This content is an episode of the "Data Career Podcast" where host Avery Smith interviews two individuals, Richard and Joey, simulating data analyst interview scenarios. The episode highlights the importance of practice and introduces a new tool, "Interview Simulator," designed to help aspiring data professionals prepare for their job interviews.
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they just trying to see how the heck do
you think like what is your thought
process I love that you like pulled out
a calculator and I loved at the
beginning how you like asked for clarity
I think that's really important welcome
to the data career podcast the podcast
that helps aspiring data professionals
land their next data job here's your
host Avery Smith in this episode you're
going to see me interview two random
strangers and ask them data analyst
interview questions in hopes that
preparing them for their upcoming
interviews if you guys like this episode
you are going to love this tool called
interview simulator I recently released
it interview simulator. that's interview
simulator. it's called interview
simulator because it simulates an
interview where you basically will have
this exact same scenario with me where I
ask you a question you respond with
video or audio you get to see how I
would answer the question and then we
also have an AI interview wizard that
will give you critique it'll score your
answer on one to 10 and also give you a
list of Pros things that you did well
and some areas where you could maybe
improve so if you guys want to check
that out interview simulator. let's get
into this episode you prepared for an
interview question yeah I'm in a
graduate school and I'm just looking for
kind of like internship and a full-time
job within a data analytic side so I
think this is a good chance to practice
well first off congrats on grad school
and for being here and being brave to do
this the questions that we're going to
be pulling from today are going to be
straight from interview simulator so you
can answer them today and then you can
always go back and practice them here
we'll start off with with a behavioral
question and then we'll move to a
technical question so let's go ahead and
hop into it Richard okay so we're gonna
start off pretty simple and because I
don't know anything about you we're
gonna start off with the question that's
probably going to be asked in every
interview and that is tell me about
yourself so Richard tell me about
yourself yeah sure yeah my name is
Richard and I'm graduate school from the
U msba program I'm on the second
semester and I'm very interested into
the utilizing the data and AI in my
field for my work experience I will work
for the data analysis data engineer and
bi engineer for three years and for
during that times I utilize over 10
products and built it for the data
pipeline for the various companies
including attech proptech and the
financial vintch area that was a great
answer it's it's always scary giving
those answers always especially on on a
live call like this so that that was a
great answer I like that you kind of
identified what you're currently doing
right you said you're a graduate student
that's always key to make sure that like
they know what you're actually doing
right now but I also like that you said
what you've done in the past so yeah you
said you had been working like as a data
analyst for three years I and and it
seemed like you you had done it in a
couple different Industries I didn't
catch any of the company names so what
companies did you work for yeah I work
for the Buu pathway and the other is
sorry I forgot the names of the the pro
TCO companies it was located in Arizona
okay cool one of the other things I
thought it it sounded like at those
companies that You' worked for you have
like you develop some experience and you
said You' use multiple tools what were
some of those tools I would like to know
in that answer like what tools so what
tools did you did you use yeah for the
dashboard building I've used a tableau
powerp and the quick side and for the
data pipeline I most likely use the AWS
stack which is the glue and the the
Athena or the Thea uh wrinkling and uh
cleansing oh see that's super awesome
and very impressive yeah so that I think
that would be my my critique is
mentioning the companies and the tools
by name because like AWS is no joke it
is not the easiest tool stack to use so
that's like oh I'm already thinking
Richard knows knows some pretty good
stuff so that's great I think that was
really important to add those things to
your answer but I thought I thought you
did a fairly good job one of the cool
things is you can go back and go to
interview simulator. and practice the
question here you know with either video
or with audio and it does a pretty good
job you'll get a response from our
interview wizard that basically looks at your
your
answer analyzes it gives it a score one
out of 10 and list the pros and the cons
as well and then also lets you watch the
the replay as well because even when you
answering the question me as a human I
was like trying to remember every single
thing that you said that's the nice
thing about the interview is is it's not
human so it doesn't have to try to
remember so anyways I think your answer
I I would probably give your answer
probably around a seven or an eight out
of 10 I think I think you did a good job
identifying what you've done you made me
feel confident that you was like oh
Richard does have you know experience in
the past and I think to to make it like
a nine or or a 10 out of 10 adding a
little bit more specificity around the
tech stack and the tools would probably
be the key there does that make sense
Richard yeah totally makes sense thank
you okay cool you you down to do a
technical question yeah I'm ready to do
that I think okay let's try a technical
question I'll I'll actually let you
choose out of these questions you see
over here on the screen which technical
question because technical questions are
a little bit scary in my opinion so I'll
let you choose since you've been brave
which technical question would you like
to answer today yeah I think the SQL
window function from Amazon would be
interesting for me okay let's go ahead
and do it so I'll pull this up once
