Below are examples of some of the most commonly asked Python interview questions in both machine learning interviews and data science interviews.
You should expect questions that test your fundamental knowledge of Python, data structures and algorithms, and how you use Python for data manipulation, data preprocessing, model evaluation, and feature engineering.
The specific format of questions depends on the company and the position you’re interviewing for.
For instance, many Google candidates report getting asked to implement k-nearest neighbors, a broad and conceptual question. While Netflix interviews may focus more on model evaluation questions.
One application of your Python knowledge will be on data preprocessing and analysis problems.
Data preprocessing helps to validate the quality of a dataset and clean it before using statistical techniques to analyze it.
Some sample questions include:
This question assesses your data preparation and analysis skills.
Discrepancies in training and test data distribution refer to differences in how data points are spread out between two data subsets.
Here is a sample solution using pandas, sklearn, matplotlib, and seaborn:
import pandas as pd
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
# Load the entire dataset from a CSV file
health_data = pd.read_csv('dataset.csv')
# Create train and test sets
trainingSet, testSet = train_test_split(health_data, test_size=0.2, random_state=123)
# Examine pairplots
plt.figure()
sns.pairplot(trainingSet, hue='Test Results', palette='RdBu')
plt.show()
plt.figure()
sns.pairplot(testSet, hue='Test Results', palette='RdBu')
plt.show()
Output:
Exploratory data analysis involves identifying outliers using boxplots.
You might also be asked to explain box-plots to a non-technical stakeholder.
Here's a sample solution using matplotlib and seaborn.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
# Univariate and multivariate boxplots
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 2)
sns.boxplot(y=insurance_data['Annual Premium'], ax=ax[0])
ax[0].set_title('Univariate Boxplot of Annual Premium')
sns.boxplot(x='Vehicle Age', y='Annual Premium', data=insurance_data, ax=ax[1])
ax[1].set_title('Multivariate Boxplot of Vehicle Age vs. Annual Premium')
plt.show()
Output:
The horizontal line inside each box plot represents median values. The box represents the interquartile range (IQR).
Lines extending outside the box are called whiskers. They represent the range of data points that fall within 1.5 times the IQR from the quartiles (Q1 and Q3).
The annual premium distribution is positively skewed. This indicates that there are more expensive vehicles than cheaper ones. The IQR appears to be larger for 1-2-year-old vehicles, indicating a greater spread in premium costs within that age group.
Identifying and handling outliers in a dataset can be done using z-scores and interquartile ranges.
Here's a sample solution using pandas, numpy, and scipy:
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats
# Print columns before dropping
print(numeric_cols.mean())
print(numeric_cols.median())
print(numeric_cols.max())
# Create index of rows to keep
idx = (np.abs(stats.zscore(numeric_cols)) < 3).all(axis=1)
# Concatenate numeric and categorical subsets
ld_out_drop = pd.concat([numeric_cols.loc[idx], categoric_cols.loc[idx]], axis=1)
# Print columns after dropping
print(ld_out_drop.mean())
print(ld_out_drop.median())
print(ld_out_drop.max())
stats.zscore(numeric_cols)
for each value in the numeric columns. A z-score measures how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean. np.abs(...) < 3
. A z-score less than 3 means the data point is within 3 standard deviations from the mean. This is a common threshold to identify outliers..all(axis=1)
ensures that all numeric columns for a given row must have z-scores less than 3 for the row to be kept. pd.concat([...], axis=1)
concatenates the filtered numeric and categorical columns side by side.print
statistics after dropping outliers.This question tests your understanding of foundational data analysis.
Here's a sample solution using pandas:
import pandas as pd
# Example DataFrame
data = {
'Category': ['A', 'B', 'A', 'C', 'B', 'A', 'A', 'C', 'B']
}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
# Calculate count of all unique values
unique_value_counts = df['Category'].value_counts()
print(unique_value_counts)
Min-max scaling preserves the original distribution of a dataset while ensuring all features have the same scale.
This is an essential part of the data preprocessing stage in machine learning projects and is usually calculated by:
Here is a sample solution:
import numpy as np
def min_max_scaling(data):
data_min, data_max = np.min(data), np.max(data)
return (data - data_min) / (data_max - data_min)
data = np.array([5, 20, 50, 10, 15, 30])
scaled_data = min_max_scaling(data)
Feature scaling is a pre-processing technique that improves model performance and convergence and reduces bias.
