Pinterest Machine Learning Intern Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 10 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Pinterest.
Pinterest
Machine Learning Intern
Intern Average Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Coding Technical Technical
So there were two rounds for the interview. First was a codesignal assessment, it had 10 questions, 7 were ML multiple choice and short answer, and the last three were coding. Two coding questions were about implementing Naive Bayes and Gradient Descent, and the last one was a LeetCode Medium. The second round was a 60 minute technical interview with a Pinterest Engineer. It had some fundamental ML questions and then a LeetCode Medium question. The experience was good overall, even though I didn't get hired. I felt like they were fair.
Confirmed questions7 questions
- Naive Bayes implementation in Python
- Gradient Descent implementation in Python
- String Manipulation
Pinterest
Machine Learning Intern
Intern Average Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
It was good. There were two rounds - a general DS/Algo + ML theory round and one domain specific round. Both took place the same day. For the DS/Algo round, I got asked a leetcode hard and a few basic ML questions. The domain specific round was an in-depth discussion about one of my projects.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Could you explain regularization, including its different types and the reasons for its use?
- Can you describe the vanishing gradients problem and outline methods for addressing it?
Pinterest
Machine Learning Intern
Intern Difficult Negative experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
I got an email to do the first round on CodeSignal. It was an online, automated thing where they checked my mic and webcam. It had some tough multiple-choice questions on machine learning theory, like you had to get all three right answers to be marked correct. Then there was a coding challenge that was easier than LeetCode, maybe medium level max. The last part was coding gradient descent from scratch, with most of the code there and some blanks to fill. That part was okay, but the one-hour time limit was tight. Felt like a test subject for CodeSignal training data!
Confirmed questions1 question
- The interview was conducted through an automated platform, not with a person.
Pinterest Machine Learning Intern Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Pinterest interview reports.
“Could you calculate the output of a neural network given an input vector, weights, and biases?”
Read reports →“Could you explain the attention mechanism within transformers?”
Read reports →“Can you implement K-means from scratch?”
Read reports →“Can you implement bagging using the provided functions?”
Read reports →“Could you explain regularization, including its different types and the reasons for its use?”
Read report →“Can you describe the vanishing gradients problem and outline methods for addressing it?”
Read report →“What are your thoughts on bias vs variance and their tradeoffs?”
Read report →“Do you have any basic ML questions?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 10 Pinterest interview reports.