1. Workshop 2.2
How to pass the hiring interview
for Data Scientist
Ihor Malchenyuk, Smart City Lab
Olena Boichenko, EY
Olga Rubalska, Khrystyna Holysheva, SoftServe
Anatolii Shemet, Ciklum

2. https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century

3. Data Flood
Tim Lahan © 2015 The New York Times Company

4. Doctor Who?

5. Next-Gen Data Scientist
• Deep academic roots
 mathematics
 statistics
 computer science inc. machine learning and visualization
• Skill set
 “In the past, companies looked for people with math, science and
computer/tech backgrounds, who could analyze data quickly and
efficiently. Lately, however, more companies are looking for candidates
who “fit at the intersection of multiple domains”
D.J. Patil, U.S. Chief Data Scientist
 “No one person can be the perfect data scientist, so we need the teams”
Dr. Rachel Schutt, Johnson Research Labs
• Communication skills are important, even for introverts.
Many data scientists are typically introverts

6. Sample skill set (by D.J. Patil)
 Technical expertise: the best data scientists typically have deep
expertise in some scientific discipline.
 Curiosity: a desire to go beneath the surface
and discover and distill a problem down
into a very clear set of hypotheses that
can be tested.
 Storytelling: the ability to use data to tell
a story and to be able to communicate it
effectively.
 Cleverness: the ability to look at a problem
in different, creative ways.

8. Technologies and Languages

9. Move faster than others
• Learn online and offline
 EdX, Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, HPI, DataCamp
• Read whitepapers and knowledge bases
 IBM Redbooks, AWS, Hortonworks, Cloudera
• Watch the conferences, webinars and workshops
 Strata + Hadoop, ODSC, Big Data Spain, KDD
• Participate in communities and forums
 KDnuggets.com, Kaggle.com, github.com
• Learning by doing
© 2012-2016 Acoyph

10. Getting to interview
1. Keep your CV and profile(s) up-to-date
2. Build your network – references and recommendations
3. Target potential employers
4. Customize your application
5. Apply soon
© Cartoonresource

11. Exercise 1: Profiling
• Analysis of your LinkedIn profile or CV
 key attention points – highlights and lowlights
 recommendations
• 1…2 Volunteer(s)

12. Interviewing tips
1. Prepare
 research the company and position before your visit
 appearance – dress professionally
 be in time – arrive a few minutes early
2. Perform
 enjoy and be positive
 think about your body language,
maintain eye contact
 turn recruiter into your friend
 ask your questions –
prepare the list in advance
3. Reflect
 follow up with short
thank you letter
 get feedback, if possible
 better choose than search

13. Expect very typical questions
1. Why you want to change the job? What you dislike in your job?
2. What alternatives you are considering?
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What are your strongest skills and characteristics?
4. Who you want to be? Describe the position or desired project?
5. Why we should hire you? Why you will succeed in new position?
6. What are your salary expectations?

14. It’s always multilevel
• Interviewing as a last resort
 “Most hiring decisions come down to a gut decision.”
Daniel Kahneman
• Better solutions
 Competition / Hackathon
 Samples of previous work
 Working session
 Home assignment
 Internship
 Trial period

15. Your career goals
Intern
Junior
Middle
Senior
Lead
Source: https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/portrait-2016/

16. Exercise 2: Interviewing
• “Real” interviews and immediate feedback
• 5 Volunteers

17. • Final questions and answers
• Lessons Learned
 your immediate action?
 do one thing different in the next 21 days
• Summary