United Airlines Data Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

So I had two rounds for this Sr Data Scientist role, and honestly, it was a letdown. The whole thing took forever, like three weeks to set up each interview, which felt like they didn't care about my time. The first interview was super basic, basically just going over my resume without really digging into my skills. The second round was a mess, all these textbook theory questions, like defining NP-hard problems. It felt like they wanted someone who memorized stuff, not someone who could actually solve real problems or be creative with data, which is what the job needs. But the worst part was this one interviewer who kept laughing when I couldn't answer some questions. It was really disrespectful and unprofessional. They're supposed to be evaluating me, not making me feel bad. Definitely the most unprofessional interview I've been through. The whole process felt disorganized, too academic, and just lacked basic professionalism. They really need to fix how they evaluate candidates and how interviewers act.

I had my first interview a few weeks ago, and they told me the second interview would be scheduled. I waited for the invite but never got it. I called HR Neha and Simran multiple times and was told the invite was sent and I should have received it. Later, I got a rejection email. When I asked about the interview invite they said they didn't know, maybe it was updated recently. They told me multiple times it was scheduled and an invite was sent, but they've already sent an invite. It was a very unorganized interview experience, they talked about the interview without checking the status. I don't understand how this mix-up happened.

The whole process from applying to getting a decision took about three months. It involved three interview rounds after the initial recruiter chat. The recruiter called me within a week of applying and set up the first interviews, which were done via Microsoft Teams. The first interview, happening 48 hours after getting a 'case study', was about choosing one of three problems to solve. It wasn't super technical, more about checking my thought process, and I also got to present a past project. The next interview was more technical, testing my knowledge of statistics and machine learning. For the last interview, they flew me out to their Chicago headquarters. This was to meet the team and included some behavioral questions, like discussing a challenge in a team project and how I handled it. The recruiter and two interviewers were really nice, and I enjoyed meeting them. The main downside was the super long wait times between stages – about 3-4 weeks each time to hear if I was moving forward. Even after the final interview, it took almost a month to get the final decision, and I had to chase them multiple times to find out if I was still considered. Given the time it took and the fact they flew me out, I thought I had a good shot at an offer, but sadly, I didn't get one. Overall, it was a good experience, but the lengthy process was disappointing.