Book Image

Cracking the Data Science Interview

By : Leondra R. Gonzalez, Aaren Stubberfield
Book Image

Cracking the Data Science Interview

By: Leondra R. Gonzalez, Aaren Stubberfield

Overview of this book

The data science job market is saturated with professionals of all backgrounds, including academics, researchers, bootcampers, and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) graduates. This poses a challenge for companies seeking the best person to fill their roles. At the heart of this selection process is the data science interview, a crucial juncture that determines the best fit for both the candidate and the company. Cracking the Data Science Interview provides expert guidance on approaching the interview process with full preparation and confidence. Starting with an introduction to the modern data science landscape, you’ll find tips on job hunting, resume writing, and creating a top-notch portfolio. You’ll then advance to topics such as Python, SQL databases, Git, and productivity with shell scripting and Bash. Building on this foundation, you'll delve into the fundamentals of statistics, laying the groundwork for pre-modeling concepts, machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI. The book concludes by offering insights into how best to prepare for the intensive data science interview. By the end of this interview guide, you’ll have gained the confidence, business acumen, and technical skills required to distinguish yourself within this competitive landscape and land your next data science job.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1: Breaking into the Data Science Field
4
Part 2: Manipulating and Managing Data
10
Part 3: Exploring Artificial Intelligence
16
Part 4: Getting the Job

Dissecting the flavors of data science

Now that we have defined some of the critical aspects of the role of a data scientist, it is clear that the role often covers many different skills. Data scientists are frequently asked to perform a variety of data-related tasks, including designing database tables to collect data, programming ML algorithms, understanding statistics, and creating stunning visuals to help explain interesting findings to others, but it is difficult for any single person to master all of these skill areas.

Therefore, we often see data scientists who are particularly skilled in one or two areas and have basic competencies in the others. Their talents could be considered T-shaped, where they are proficient across many areas such as the horizontal line of a T, while they have deep knowledge and expertise in a few areas such as the vertical portion of the letter:

Figure 1.2: Example of the ‘T of Competencies’

Figure 1.2: Example of the ‘T of Competencies’

While this...