ASTEK · Data Scientist
Updated · 2026-09-24

ASTEK Data Scientist
Interview Questions & Guide 2026

THE 60-SECOND BRIEF

At ASTEK, a Data Scientist serves as a vital bridge between complex raw data and strategic business value. You are not just building models; you are solving real-world challenges for a diverse portfolio of clients. Your work directly impacts how organizations optimize processes, predict trends, and make data-driven decisions in sectors ranging from innovation labs to large-scale industrial projects.

Coding rounds for this role are usually data-manipulation shaped rather than data-structure shaped: group-bys, joins, time windows, ranking within a partition. Confirm the format before spending a week on graph traversal.

PracHub has no confirmed round sequence for ASTEK. Treat the sections below as preparation areas and confirm the format with your recruiter.

Define numerator, denominator and window preciselySize an experiment before anyone launches itDecompose a metric move by segment and mix

27 min read

Browse Data Scientist questions

See the practice prompts

12Practice promptsAcross five skill areas
3With worked solutionsIncluded in the practice prompts

At ASTEK, a Data Scientist serves as a vital bridge between complex raw data and strategic business value. You are not just building models; you are solving real-world challenges for a diverse portfolio of clients. Your work directly impacts how organizations optimize processes, predict trends, and make data-driven decisions in sectors ranging from innovation labs to large-scale industrial projects.

The role is inherently versatile. You will often find yourself navigating the full lifecycle of data projects—from initial exploration and feature engineering to deployment and stakeholder communication. Because ASTEK operates as a consultancy, your ability to translate technical findings into actionable business insights for non-technical clients is just as critical as your command of machine learning algorithms.

Your interviewers may include both technical leads and commercial managers. Tailor your communication style to match the background of the person sitting across from you.

01

Preparation focus

editorial

No round sequence has been reported for this company, so work the categories below and confirm the format with your recruiter.

What to demonstrate

  • Breadth across SQL, experimentation and product reasoning
  • Ability to state assumptions before choosing a method

How to prepare

  • Drill the practice exercises below and time yourself
  • Prepare three quantified stories about decisions you drove
PracHub interview preparation framework ↗

PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.

01

Treating last-touch attribution as the causal value of a channel

The attribution label on dim_user is the output of a rule that assigns full credit to whichever touch happened to be recorded last inside a lookback window, and that rule systematically rewards channels that sit close to the conversion, especially branded search and retargeting, which largely intercept demand that already existed. Reallocating spend on those labels moves budget toward the channels that are best at being last, which is why attributed return on ad spend often improves while total signups do not. Nothing in the touchpoint data can settle this, because the counterfactual of not running the channel was never observed. The credible reads are a geo holdout or a scheduled pause, sized in advance on the total-signups metric rather than on the attributed one, and the honest framing in the meantime is that the label describes correlation with conversion and not incremental contribution.

02

Watching an experiment daily and stopping when it crosses significance

A fixed-sample test controls type I error at one pre-declared look. Checking repeatedly and stopping at the first p < 0.05 inflates the false positive rate to roughly 0.15 to 0.20 for ten looks, and it rises further with more frequent checks, because the p-value takes a random walk that will eventually dip below the threshold under the null. The usual defences are a fixed horizon declared before launch, group-sequential boundaries such as O'Brien-Fleming that spend alpha across a planned number of looks, or always-valid confidence sequences that are correct under continuous monitoring. Compounding it, the effect size reported conditional on having crossed the threshold is biased away from zero, and the bias is larger the lower the power was, so an underpowered test that 'won' typically overstates the lift it found.

03

Reporting a mean for a heavy-tailed metric without saying what it hides

For spend, session length or items per order, a small fraction of units carries most of the total, so the mean has a wide standard error and one account can move it. Fix the handling before you see the result: cap or winsorise at a pre-declared percentile, and report the median or the share above a threshold next to the mean. Capping changes the estimand, so say which question the capped number answers, and check how much of any difference comes from the top 0.1 percent of units.

04

Naming a model class before naming the deployment constraints

Set out the latency budget, the label delay, the retraining cadence, the interpretability requirement and the number of labelled examples, then pick the model that fits them. A boosted-tree answer to a problem where each decision must be explained to the affected user is a well-executed answer to the wrong question.

Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.

9 technical prompts3 include a worked solution

What metrics would you use to evaluate a classification model versus a…

medium
machine learning and modelling

What metrics would you use to evaluate a classification model versus a regression model?

