move it from concept to reality.</p>

<p>Interviews for leadership or senior technical roles look for more than just “finishing a project.” Your answer should specifically address:</p>

<ol>
<li><strong>The “Why”</strong>: What data or organizational gap necessitated this vision?</li>
<li><strong>The Framework</strong>: How did you translate a high-level goal into a roadmap?</li>
<li><strong>The Friction</strong>: How did you handle stakeholders or team members who were skeptical of the new direction?</li>
</ol>


Vision Setting and Execution Strategy

Business Case

<p>Given a <code>employees</code> and <code>departments</code> table, select the top 3 departments with at least ten employees and rank them according to the percentage of their employees making over 100K in salary.</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

<p><strong>Input:</strong></p>

<p><code>employees</code> table</p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Columns</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>first_name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>last_name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>salary</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>department_id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><code>departments</code> table</p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Columns</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Output:</strong></p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>percentage_over_100k</code></td>
<td>FLOAT</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>department_name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>number_of_employees</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>


<p>Given a <code>users</code> table, write a query to return only its duplicate rows.</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

<p><strong>Input:</strong></p>

<p><code>users</code> table</p>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Column</th>
<th>Type</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>id</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>created_at</code></td>
<td>DATETIME</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>


<p>We want to build a model to predict housing prices in the city of Seattle. We’ve scraped 100K sold listings over the past three years but found that around 20% of the listings are missing square footage data.</p>

<p>How do we deal with the missing data to construct our model?</p>


<p>We want to build a model to predict housing prices in the city of Seattle. We’ve scraped 100K sold listings over the past three years, but have discovered that around 20% of the listings are missing square footage data.</p>

<p>How would you approach dealing with this missing data, in order to construct the most useful predictive model possible?</p>


We want to build a model to predict housing prices in the city of Seattle. We’ve scraped 100K sold listings over the past three years, but have discovered that around 20% of the listings are missing square footage data.

How would you approach dealing with this missing data, in order to construct the most useful predictive model possible?



<p>How would you explain the concept of linear regression to three different audiences: a child, a first-year college student, and a seasoned mathematician? Ensure your explanations are tailored to the understanding level of each audience.</p>


<p>How would you choose the <em>k</em> value when using <em>k</em>-means clustering?</p>


choosing k value during k-means clustering

Choosing k

<p>You are given a dictionary with two keys <code>a</code> and <code>b</code> that hold integers as their values.</p>

<p>Without declaring any other variable, swap the value of <code>a</code> with the value of <code>b</code> and vice versa.</p>

<p><em>Note: Return the dictionary after editing it.</em></p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

<p><strong>Input:</strong></p>

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code><span class="line"><span class="cl"><span class="n">numbers</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">{</span>
</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">  <span class="s1">&#39;a&#39;</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span>
</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">  <span class="s1">&#39;b&#39;</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">4</span>
</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl"><span class="p">}</span>
</span></span></code></pre>

<p><strong>Output:</strong></p>

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code><span class="line"><span class="cl"><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">swap_values</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">numbers</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">-&gt;</span> <span class="p">{</span><span class="s1">&#39;a&#39;</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="s1">&#39;b&#39;</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">}</span>
</span></span></code></pre>


<p>Let’s say you work for an e-commerce company. Vendors can send products to the company’s warehouse to be listed on the website. Users are able to order any in-stock products and submit returns for refunds if they’re not satisfied.</p>

<p>The front end of the website includes a vendor portal that provides sales data in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly intervals.</p>

<p>The company wants to expand worldwide. They put you in charge of designing its end-to-end architecture, so you need to know what significant factors you’ll need to consider. What clarifying questions would you ask?</p>

<p>What kind of end-to-end architecture would you design for this company (both for ETL and reporting)?</p>


How would you design a data warehouse for a e-commerce company looking to expand internationally?

