Avery Smith preparing for a job interview with a laptop displaying 'START INTERVIEW' and 'HIRED' or 'REJECTED' buttons.

💼 how to ace the data interview

November 26, 2025•4 min read

I applied to a LOT of jobs before a single company wanted to interview with me. When I finally landed an interview, I was terrified. It felt like my entire career depended on a single 30-minute Zoom call.

Here are some interview questions you might get asked & tips on how to ace them 👇

The Opener: “Tell me about yourself”

"Tell me about yourself!"

This is where 90% of people lose immediately. Most people give a history lesson.

Bad answer: "I was born in Utah in 1995, studied engineering, worked at IBM, then Google, and now I'm here."

Boring. You just read them your resume.

Good answer: Connect the dots (Past → Present → Future).

"I started as a lab tech, but crunching numbers made me realize I loved data more than chemicals. So I pivoted to become a data scientist at a startup. Later, I moved to ExxonMobil to build models that predicted oil prices. Now, I run my own business teaching analytics, but I miss solving big problems with a team. That's why I'm here."

Make them see the pattern. Show them why every step brought you to this chair.

The Technical Curveball: (WHERE vs. HAVING)

"What is the difference between a WHERE clause and a HAVING clause?"

Most people just repeat definitions from a textbook. That is a C- answer.

Here is what an A+ sounds like:

"They both filter data, but the timing is different. WHERE filters before you group the data. HAVING filters after you group the data."

Then, you drop the mic with a real example:

"At Exxon, I had a database of oil prices. I used WHERE to filter out cheap barrels first. Then, I grouped them by country to find the average price. If I wanted to filter that list of averages? That is when I used HAVING."

Boom! You gave the definition, a real example, and the context.

The "Show Your Work" Test: Case Study

"Our user signups dropped 20% yesterday. Walk me through what you’d do."

They don't really care about the "right" answer. They want to see how you think.

Here's how I'd walk through it:

First, I'd ask where they saw the drop. Dashboard? Alert? Email?

Then I'd check if it's real. I'd look at the dashboard myself, run a SQL query, and make a line chart to see if it's a sudden drop or a slow decline.

If it's real, I start breaking it down:

Is it happening everywhere or just in certain places? (US vs Europe?)
Is it all traffic or just certain sources? (Paid ads vs organic?)
Can I still sign up myself? (Maybe something's broken on the website?)

The secret is thinking out loud.Walk them through your detective work like you're explaining it to a friend.

You will not have all the answers. That is okay. They want to see how you solve problems, not how much you memorized.

The thing most people miss about interviews

Most people bomb interviews because they've never really practiced. Especially out loud. It feels kinda silly.

They read articles. They watch YouTube videos. They think they're ready.

But when the moment comes, their brain freezes. I've been there too.

That's exactly why I used Replit to build Interview Simulator.

It's a platform where you can practice real interview questions with me. You pick a question, I ask it, you respond with audio or video, and we grade your answer using interview best practices. Then I show you how an expert would answer it.

It's like having a practice interview whenever you want.

And the best part is you can try it completely free right now.

Go to interviewsimulator.io and try it out.

Big thanks to Replit for sponsoring this episode and making Interview Simulator completely free until 2026.