Approach
  1. Frame the prediction: the label, the moment of prediction, and the action it triggers.
  2. Pick an evaluation metric that matches the cost of each error type, not a default.
  3. Say how the offline result would be validated online before it is trusted.
Follow-up
  • What would you monitor after launch to know the model is still valid?
  • How would you choose the decision threshold, and who owns that choice?

Rebuild per-visitor ordering without groupby convenience methods

easyWorked solution
pandasvectorisationwindow logic

You have a DataFrame of 2 million fct_event rows with visitor_id, occurred_at_utc and event_id, unsorted and containing duplicate timestamps within a visitor. Produce three new columns: event_rank, the 1-based position of the event within its visitor ordered by occurred_at_utc; seconds_since_prev, the gap to that visitor's previous event, NULL for the first; and is_first_for_visitor. You may use sort_values, shift, cumsum, numpy and boolean masking. You may not use groupby.transform, groupby.apply, groupby.cumcount, groupby.rank or merge_asof. Break timestamp ties on event_id.

Approach
  1. Sort once by ['visitor_id', 'occurred_at_utc', 'event_id'] and reset the index. The whole exercise reduces to row arithmetic on a sorted frame, and the tiebreak on event_id is what makes the result reproducible across runs.
  2. Mark visitor boundaries with is_first = df['visitor_id'].ne(df['visitor_id'].shift()). This is the single fact every other column derives from.
  3. Compute seconds_since_prev as the diff of the timestamp column, then overwrite it with NaT/NaN wherever is_first is True. The shift crosses the boundary between visitors and will otherwise hand the first row of each visitor the last event of the previous one.
  4. Build event_rank from a running counter that resets at boundaries: take a global cumulative position (np.arange(len(df))) and subtract, per row, the global position at which that visitor started. Get the start position by forward-filling the positions where is_first is True, which is a cumsum-free reset and is O(n).
  5. Verify against the forbidden method once, as a test rather than as the implementation, and confirm the two agree on every row.
Worked solution 20 min
  1. Sort on the three-key tuple and reset_index(drop=True).
  2. Compute is_first via .ne(.shift()), which is True for row 0 because the shifted value is NaN.
  3. pos = np.arange(len(df)); start = pd.Series(np.where(is_first, pos, np.nan)).ffill(); event_rank = (pos - start + 1).astype(int).
  4. gap = df['occurred_at_utc'].diff().dt.total_seconds(); gap[is_first] = np.nan.
  5. Assert event_rank equals df.groupby('visitor_id').cumcount() + 1 on the sorted frame.
EXPECTED RESULTThree columns on the sorted frame: event_rank starting at 1 for every visitor and increasing by 1 with no gaps, seconds_since_prev null exactly where is_first_for_visitor is True, and is_first_for_visitor summing to df['visitor_id'].nunique().
Follow-up
  • The frame does not fit in memory. How does your approach change if you can only process one visitor-partitioned chunk at a time?
  • occurred_at_utc is client-supplied and sometimes runs backwards within a visitor. Does your seconds_since_prev go negative, and should it?
  • How would you extend this to reset the counter at every change of surface as well as visitor?

Implement seven-day activation from its written definition

medium
metric definitioncohortspandasjoins

Implement the seven-day activation rate. Inputs: dim_user with user_id, account_created_at_utc and is_internal; fct_event with user_id, occurred_at_utc and is_core_action. A user activates when core-action events carrying a non-NULL user_id fall on at least two distinct UTC dates inside [account_created_at_utc, account_created_at_utc + 7 days). The denominator is every non-internal user whose account_created_at_utc lands in the cohort week, including users with no events at all. Return one row per cohort week with numerator, denominator and rate, publishing only weeks whose last signup is at least eight days old.

Approach
  1. Build the denominator first, from dim_user alone, filtered on is_internal = False. Deriving it from the join is the standard way to lose every user who never fired an event, which is exactly the population the metric is about.
  2. Join events to users on user_id with a left join from the user side, then apply the window as a half-open interval: occurred_at >= created AND occurred_at < created + 7 days. The right bound is exclusive, so an event at exactly created + 7 days does not count.
  3. Count distinct UTC dates per user, not distinct events. Floor occurred_at_utc to date before the nunique, and do it in UTC rather than local time so the threshold does not move with the user's country.
  4. Apply the >= 2 threshold, aggregate to cohort week, and compute the rate by re-summing numerator and denominator per week rather than averaging any per-user or per-day rate. Fix the week anchor explicitly: cohort_week is the Monday of the signup week in UTC, which is what Postgres DATE_TRUNC('week') returns and what any SQL version of this metric will produce. In pandas, subtract dt.weekday days from the floored timestamp. If you reach for periods instead, the anchor that matches is to_period('W') (equivalently 'W-SUN'), whose weeks end Sunday and therefore start Monday; to_period('W-MON') labels weeks that end on Monday, so it runs Tuesday through Monday and its start_time is a Tuesday. Mixing the two shifts every cohort label by one day and silently moves Mondays into the previous week.
  5. Suppress immature weeks: drop any cohort week whose maximum account_created_at_utc is within 8 days of the data cut, and return them as absent rather than as a partial number.
Follow-up
  • The threshold is 2 distinct days. What changes in the reported history if someone moves it to 3, and how would you publish that change?
  • Invited seats and SSO-provisioned users have no pre-signup session. Should they be in this denominator at all, and what does including them do to the rate for sales-assisted accounts?
  • How would you produce the same metric at account grain, and which of the two would you put on the dashboard?