Here's a sample solution using sklearn:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler, MinMaxScaler
# Sample dataset
data = {
'Feature1': [10, 20, 30, 40, 50],
'Feature2': [100, 150, 200, 250, 300],
'Feature3': [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400]
}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
# Standardization
scaler = StandardScaler()
scaled_data = scaler.fit_transform(df)
# Convert scaled data back to DataFrame
scaled_df = pd.DataFrame(scaled_data, columns=df.columns)
print("Standardized Data:\n", scaled_df)
# Normalization
scaler = MinMaxScaler()
normalized_data = scaler.fit_transform(df)
# Convert normalized data back to DataFrame
normalized_df = pd.DataFrame(normalized_data, columns=df.columns)
print("Normalized Data:\n", normalized_df)
This question requires you to use statistical methods to analyze and interpret data.
Here's a sample solution:
import numpy as np
# Example dataset
data = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10])
# Calculate the 25th, 50th (median), and 75th percentiles
percentiles = np.percentile(data, [25, 50, 75])
print("25th percentile:", percentiles[0])
print("50th percentile (median):", percentiles[1])
print("75th percentile:", percentiles[2])
You should be familiar with the fundamentals of the Python language, as well as how to use it to solve common coding problems for all interview levels.
One of the most popular programming languages for interviews is Python.
Here are some examples:
Euclidean distance is often used to measure the similarity between two points in clustering algorithms, dimensionality reduction, and nearest neighbor search.
Your ability to implement mathematical concepts in Python is being assessed with this question.
Here's a sample solution using numpy:
import numpy as np
def euclidean_distance(point_a, point_b):
return np.sqrt(np.sum((point_a - point_b) ** 2))
point_a = np.array([1, 2, 3])
point_b = np.array([4, 5, 6])
distance = euclidean_distance(point_a, point_b)
print(distance)
This is a fundamental problem-solving and programming problem.
Here's a sample solution:
def replace_spaces_with_hyphen(text):
# Replace spaces with hyphen
return text.replace(' ', '-')
# Original text
text = "Exponent machine learning course"
# Replace spaces with hyphen
modified_text = replace_spaces_with_hyphen(text)
print(modified_text) # Output: "Exponent-machine-learning-course"
Throughout your technical interviews, you should expect questions on manipulating arrays.
Here's a sample solution:
def remove_duplicates(sorted_array):
if not sorted_array:
return []
# Initialize variables
unique_array = [sorted_array[0]]
# Iterate through the array and add unique elements
for num in sorted_array[1:]:
if num != unique_array[-1]:
unique_array.append(num)
return unique_array
# Example usage
sorted_array = [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5]
unique_array = remove_duplicates(sorted_array)
print(unique_array) # Output: [1, 2,
3, 4, 5]
Creating a DataFrame is a fundamental skill in data manipulation and analysis.
Here's a sample solution using pandas:
import pandas as pd
# Method one
data = {
'Name': ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Charlie'],
'Age': [25, 30, 35],
'City': ['New York', 'Los Angeles', 'Chicago']
}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
print(df)
# Method two
data = [
('Alice', 25, 'New York'),
('Bob', 30, 'Los Angeles'),
('Charlie', 35, 'Chicago')
]
df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=['Name', 'Age', 'City'])
print(df)
A large part of your role as a machine learning engineer is deploying and evaluating models.
Real-world deployments of ML models often run into various challenges that require more than just accuracy-based metrics.
Here are some sample questions you should practice:
This algorithm uses distance metrics like Euclidean distance to compute the similarity between data points.
Here's a sample implementation:
import numpy as np
from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier
# Create neighbors
neighbors = np.arange(1, 13)
train_accuracies = {}
test_accuracies = {}
for neighbor in neighbors:
# Set up a KNN Classifier
knn = KNeighborsClassifier(n_neighbors=neighbor)
# Fit the model
knn.fit(X_train, y_train)
# Compute accuracy
train_accuracies[neighbor] = knn.score(X_train, y_train)
test_accuracies[neighbor] = knn.score(X_test, y_test)
print(neighbors, '\\n', train_accuracies, '\\n', test_accuracies)
KNN is a common supervised machine learning algorithm.
Designing it from scratch gives insights into your proficiency in using NumPy for mathematical operations.
