Dstillery Interview Questions
& Process

I first chatted with Jennifer, the recruiter from Dstillery, who was super nice, knew her stuff, and was quick to respond. She set everything up. After the initial chat with Jennifer, I spoke with Melinda, the VP of Data Science. She was also really friendly and sharp. Then came an ML take-home assignment, which took me about two weekends to complete. As soon as I sent it back (within a day), Melinda got in touch to invite me for an on-site interview. For the on-site, I had to prep a presentation. The presentation part of the on-site was pretty rough. I met the whole team, including Claudia, the Chief Data Scientist. During my presentation, the team kept cutting me off with questions about really basic stuff, like 'what is cross-validation?'. While I expected some clarifying questions, they asked so many about fundamental techniques that I started to doubt if they were even familiar with these terms. The absolute worst was Claudia, who seemed totally disengaged, mostly typing on her computer. At one point, she couldn't follow along and made me restart my presentation from the beginning! We ran way over the allotted time (I'd planned for 20 mins presentation + 10 mins Q&A), mostly spent defining terms, correcting assumptions, and trying not to get annoyed by Claudia's condescending attitude. On the plus side, Melinda was just as great in person as she was on the phone, and our follow-up interview was excellent. She was really impressed with my take-home project and asked insightful questions, including about situations I hadn't even considered. We had a great time working through those. Even during the presentation, she mostly listened and asked thoughtful questions that were a relief to answer. Unfortunately, the rest of the team seemed pretty dysfunctional. I had three more interviews after that – two with other data scientists and one with Claudia. I didn't click with any of them. The data scientists asked really broad questions but constantly interrupted me before I could even finish a sentence, like they were just trying to hit a quota. Claudia, whom I'd hoped would be better in person (it's rare to meet many accomplished women in this field, so I was excited!), was quite unbearable. She expected me to know AdTech specifics for her questions and wouldn't provide any helpful context, just 'build a model for X' and when I asked 'What does X mean?', she'd say 'Just build it'. The team also took me out for lunch, which I honestly wish they hadn't, as I didn't want to spend any more time with them than necessary. Except for Melinda, who is definitely one of the smartest and friendliest people I've interviewed with. I never heard back, meaning I didn't get the offer, and honestly, thank goodness for that. It's clear the team saw we wouldn't get along. I seriously considered bailing on the interviews early, something I've never even thought of doing before, even when I've bombed an interview. This was hands down my worst interview experience ever!

The interview process was long. The company was rebranding and they were unsure of my direct manager, so I met with all the managers on the team. I didn't know what accounts I'd be supporting until my first day. After the review, they said they wanted someone with more experience. A month later, the recruiter called saying they really wanted me and that I was the top candidate. I think they initially passed because they didn't want to pay the recruiter's fee. In total, I had 3 interviews and met with the COO and CEO.

I got contacted by a recruiter via email thanks to a referral. I then had to complete a coding challenge where I had to work with code provided by the company. The company got back to me about the results really fast. The recruiter was nice and answered all my questions. They sent me a really long and detailed email explaining why my solution wasn't good enough. I really appreciated that they took the time to write a detailed review, showing they really spent time on it.

The interview process was pretty involved - I ended up talking to about 9 to 10 people! For sales positions here, they also require you to do a pitch for the NY sales team and sales management. I actually thought it was a great way to interview because by the end, you have a really clear understanding of what you're getting into and who you'll be working with. I genuinely liked everyone I met and developed a strong liking for the company throughout the process.