Scribd
Upload
456 views49 pages

Machine Learning Interviews V 2 Week 11715787639480

Uploaded by

gg03work
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
456 views49 pages

Machine Learning Interviews V 2 Week 11715787639480

Uploaded by

gg03work
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 49

Machine Learning

Interviews
From beginner to pro

Susan Shu Chang


Susanshu.com
About me

Principal data scientist at Elastic (Elasticsearch)

Built ML in telecom, fintech, social platforms, etc.

6x PyCon speaker and international keynotes


Machine Learning Interviews

Available on

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4aOjO26

O’Reilly:
https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/machine-
learning-interviews/9781098146535/

Book companion site: Susanshu.substack.com


Warmup question:

Where are you tuning in from?


Week 1:

Introduction to ML roles,
required skills, and resumes
Learning objectives

In this course, you’ll:

● Learn the skill sets required for each type of machine learning role and evaluate
your strengths and weaknesses (Week 1)
● Understand how to craft a relevant ML resume (Week 1)
● Understand the technical fundamentals of machine learning interviews, such as
machine learning theory, statistics, and coding assessments. (Week 2)
● Gain skills for acing behavioral interview questions, and how to shape your
machine learning career narrative. (Week 2)
Week 1 discussion:

What stage are you at in your machine


learning job search?
What’s your biggest goal?

Testing the waters?

Veteran of several interviews?

Just started applying?


Week 1, Part 1

Overview of the Machine Learning Field


The Machine Learning lifecycle

Machine learning Machine learning


Data
development deployment
The Machine Learning lifecycle (detail)

Source: Machine Learning


Interviews by Susan Shu
Chang (O’Reilly)
Week 1, Part 2

Overview of ML roles/jobs
Machine learning career

● What products do you want to build?

● What impact do you want to have?

● What’s the salary?


Confusing job titles; big mistakes

● A candidate with good skills might be applying to the “wrong roles”


with the same job title.
● After looking at the job description carefully, I helped them identify
better roles to apply to.
Data roles

● Data Scientist ● Applied Scientist


○ “Product Data Scientist” ● Data Engineer
● Machine learning engineer ● Data Analyst

● MLOps engineer
Data roles

● Data Scientist ● Applied Scientist


○ “Product Data Scientist” ● Data Engineer
● Machine learning engineer ● Data Analyst

● MLOps engineer

Role confusion is a common frustration for jobseekers


Data Engineer

Source: Malsha Ranawaka


Data Scientist

● Started out as the umbrella term

● New offshoot term: “Product Data Scientist”

● Now, this job title could mean many things

○ Depends on the job description


Machine Learning Engineer

● Infrastructure work
● Model deployment, MLOps
● Model training and development
○ Part of current (newer) trend

Source: ml-ops.org
Applied Scientist

● ML models

Source: Amazon
MLOps Engineer

● Infrastructure work
● Model deployment, MLOps
● Automating ML deployments

More info on my O’Reilly MLOps Superstream keynote


Data Analyst

● Important to business decisions

○ Example: finding average sales of N business line across past X weeks

○ Automating the above via dashboards

● “Product Data Scientist”

● A good entry point for a data career


Previous trend of job titles

Data scientists do everything

Data analysts specifically responsible for data analysis


related to business decisions
Current trend of job titles

Train ML models MLOps and infrastructure work

● Data Scientist ● Machine Learning Engineer


● Machine Learning Engineer ● MLOps Engineer
● Applied scientist ● Infrastructure Software Engineer,
ML
Data analysis, A/B testing
Data Engineering
● Data analyst
● (Product) Data Scientist ● Data Engineer
● Data Scientist in a startup 😛
Week 1, Part 3

The end-to-end
ML interview process
ML interview process

● Application, resume screening


● Recruiter call (behavioral)
● Technical Interviews
● ML theory
● Programming
● Case study (how would you build…)
● Behavioral interviews, cont.
ML interview process (detail)

Source: Machine Learning


Interviews by Susan Shu
Chang (O’Reilly)
Week 1, Part 4

Identify gaps between your current skills


and your target ML role
ML skills matrix

Optional self-assessment survey: Machine Learning


Interviews, Chapter 2
How do you know there’s a gap? (1/2)

● Skills matrix gaps


● Didn’t pass interviews
○ Was there feedback? (Companies don’t give feedback much these days)
○ What’s your self assessment?
○ Even the job titles and descriptions themselves can be telling
How do you know there’s a gap? (2/2)

● Skill matrix gaps


● Didn’t pass interviews

That’s where the ML roles overview helps:

● You could be applying for something that’s the same title, but not a
match for your experience!
● Not your fault, but now you know!
● This training will help you identify and target well in interviews.
How to close the gap between your skills and ML role

Example goals:

● Take ~3 courses

● Build a side project yourself

● Bootcamps… yay or nay?


What’s your curriculum?

● Spend some time to write down:

● 3 Steps to take in the next 6 months

● In 3 months, I will complete…

● In 4 months, I will apply to 5 jobs a day…

● In 5 months, I will reach out to N hiring managers a week…


Week 1, Part 5

Optimize your resume


for target ML roles
Previous trend of job titles

Data scientists do everything

Data analysts specifically responsible for data analysis


related to business decisions
Current trend of job titles

Train ML models MLOps and infrastructure work

● Data Scientist ● Machine Learning Engineer


● Machine Learning Engineer ● MLOps Engineer
● Applied scientist ● Infrastructure Software Engineer,
ML
Data analysis, A/B testing
Data Engineering
● Data analyst
● (Product) Data Scientist ● Data Engineer
Tip: See ML lifecycle graph ● Data Scientist in a startup 😛
Resume sections

Core sections: Optional sections:

● Experience ● Skills summary


● Education ● Volunteering
● Interests
● Other sections

Note regional differences for resumes, such as profile pictures


Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
How to target your resume

● Write down all bullet points for your past experiences (main list)
● For each job posting, take a look at the core ML skills
● Pick a few points from the main list (copy paste) to your resume for
that role
Common additional requirements

● git, version control


● Cross team collaboration
● Writing tests
● (Senior) Ability to break down tasks into smaller ones

Commonly mentioned on JDs, but easy to overlook.


Resume example

(Screenshare)
Week 1

Hands on exercise
Activity: Write down your skills!
1: Beginner
2: Experienced
3: Very experienced

Skill Self identified skill level Skill Self identified skill level

Programming tools Data wrangling

Data visualization and Machine learning


communication (theory, algorithms)

Data intuition Software engineering

Statistics Multivariable calculus


and linear algebra
“Homework”

● Look at the skills you’ve filled out this session


● Identify the gaps
● Create a 3 month / 6 month plan

Take a picture of this slide and the previous!


Next week, we’ll go through…
Overview: Week 2 of Machine Learning Interviews

● Understand the technical fundamentals of machine learning


interviews, such as machine learning theory, statistics, and coding
assessments. (Week 2)
● Gain skills for acing behavioral interview questions, and how to shape
your machine learning career narrative. (Week 2)
Q&A
Learn more at:

ML Interviews site:
Susanshu.substack.com

Get the Machine Learning Interviews book:


https://amzn.to/4aOjO26

LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/susan-shu-chang/

You might also like