again I'm not going to play the video of
me asking the question like you normally
would in interview simulator because I'm
here live with you right obviously so
it's probably not necessary but
basically in this question which is
taken from an Amazon I think this was
actually taken from a business
intelligence engineer position at Amazon
and let's go ahead and I'll ask you that
question the question is what is a SQL
window function and when would you use
one so I'll open it up to you Richard go
ahead yeah for the window function I
think it is very similar for the group
by or aggregated function but you can do
without just aggregating for that one or
or transforming the original or low data
set so for example like if you want a
partitions by one of the data or each of
the users for example then you can just
like doing group bu and just like
aggregating some of the the numbers or
counting the numbers for examples but uh
window functions allow you two just like
a without group buy you are just like
maintaining some of the original data
set and you are just like adding some of
the aggregated numbers onto the data set
so like for example count of the how
many users are existing per each of the
men's or women then if you get seven in
total then you will get the number of
each each LW as a total number of seven
by using the window function sweet clap
it up for for Richard you guys that was
a great answer and he did a good job
that is not an easy question the SQL
window function at all Richard I think
you did a great job on this question I
think I loved the thing I really once
again so just just to kind of highlight
you can always go back to interview
simulator and ask you know go through
the exact same question again and you
would actually be able to watch your
answer back you would actually get to
see me answer the question and then of
course you'd get your feedback from the
interview whiz in interview simulator as
well if I had to guess what interview
whiz would say about that question I
honestly think that was probably an
eight or a nine out of 10 you pretty
much nailed everything so things I'm
looking for when when I ask this
question is yeah saying it's like a
group by without aggregations I think is
probably the easiest way to describe it
like in simple terms I think that's
really good and then you said for
example twice which I think is always
good trying to give like a tangible
example of when it's useful so I think
that's really good and it's like way
easier to show like a table of it being
used versus explaining it via word so I
think you did a good job with that my
only critique would probably be to talk
I mean you did kind of talk about it
with that girls and boys example I guess
I was kind of looking for like some some
common use cases like some of the and
you kind of gave it I think you were
what we what you were talking about the
boys and girls was like a running count
I was looking just for that word like a
running sum or like a running count or
like a running a rolling average or
something like that so I think that that
would have the only thing that could
have made it a little bit better but
overall I think that was a pretty good
answer to a pretty tough SQL Rush what
do you think does that make sense yeah I
think it'll be better to if I just give
the length example so that like people
can easily understand like how the
window function can be applied to just
make the the length of each of the GLW
yeah 100% but overall I feel like that
was pretty solid and I think you did a a
a great job everyone clap it up for
Richard that is not easy to do and come
up here on this stage speaking of which
we have someone new to the stage Joey
Welcome to our show today thank you so
much for having me hey no problem thanks
for being brave I know this is a hard
thing to to do where are you calling
from today calling in from Houston Texas
so I've been following you you know
LinkedIn you're one of the main reasons
why I attribute a lot of My Success I
recently accepted an offer with concast
MBC Universal as a senior business
intelligence analyst but I always
constantly on Lookout to improve my
interview strategies I have an interview
coming up tomorrow well a presentation
on how to deliver the best interview
tips so also you know looking forward to
learning about yourself and you know
this new platform that you have sweet
that is awesome and congrats on the new
job I'm going to challenge you if you
don't mind let's do one of these like
logic thinking question this one is from
Airbnb all of you guys watching you guys
can try it at interview simulator .io
but the question is how many meeting
rooms so Airbnb once again I'm not going
to press play on the question that's how
you do it in real life in interview
simulator but basically Airbnb is
looking to expand and they're building a
new headquarters and they're trying to
think through how many meeting rooms
should they put in this new headquarters
they're asking you as you know a data
analyst to try to to solve this problem
so Joey go ahead how many meeting rooms
should we build as Airbnb sure
absolutely first I would have to start
off with how many people are we
intending to to relocate to this office
for example I would also want data on
sort of the the department titles you
know I would imagine meeting movs would
be mostly taken up by folks in the upper
you know level executive right I also
would ask about you know the square
footage data on the square footage and
as well as the the number of of meeting
rooms are AV well that's the question
right so I would say he the square
footage I would also ask Dana on you
know the number of hours you know are
there like peak times that you know
certain Executives or teams meet most
regularly I would imagine that you know
traffic you know a lot of meetings take
place in the morning with those horic
ones coming up in the afternoon but if
you can guide me more through this I'd
really appreciate it okay great so yeah
let's say we're going to we anticipate
around 3,000 people being at this
building there is a little bit of a
hybrid schedule however so you know it
might not be 3,000 every single day
let's say 20,000 square feet so 20,000
Square sheeet absolutely so now that we
have sort of you know I think also
information of the meeting culture so
