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University of Southern California Interview Questions

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Machine Learning

Encoding Categorical Features

Coefficients of Logistic Regression

Classification and Regression

Score Based on Review

Addressing imbalanced data in machine learning through carefully prepared techniques.

Data Preparation for Imbalanced Data

Behavioral

Describing a data project and its challenges

Hurdles In Data Projects

Strategically resolving misaligned expectations with stakeholders for a successful project outcome

Stakeholder Communication

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

Your Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Why Do You Want to Work With Us

Statistics

P-value to a Layman

What are the assumptions of linear regression?

Assumptions of Linear Regression

Using R Squared

Multicollinearity in Regression

Product Sense & Metrics

Vision Setting and Execution Strategy

Analytics

Describing a real-world data cleaning and organization project

Data Cleaning Experiences

Tell me about a data project that didn’t go the way you expected. What did you set out to do, what surprised you, and how did you handle it?

Say you are tasked with analyzing how well a model fits the data given. You want to determine a relationship between two variables.

What is the downside of only using the R-Squared $(R^2)$ value to do so?

In the context of regression analysis, why is it misleading to rely solely on a high R-squared ($R^2$) value to infer a causal relationship between variables?

In the context of regression analysis, why is it misleading to rely solely on a high R-squared ($R^2$) value to infer a causal relationship between variables?

Using R Squared I

Which of the following best describes the R-squared ($R^2$) value in the context of a regression model?

Which of the following best describes the R-squared ($R^2$) value in the context of a regression model?

Using R Squared II

What is a limitation of using R-squared ($R^2$) as the only metric to evaluate a regression model's fit?

What is a limitation of using R-squared ($R^2$) as the only metric to evaluate a regression model's fit?

Using R Squared III

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

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

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

P-value to a Layman I

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

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

What are the assumptions of linear regression?

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

Regression assumptions

Let’s say you have a categorical variable with thousands of distinct values, how would you encode it?

Which method can be used to extract communities from large networks, that does not require a pre-determined number of clusters like K-means?

Which method can be used to extract communities from large networks, that does not require a pre-determined number of clusters like K-means?

How would you interpret coefficients of logistic regression for categorical and boolean variables?

Why is one-hot encoding recommended for categorical variables in logistic regression models?

Why is one-hot encoding recommended for categorical variables in logistic regression models?

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

You are given a singly linked list, write a function to find and return the last node of the list. If the list is empty, return null.

Write a function to find and return the last node of a singly linked list. If the list is empty, return null.

Last Element of a Singly Linked List

Data Structures & Algorithms

When an interviewer asks a question along the lines of:

<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>

How would you respond?

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

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

Your Strengths and Weaknesses I

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

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

Your Strengths and Weaknesses II

How would you tackle multicollinearity in multiple linear regression?

What are the key differences between classification models and regression models?

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

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

Classification vs Regression

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

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

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

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

When an interviewer asks you a question along the lines of:

<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>

How should you respond?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s say there are two tables, <code>students</code> and <code>tests</code>.

The <code>tests</code> table doesn’t have a student id. However, it has the first and last name and date of birth, which can be inaccurate because these details are entered manually.

What process would you use to determine which student in the student rosters took which exam?

Notes: You can assume that you can utilize a human to support reviewing your matches and that you need to evaluate thousands of rows of data.

Example:

Input:

<code>students</code> table

<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>firstname</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>lastname</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>date_of_birth</code></td>
<td>DATETIME</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Output:

<code>tests</code> table

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

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

<tr>
<td><code>lastname</code></td>
<td>VARCHAR</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>date_of_birth</code></td>
<td>DATETIME</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><code>test_score</code></td>
<td>INTEGER</td>
</tr>

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

Student Tests

Data Modeling

Let’s say you’re an ML engineer at Netflix. You have access to reviews of 10K movies. Each review contains multiple sentences along with a score ranging from 1 to 10.

How would you design an ML system to predict the movie score based on the review text?

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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