International e-Commerce Warehouse

Challenge

<div><h2>Senior Business Analyst</h2><p>Senior Business Analysts bridge the gap between business and IT by being able to communicate effectively with all stakeholders. The Senior Business Analyst will be responsible for supporting an application or multiple applications within a Delivery Team and her/his core responsibilities include eliciting and documenting both business, functional and non-functional requirements, supporting quality assurance testing and UAT, and triaging incoming issues, defects, and enhancement requests. Senior Business Analysts will also provide senior-level support for projects that impact the application(s) s/he supports.</p><h3>Essential Responsibilities</h3><p>Collect, challenge, facilitate and document business requirements in a business requirements specification & functional specification, or a set of Features, Epics & User stories. Validate the overall IT solution is aligned with the business requirements, walk through requirements with the business and then development & test teams to ensure understanding. Support development and system test queries, facilitate user acceptance testing and provide support for issues/changes in production. Collaborate with Transformation & Change Delivery resources to ensure requirements and solutions support the overall business process. Help identify how requirements can help make the business process more efficient.</p><h3>Required Skills and Abilities</h3><p>Relevant years of proven experience in business analysis within the insurance market, with preference given to those who have worked in technology. Must possess excellent interpersonal skills, effective communication skills (written and verbal), and the ability to present information in an influencing manner at the leadership level. Excellent stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to build trusting relationships with the business. Ability to extract and document business requirements, to support the delivery of a technical solution. This should include the ability to plan for and facilitate business requirements workshops.</p><h3>Desired Skills and Abilities</h3><p>Working knowledge on policy admin / Rate quote bind systems & ceded reinsurance Insurance background  Policy knowledge specifically Must have proficient experience with various Analyst techniques e.g., User interviewing / Workshop facilitation / Business Process Modelling / Writing a business requirement document or set of Epics & User Stories. Significant experience in supporting all phases of the software development life cycle. Experience with different SDLC methodologies, with a preference for Agile Scrum. Proven planning and organization skills, with an ability to work resiliently, planning their analysis work, prioritizing workload, preparing in advance, and setting realistic timescales. Adaptable to new/different strategies, programs, technologies, practices, cultures, etc. Comfortable with change, able to easily make transitions.</p><h3>About AXA XL</h3><p>AXA XL, the P&C and specialty risk division of AXA, is known for solving complex risks. For mid-sized companies, multinationals and even some inspirational individuals we don't just provide re/insurance, we reinvent it. How? By combining a comprehensive and efficient capital platform, data-driven insights, leading technology, and the best talent in an agile and inclusive workspace, empowered to deliver top client service across all our lines of business ? property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty. With an innovative and flexible approach to risk solutions, we partner with those who move the world forward.</p><h3>Inclusion & Diversity</h3><p>AXA XL is committed to equal employment opportunity and will consider applicants regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity and origins, marital status, religion, disability, or any other protected characteristic. At AXA XL, we know that an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce enable business growth and are critical to our success. That's why we have made a strategic commitment to attract, develop, advance and retain the most diverse workforce possible, and create an inclusive culture where everyone can bring their full selves to work and can reach their highest potential.</p><h3>Sustainability</h3><p>At AXA XL, Sustainability is integral to our business strategy. In an ever-changing world, AXA XL protects what matters most for our clients and communities. We know that sustainability is at the root of a more resilient future. Our 2023-26 Sustainability strategy, called "Roots of resilience", focuses on protecting natural ecosystems, addressing climate change, and embedding sustainable practices across our operations.</p><h3>Benefits</h3><p>The U.S. base salary range for this position is USD $ 114,500-180,300 Actual pay will be determined based upon the individual's skills, experience and location. We strive for market alignment and internal equity with our colleagues' pay. At AXA XL, we know how important physical, mental, and financial health are to our employees, which is why we are proud to offer benefits such as a competitive retirement savings plan, health and wellness programs, and many other benefits. We also believe in fostering our colleagues' development and offer a wide range of learning opportunities for colleagues to hone their professional skills and to position themselves for the next step of their careers.</p></div>

<b>Job Summary</b>:<br>
AXA is a leading company in solving complex risks, particularly in the insurance sector. They are seeking a Senior Associate Business Analyst to handle requirement analysis for small to medium projects, supporting senior BAs in workshops and testing.<br><br>
<b>Responsibilities</b>:<br>
• Gather and document business requirements.<br>• Analyze and refine requirements for insurance projects.<br>• Assist in gap analysis and suggest improvements.<br>• Support workshops and requirement walkthroughs.<br>• Participate in testing and validate requirements.<br><br>
<b>Qualifications</b>:<br>
<b>Required</b>:<br>
• Ability to draft user stories/acceptance criteria.<br>• Knowledge of SDLC, STLC, and Agile methodology.<br>• Some BA experience, ideally in insurance.<br>• Knowledge of one P&C function: Claims, Billing, or Policy Admin.<br>• Effective communication with business users and IT teams<br><br>
<b>Preferred</b>:<br>
• Familiarity with Guidewire, Duck Creek, or other core insurance platforms.<br>• Exposure to SQL or reporting.<br>• Business Analyst certifications (ECBA, CCBA)<br><br>
<b>Company</b>:<br>
As one of the largest global insurers, our purpose is to act for human progress by protecting what matters. Founded in 1816, the company is headquartered in Paris, FRA, with a team of 10001+ employees. The company is currently Late Stage.

Calculate Moving Average	SQL	Easy
Predict Customer Churn	Machine Learning	Medium
A/B Test Significance	Statistics	Medium
Optimize Query Performance	SQL	Hard
Feature Importance Analysis	Machine Learning	Medium
Clean Missing Data	Python	Easy
Neural Network Architecture	Deep Learning	Hard
Calculate Cohort Retention	SQL	Medium
Bayesian Probability	Statistics	Easy
Recommend Similar Products	Machine Learning	Hard

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