Upstart Data Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

The onsite interview included a two-hour data exercise. The interviewer was not collaborative or explanatory. They provided a one-page list of questions and a dataset unrelated to loan or finance, expecting a thorough discussion and a complete model with code, all within the two-hour duration. The candidate was expected to engage with the interviewer for the full two hours. This interview format, especially remotely, should not exceed an hour due to attention span limitations.

Had an HR phone chat where they were really nice and asked a lot about my background. Then, I had a 1st round with a Sr. Research Scientist. They were a bit late to start and gave a quick company intro. I introduced myself and they asked one question about my experience before we moved on to coding. During the coding part, it was a bit unusual because the interviewer kept asking me to change parts of my code or approach before I could fully finish, which was different from other places I've interviewed where they let you finish first and then suggest improvements. The rest of the interview involved straightforward stats and A/B testing questions.

Overall extremely impressed by the interview process! Expect about 6 interviews total, 3 of which happen typically on site: 1) an HR hiring manager, 2) a lead data scientist, 3) & 4) data scientist/data analyst team members, 5) a product designer, and 6) Head of the Columbus Office. The last three were supposed to be onsite, but since I was going through the recruiting process during COVID-19, all of mine were done remotely via Zoom. For the data scientist/analyst interviewers (including the head of the Columbus office), expect ~1/3 to half of the time dedicated to background questions, ~5-10 minutes for personal questions at the end, and the rest of the time for technical questions. The technical questions have a mix of basic coding concepts (dataframe manipulations, for-loop based simulations in python) and prob/stats puzzles. For the prob/stat problems, expect them to have somewhat non-obvious answers (think Monty Hall type questions, and a fair amount of coin flipping/dice games). As long as you have an understanding of the mechanisms at work and can articulate your rationale then they are willing to work with you. Some key items that really stood out: - Speed of the overall process: The HR manager would let me know if I had made it to the next round within a few hours of each of my interviews, and was easily the fastest recruiting process I’ve seen! - Flexibility: I started the recruitment process before COVID-19 restrictions really kicked in. Once the ‘shelter-in-place’ orders were official in Ohio, Upstart quickly pivoted their entire recruiting process to support remote interviews, and they maintained constant communication throughout to keep me updated on any changes due to the situation. None of the other firms I was recruiting with were able to pivot as quickly - Professionalism: I enjoyed talking with each of my interviewers, and found all of them very helpful. They provided their honest assessment of what it is like to work at Upstart and I felt were genuinely happy to be there! Furthermore, the HR manager consistently reached out to me to see if I had any questions and make me aware of the next steps in the recruiting process. Things that (I think) will help you out: - There are 5 key values on their website… I would take a look at these, since some of the questions they asked appeared to gauge how well I adhered to them. - Brush up on basic probabilities/statistics and solve problems methodically: in retrospect the technical questions they asked don’t seem that hard, but that’s because a more obvious (and wrong) answer was even more enticing. - Have a fair dose of humility: One of their 5 key values is “Be smart and know you might be wrong”… while there is no doubt they are looking for smart people, I feel they were also looking for folks who are constantly asking themselves what would change their minds.