sometimes employees you know take on
Virtual uh meetings right let's assume
that 25% of those employees are in
meetings at any given time and so we
would say the average meeting size can
be anywhere from I would say five to 10
people of course there can be more
people in the meetings there can be less
and so with that being said I would say
each room can be used around you know 60
to 70% of the time with 30% is where
like you know just being used like by
people that just come into the meeting
rooms to just to get work so I would say
based on the assumptions so the total
number of people in these meetings
simultaneously can be 20,000 right every
of the ones that you just mentioned I
would multiply that by 25% of those
employees that are in meetings every
time so 20,000 times
25% I would be around you know I would
say let me do the ma
2,000 at 25% 5,000 people right and so
the number of meeting rooms that are
needed based on the average size I'd say
an average meeting size is four to six
people so I would go around with five
people I would divide that by five and
so that would be that's that's not that
doesn't make sense so a thousand I think
I think I I I confuse you because I I
think I said I accidentally said 20,000
employees but I really meant 20,000 feet
or square feet but regardless I think
this was a pretty good answer I think
you did really well because like
basically with these questions they're
just trying to see how the the heck do
you think like what is your thought
process and you did a really good job of
basically you were almost like streaming
your full of of Consciousness and like
thinking through everything I love that
you like pulled out a calculator I
thought that was that was really good
and you're and I loved at the beginning
how you like asked for clarity I think
that's really important and then
something that's that a lot of people uh
probably don't feel comfortable doing in
an interview all the time is like can
you can you explain a little bit more so
I think I think you did a really good
job I love what Daniela just said
Daniela says OMG these questions made me
real I need to do more mock interviews
well that's that's good and that's the
point of interview simulator is to get
questions like this and to take a stab
at at answering them because like I mean
Joey correct me if I'm wrong but I'm
assuming that you don't like spend your
time every day even as a as a data
analyst even as a senior data analyst
like really thinking through how many
meeting rooms a a a building should have
right that's not something that you do
absolutely not but I think where the
valid comes in is your thought
processing and your ability to think
critically and I think that is what you
know when we're talking about the AI era
the the ability to think critically will
take us far and make sure that we will
not be replaced right because that's
sort of the trend that we're a lot of
people say we want to be replaced by AI
but I think that ability to think
greatly is what will make us stay yeah
100% And so these types of questions I
mean of course every day you're thinking
critically but it's like you're not
thinking critically out loud on like
this type of a weird question so really
practicing like Daniela said like doing
these mock interviews is is really
useful but but I thought you did a good
job and like in the end I don't even
know I'm going to cut you off before you
actually gave a real number but that's
not the point of the interview is or the
question is like we don't actually care
about what number you actually end up
saying it's more what did you lead up
before the number I thought you did a
good job asking for clarity asking for
more data you know going through it
almost looked like or or it almost felt
like you had like a Google sheet or like
Excel open and you were like putting
these numbers in and kind of crunching
it and I I as the interviewer could be
like okay yeah I could see how Joey
could solve these types of hard problems
at our company so I thought you did a
good job I think at on a rating I would
give you probably about an eight or a
nine the only thing I think that you
could approve on is probably just not
having to do it in front of people on
LinkedIn and have like like a piece of
paper in front of you just to keep track
of it all that's being me being nippi I
thought you did a great job so it would
be fun for you to test this out on interview
interview
simulator. and and see what interview
whiz thinks of your answer because I
thought it was pretty good yeah
absolutely thank you so much Avery so
I'll be presenting this uh I have going
to take a screenshot of this and uh
presenting it to my presentation uh
tomorrow with black and technology so uh
you know promoting helping you promote
this hey I I appreciate it Joey thanks
so much for being brave and coming up
and uh let me know if there's anything I
can do for that as well absolutely thank
you so muchy have a good one I recently
released the mock interview tool it's
called interview simulator you guys can
check it out at interview
simulator. um for the next 14 days it is
completely free um and you guys can just
click this button right here try
interview simulator and just enter your
email boom and you will be taken to this
page right here which is where we have
all of our questions from all our
different companies and you can try a
question from Apple or a question from
Airbnb or a question from Chevron from
the NFL from Netflix that good stuff and
practice using audio and video you
basically will click on a question
you'll hear me ask the question and then
you'll be able to respond via audio or
via video once you give your response
you'll actually hear me respond give my
like example response and then we are
going to give you a grade from the
interview Wiz the interview Wiz is our
AI tool that will look at your answer
give you a score from one to 10 and list
all the pros and the cons like what you
did well and where you could improve and
we'll also be adding expert examples
down here at the bottom as well from
other students inside the program as we
expand you guys can find the link in the
comments thank you guys for joining I'm
excited to be doing this more in the
future and we'll talk soon have a good
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