Here's a sample numpy solution:
import numpy as np
class KNNClassifier:
def __init__(self, k=3):
self.k = k
def fit(self, X_train, y_train):
self.X_train = X_train
self.y_train = y_train
def predict(self, X_test):
predictions = []
for x in X_test:
# Calculate distances from x to all examples in X_train
distances = [np.sqrt(np.sum((x - x_train)**2)) for x_train in self.X_train]
# Get indices of k nearest samples
k_indices = np.argsort(distances)[:self.k]
# Get the labels of the k nearest neighbor training samples
k_nearest_labels = [self.y_train[i] for i in k_indices]
# Predict the label of x by majority voting
most_common = np.bincount(k_nearest_labels).argmax()
predictions.append(most_common)
return np.array(predictions)
# Sample data
X_train = np.array([[1, 2], [1.5, 1.8], [5, 8], [8, 8], [1, 0.6], [9, 11]])
y_train = np.array([0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1])
X_test = np.array([[1, 3], [8, 9], [0, 3], [5, 4]])
# Initialize and train the model
model = KNNClassifier(k=3)
model.fit(X_train, y_train)
# Predict
predictions = model.predict(X_test)
print("Predictions:", predictions)
Feature importance dictates the role a feature variable plays in describing the target variable.
Here's a sample solution:
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sklearn import datasets
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
from sklearn.tree import DecisionTreeClassifier
# Load the dataset
dataset = datasets.load_breast_cancer()
X = pd.DataFrame(dataset.data, columns=dataset.feature_names)
y = dataset.target
# Split the dataset into training and testing sets
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.25, random_state=42)
# Initialize the Decision Tree Classifier
clf = DecisionTreeClassifier(criterion='gini')
# Fit the classifier
clf.fit(X_train, y_train)
# Get the feature importances
feature_importances = clf.feature_importances_
# Sort the feature importances in descending order
sorted_indices = feature_importances.argsort()[::-1]
sorted_feature_names = X.columns[sorted_indices]
sorted_importances = feature_importances[sorted_indices]
# Create a bar plot of the feature importances
sns.set(rc={'figure.figsize':(11.7, 7)})
sns.barplot(x=sorted_importances, y=sorted_feature_names)
plt.xlabel('Feature Importance')
plt.ylabel('Feature Names')
plt.title('Feature Importance in Decision Tree Classifier')
plt.show()
Here's a sample output:
Here, you’re being assessed on your ability to combat the curse of dimensionality using PCA.
For example:
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
penguins_pca = PCA(n_components=4)
components = penguins_pca.fit(penguins).components_
components = pd.DataFrame(components).transpose()
components.columns = ['Comp1', 'Comp2', 'Comp3', 'Comp4']
components.index = penguins.columns
print(components)
Sample output:
RandomizedSearchCV randomly samples hyperparameter combinations from the specified distributions.
It uses cross-validation to evaluate the performance of each set of hyperparameters.
Here's a sample solution:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from sklearn.datasets import load_iris
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split, RandomizedSearchCV
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score
# Load and preprocess the data
data = load_iris()
X = data.data
y = data.target
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)
# Define the model
model = RandomForestClassifier()
# Define the parameter grid
param_dist = {
'n_estimators': np.arange(10, 200, 10),
'max_features': ['auto', 'sqrt', 'log2'],
'max_depth': np.arange(1, 20, 1),
'criterion': ['gini', 'entropy']
}
# Perform Randomized Search
random_search = RandomizedSearchCV(model, param_distributions=param_dist, n_iter=100, cv=5, random_state=42, n_jobs=-1)
random_search.fit(X_train, y_train)
# Get the best model
best_model = random_search.best_estimator_
print("Best Parameters:", random_search.best_params_)
# Evaluate the best model
y_pred = best_model.predict(X_test)
accuracy = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred)
print("Test Accuracy:", accuracy)
To answer this question requires determining how much data to allocate to training, testing, and validation, considering the overall dataset size.
Here's a sample solution using sklearn:
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
# X = your features (data)
# y = your target labels
# Splitting with a dedicated evaluation (validation) set
X_train, X_test_val, y_train, y_test_val = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)
# Further split the test/validation set into testing and validation (optional)
X_test, X_val, y_test, y_val = train_test_split(X_test_val, y_test_val, test_size=0.5, random_state=42)
This task evaluates your proficiency in deep learning frameworks.
