Sample Answer
On a churn prediction project for a subscription product, I worked closely with a senior data scientist who was leading the overall solution. The team was five people; my main responsibilities were data cleaning, feature engineering, and building the initial baseline models. I owned the pipeline for 2+ years of behavioral data, creating features around login frequency, support tickets, and plan changes. My first model was a basic logistic regression that got us to about 0.68 AUC. In review, the senior DS pushed me to simplify highly correlated features, add time-based features, and tighten up my cross-validation strategy. I refactored the feature set, implemented time-based CV, and documented every modeling decision. That bumped performance to 0.76 AUC and made the model much more interpretable for the marketing team. The bigger learning for me was how to structure experiments, write clearer analysis docs, and proactively ask for feedback on tradeoffs instead of just on code.
Keywords
Walk me through a recent multi-channel digital marketing campaign you managed end-to-end. How did you set objectives, choose channels, allocate budget, and measure success?
Based on your hydrology and irrigation engineering background, explain how you would estimate the irrigation water requirement for a kharif crop in a semi-arid region of Gujarat. Walk me through each step: from reference evapotranspiration estimation, crop coefficient selection, effective rainfall calculation, to arriving at canal discharge for a given command area.
In your civil engineering studies, what specific design coursework or project work did you complete related to irrigation channels or canals (e.g., design of lined/unlined canals, distributaries, minors)? Describe one such design in detail, including how you determined discharge, permissible velocity, section dimensions, and lining choice for Gujarat-type soil and climate conditions.
In your resume you note improving or optimizing [a process, KPI, or metric]. What specific baseline metrics did you start from, what steps did you personally take, and how did you verify that the improvement was due to your changes rather than external factors?
On your resume you mention working on a cross-functional project (e.g., involving multiple teams or stakeholders). Describe a situation from that project where priorities conflicted—how did you navigate the trade-offs and what was the final outcome?