Data science interviews aren’t easy. I know this first hand. I’ve done more than my fair share of them. Through this exciting and somewhat (at times, very) painful process, I've compiled a ton of useful resources that helped me prepare for and eventually pass data science interviews.

Originally on Github, I decided to reformat the links and republish them here to make things easier on you. With this list at your disposal, you should have more than enough reading and practice material for the next time you hunker down and do some interview prep.

General

Let's start with links to interview questions that cover data science as a whole. Specifically, I highly recommend checking out the first few links related to 120 Data Science Interview Questions. Drop a couple bucks on the eBook or just browse the answers for free on Quora. This was my favorite resource for testing myself with realistic, challenging questions.

Algorithmic Programming & Python

Even Data Scientists cannot escape the dreaded algorithmic coding interview. In my experience, this isn't always the case, but odds are you'll be asked to work through something similar to an easy or medium question on LeetCode or HackerRank.

As far as language goes, most companies will let you use whatever you prefer, even if the roles are typically targeted at Python and R programmers. Regardless of language, I would recommend investing in Cracking the Coding Interview. The book is a fantastic resource and will be helpful, even if you aren't using Java.

Statistics & Probability

Statistics is crucial for Data Scientists and is reflected as such in interviews. I had many interviews begin by seeing if I can explain a common statistics or probability concept in simple and concise terms.

As positions get more experienced, I suspect this happens less and less, as traditional statistical questions begin to take the form of more practical scenarios.

Data Manipulation & SQL

Once the interviewer knows that you can think-through problems and code effectively, chances are that you’ll move onto some more data science specific applications. This will likely be an assessment using Python, R, or SQL that involves you digging up data in a specific format, and making an informed statement about it.

Machine Learning

You might not be using machine learning in your day-to-day, but it's still a virtual lock in the data science interview. Whether it's a conceptual question regarding tradeoffs in models or a take home assignment with a dataset attached, you'll have to know your stuff.  I’ve seen it both ways, so you’ve got to be prepared for either.

Specifically, check out the Machine Learning Flashcards below, they’re only a couple bucks and were my favorite way to quiz myself on common conceptual questions.

Product & Experimentation

This won’t be covered in every single data science interview, but for product-facing roles, it's a must. Most interviews at consumer companies will have at least one section solely dedicated to product thinking. This typically lends itself to an A/B testing question of some sort.

Make sure your familiar with the concepts and statistical background necessary in order to be prepared when it comes up. If you have time to spare, I took the free online course by Udacity and overall, it was pretty good.

Advice

Lastly, I wanted to call out all of the posts related to data science jobs and interviewing that I read over and over again. These helped me understand, not only how to prepare, but what to expect as well. If you only check out one section here, this is the one to focus on. This is the layer that sits on top of all the technical skills and application. Don’t overlook it.

Wrapping up

I hope you find these resources useful during your next interview or job search. I know I did. Interviews are hard, but there is a silver lining in that they serve as a forcing function for learning.

All of the above articles, videos, and guides helped me essentially self-teach myself data science. Thanks to others sharing what they learned, I was able to fail, learn from it, and then do it over again until I landed a job that I love. With the right mindset and resources, you can do the same.

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