For a candidate whose interviews will centre on A/B testing, metric movement and causal claims. Design comes before arithmetic, arithmetic before analysis, and the week ends by rehearsing the readout rather than the derivation.

Small steps. Visible outcomes.0 / 7 completed
ONE WEEK · YOUR PACE

Prepare, practise & reflect

One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.

0 / 7 done
01Design one test end to end on paper
  • Take a single feature change and write the full design: randomization unit, the exact point of exposure, the primary metric with its grain, guardrails, allocation, planned duration, and the decision rule committed before any data exists.
  • Write why the randomization unit must sit at or above the level where treatment can spill over, and give one case where user-level randomization is still contaminated (shared accounts or devices, or two participants in the same marketplace).
  • State in advance what you will do if the primary metric is flat while a secondary metric is significant.

Deliverable: A one-page test design with a decision rule written before launch.

Practice prompt ↗Practice prompt ↗Worked solution ↗
02Power arithmetic until it is automatic
  • Compute required sample size per arm for a binary metric with the normal approximation, n is approximately 2 times (z for alpha/2 plus z for power) squared times p(1 minus p) divided by delta squared, for baselines of 2, 10 and 40 percent at a 5 percent relative lift, and note that for a fixed relative lift the requirement falls as the baseline rises because delta grows proportionally with p.
  • Redo the calculation for a continuous metric using variance in place of p(1 minus p), and show why a heavy-tailed quantity such as revenue per user needs either far more traffic or a capped version with a stated cap.
  • Convert one of the results into weeks given a weekly eligible traffic figure, then list the two honest ways to shorten it (accept a larger detectable effect, or reduce variance) and write why quietly lowering the power target is a decision to miss more real wins, not a speedup.

Deliverable: A small script or sheet that maps baseline, minimum detectable effect, alpha and power to sample size and weeks, cross-checked against a published calculator.

Practice prompt ↗Practice prompt ↗
03Variance and the unit-of-analysis problem
  • Take a ratio metric whose denominator is not the randomization unit (clicks per session, randomized by user) and compute the standard error twice, once naively at session level and once by the delta method or a user-level bootstrap, then record how much the naive version understates it.
  • Implement CUPED on simulated data: choose a pre-period covariate X measured before assignment, estimate theta as Cov(Y, X) divided by Var(X), and analyse Y minus theta times (X minus its mean) in place of Y. Confirm the variance of the adjusted outcome equals the raw variance multiplied by one minus the squared correlation between Y and X, so a correlation of 0.45 removes about 20 percent of the variance and not 80.
  • Now run that simulation a few hundred times and confirm the adjusted effect estimate is unbiased for the same effect rather than numerically identical to the raw one. Within any single run the two differ, sometimes by a large fraction of the true effect, because the two arms' pre-period covariate means never coincide exactly in a finite sample; they agree in expectation, which is the property that matters and the one to state out loud.

Deliverable: A notebook showing the adjusted estimator with a measurably smaller variance than the raw one, plus a repeated-simulation table showing the two estimators agreeing on average while differing run by run.

Practice prompt ↗Practice prompt ↗
04Validity threats you can actually test for
  • Run a sample ratio mismatch check as a chi-square goodness-of-fit test against the intended allocation, and write the three causes you would chase first (assignment logged before exposure, an arm-specific redirect or load failure, bot filtering applied asymmetrically).
  • Simulate peeking: generate A/A data, test daily at alpha 0.05 across 14 looks, record the inflated false positive rate, then apply an alpha-spending boundary or commit to a fixed horizon and confirm the rate returns to nominal.
  • Write how you would separate a novelty effect from a durable lift using the treatment effect plotted against days since first exposure, and what shape would change your recommendation.

