Data Analyst Interview Questions, Part 1

 

The Data Analyst is in a unique position to act as intermediary between all factions of an organisation, brokering the knowledge they decipher from performing statistical data analysis to guide and improve the business.

The types of questions you’ll get asked during your Data Analyst interview will largely depend on the level at which you’re applying to. Generally speaking the interviewer will want to understand your motivations, ambitions and specific interest in their company.

To begin with, you can expect questions that dig into your background, the extent to which you’ve researched the organisation you’re applying to and how you see yourself progressing through their ranks.

Why have you chosen a career in Data Analysis?

Why do you want to work for our company?

Where do you see yourself in 2-5 years’ time?

University graduates may be asked to go into detail about particular projects they worked on during their degree. Typically coming from an academic background in mathematics, statistics, economics or computer science, candidates for Data Analyst roles will have been looking for any and every opportunity to flex their technical muscle in order to develop their understanding and practical experience across areas like Data Profiling, Data Mining, Data Cleansing and Data Manipulation.

This may then lead your interviewer on to quiz you on the tools you’ve had experience with.

What are the best tools for Data Analysis?

Which tools are you most proficient in?

Be prepared to discuss how you’ve used the likes of KNIME, Redash, R, Python, Excel, SAS, SQL, and Tableau in practical scenarios and any new tools you’re aware of on the market that could benefit the company. Demonstrating knowledge and practical administration of key programming languages, statistical packages and business intelligence tools and platforms tells your interviewer how well you navigate massive datasets.

What skills do you think are important to be a Data Analyst?

What are the responsibilities of a Data Analyst?

Questions like this may find their way into an interview at junior level as the hiring manager makes his or her evaluation of your character and practical application within the role. Essentially, do you know what is expected of you and what the job entails.

The more junior Data Analysts tend to work within a larger team, particularly in bigger organisations so you may get questions around that and how well you work in others, or whether you prefer to work autonomously.

In part two we will cover more of the technical areas Data Analyst candidates must answer to, the terms you should know and the processes you should be familiar with.