Sample solution using tensorflow:
import tensorflow as tf
from tensorflow.keras import layers, models
from tensorflow.keras.datasets import mnist
from tensorflow.keras.utils import to_categorical
# Load and preprocess the data
(X_train, y_train), (X_test, y_test) = mnist.load_data()
X_train = X_train.reshape((X_train.shape[0], 28, 28, 1)).astype('float32') / 255
X_test = X_test.reshape((X_test.shape[0], 28, 28, 1)).astype('float32') / 255
y_train = to_categorical(y_train)
y_test = to_categorical(y_test)
# Define the CNN model
model = models.Sequential()
model.add(layers.Conv2D(32, (3, 3), activation='relu', input_shape=(28, 28, 1)))
model.add(layers.Max
Pooling2D((2, 2)))
model.add(layers.Conv2D(64, (3, 3), activation='relu'))
model.add(layers.MaxPooling2D((2, 2)))
model.add(layers.Conv2D(64, (3, 3), activation='relu'))
model.add(layers.Flatten())
model.add(layers.Dense(64, activation='relu'))
model.add(layers.Dense(10, activation='softmax'))
# Compile the model
model.compile(optimizer='adam',
loss='categorical_crossentropy',
metrics=['accuracy'])
# Train the model
model.fit(X_train, y_train, epochs=5, batch_size=64, validation_split=0.1)
# Evaluate the model
test_loss, test_acc = model.evaluate(X_test, y_test)
print("Test accuracy:", test_acc)
Implementing batch normalization is essential for deep learning tasks.
Here's a numpy solution:
import numpy as np
class BatchNormalization:
def __init__(self, epsilon=1e-5, momentum=0.9):
self.epsilon = epsilon
self.momentum = momentum
self.running_mean = None
self.running_var = None
def forward(self, X, gamma, beta, training=True):
if self.running_mean is None:
self.running_mean = np.mean(X, axis=0)
self.running_var = np.var(X, axis=0)
if training:
batch_mean = np.mean(X, axis=0)
batch_var = np.var(X, axis=0)
self.running_mean = self.momentum * self.running_mean + (1 - self.momentum) * batch_mean
self.running_var = self.momentum * self.running_var + (1 - self.momentum) * batch_var
X_norm = (X - batch_mean) / np.sqrt(batch_var + self.epsilon)
else:
X_norm = (X - self.running_mean) / np.sqrt(self.running_var + self.epsilon)
out = gamma * X_norm + beta
cache = (X, X_norm, batch_mean, batch_var, gamma, beta, self.epsilon)
return out, cache
def backward(self, dout, cache):
X, X_norm, batch_mean, batch_var, gamma, beta, epsilon = cache
N, D = X.shape
X_mu = X - batch_mean
std_inv = 1. / np.sqrt(batch_var + epsilon)
dX_norm = dout * gamma
dvar = np.sum(dX_norm * X_mu, axis=0) * -.5 * std_inv**3
dmean = np.sum(dX_norm * -std_inv, axis=0) + dvar * np.mean(-2. * X_mu, axis=0)
dX = (dX_norm * std_inv) + (dvar * 2 * X_mu / N) + (dmean / N)
dgamma = np.sum(dout * X_norm, axis=0)
dbeta = np.sum(dout, axis=0)
return dX, dgamma, dbeta
# Example usage
np.random.seed(0)
X = np.random.randn(5, 4)
gamma = np.ones((4,))
beta = np.zeros((4,))
bn = BatchNormalization()
out, cache = bn.forward(X, gamma, beta, training=True)
print("Forward pass output:\n", out)
dout = np.random.randn(*out.shape)
dX, dgamma, dbeta = bn.backward(dout, cache)
print("\nBackward pass gradients:\ndX:\n", dX, "\ndgamma:\n", dgamma, "\ndbeta:\n", dbeta)
This question demonstrates multiple skills, including problem-solving, mathematical knowledge of linear regression, and how to implement it.
Here's a sample solution:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
from sklearn.metrics import mean_squared_error, r2_score
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Sample data
X = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]).reshape(-1, 1)
y = np.array([3, 4, 2, 4, 5])
# Split the data into training and testing sets
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)
# Create the linear regression model
model = LinearRegression()
# Train the model
model.fit(X_train, y_train)
# Make predictions
y_pred = model.predict(X_test)
# Evaluate the model
mse = mean_squared_error(y_test, y_pred)
r2 = r2_score(y_test, y_pred)
print("Mean Squared Error:", mse)
print("R^2 Score:", r2)
print("Intercept (theta0):", model.intercept_)
print("Slope (theta1):", model.coef_[0])
# Plotting the results
plt.scatter(X, y, color='blue')
plt.plot(X, model.predict(X), color='red')
plt.xlabel('X')
plt.ylabel('y')
plt.title('Linear Regression Fit')
plt.show()
Preparing for Python machine learning interviews requires a deep understanding of Python concepts and machine learning principles, as well as strong communication skills to discuss your thought process effectively. A few tips that speed up the preparation are:
The following tips will help you to effectively answer all coding questions in your upcoming interview:
Exponent is the fastest-growing tech interview prep platform. Get free interview guides, insider tips, and courses.
Create your free account