Deliverable: One table showing the peeking false positive rate before and after correction, plus a written SRM triage list.

Practice prompt ↗Practice prompt ↗Worked solution ↗
05When randomization is not available
  • Write the identifying assumption for difference-in-differences (parallel trends in the absence of treatment), then plot pre-period trends for two candidate control groups and justify rejecting one of them.
  • Design a switchback test for a change where user-level randomization would leak across participants, choosing a time-block length against the carryover you expect and saying how you would detect carryover in the data.
  • List what an interrupted time series or a synthetic control buys you and the one thing neither can rule out: an unobserved shock that coincides with the launch.

Deliverable: A one-page memo recommending a single quasi-experimental design and naming its weakest assumption explicitly.

Practice prompt ↗Practice prompt ↗
06The readout query
  • Write the assignment-to-exposure join that returns exactly one row per unit per experiment, and handle units appearing in both arms by excluding and counting them rather than silently keeping one.
  • Compute the per-arm metric, its variance and the relative lift with a confidence interval in SQL, then reproduce the identical numbers in a notebook as a cross-check.
  • Add a segment breakdown and write the sentence that keeps it from being p-hacking: segments declared in advance, everything else reported as exploratory and corrected for multiplicity.

Deliverable: A single query that outputs the full readout table, matched to a notebook recomputation.

Practice prompt ↗
07Present it to someone who will not read the appendix
  • Give a 10-minute readout of a real or simulated experiment in the order decision, number, uncertainty, caveat.
  • Have your listener ask "can we ship it" in the case where the primary is flat and a guardrail moved, and answer with a recommendation rather than a request for more data.
  • Rewrite your opening line so the recommendation lands before any methodology.

Deliverable: A one-page readout whose first line is the recommendation.

Practice prompt ↗Worked solution ↗

Expand any day for tasks and deliverables. Your progress is saved on this device.

A number you shipped turned out to be wrong, and someone had already acted on it. That is one of the most useful stories a data person can carry. What is being scored is how fast you noticed, who you told first, and what you changed in the process so the same class of error could not repeat quietly.

Can you walk me through your CV and highlight the most challenging pro…

medium
behavioural and stakeholder questions

Can you walk me through your CV and highlight the most challenging project you have worked on?

Approach
  1. State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on your reasoning.
  2. Close with what you would do differently, concretely.
  3. Name the disagreement or constraint, and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
  • How did you know the outcome was caused by your change?
  • What did you decide not to do, and why?

How do you explain the concept of overfitting to a non-technical stake…

medium
behavioural and stakeholder questions

How do you explain the concept of overfitting to a non-technical stakeholder?

Approach
  1. State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on your reasoning.
  2. Close with what you would do differently, concretely.
  3. Pick a story where you drove the decision, not one where you observed it.
Follow-up
  • What would you do differently if you ran that project again?
  • What did you decide not to do, and why?

How do you handle missing values or outliers in a real-world dataset?

medium
behavioural and stakeholder questions

How do you handle missing values or outliers in a real-world dataset?

Approach
  1. Pick a story where you drove the decision, not one where you observed it.
  2. Close with what you would do differently, concretely.
  3. State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on your reasoning.
Follow-up
  • What would you do differently if you ran that project again?
  • How did you know the outcome was caused by your change?
  • 01

    Can you walk me through your CV and highlight the most challenging project you have worked on?

  • 02

    How do you explain the concept of overfitting to a non-technical stakeholder?

  • 03

    How do you handle missing values or outliers in a real-world dataset?

PracHub interview preparation framework ↗
Is this an official ASTEK interview guide?

No. It is PracHub's own research and practice material for the Data Scientist role at ASTEK. Rounds and questions reflect what candidates have reported, not a process ASTEK has published, and they change over time. Confirm the current format and scope with your recruiter.

PracHub interview research ↗
How difficult are the technical interviews?

Most candidates describe the difficulty as average. The focus is often on practical application rather than obscure theoretical puzzles.

PracHub interview research ↗
Is the process fast?

It can vary significantly. While some report a simple two-step process, others have experienced longer cycles with multiple stakeholders. Stay proactive in your follow-ups.

PracHub interview research ↗
Do I need to be a specialist in a specific industry?

Not necessarily. ASTEK values generalists who can learn quickly, though having a niche in a sector like finance or retail can be a differentiator.

PracHub interview research ↗
Sources & methodology 3 sources ↗

No official company page is cited. Rounds and questions come from candidate reports and PracHub editorial material; each source shows the date it was read.