Interview prep

Data Analyst interview questions

13 questions data analysts get asked, grouped by type. Under each one are the skills it is really testing, so you can pick a story from your own work that shows them.

Technical

  1. Walk me through how you'd speed up a report query that takes several minutes to run against a large table.
    Tests: sql, performance
  2. How do you decide what belongs on a dashboard versus what should be a one-off analysis?
    Tests: dashboarding, judgment
  3. You find an outlier in the data that would change your conclusion if included. How do you decide whether to keep it in the analysis?
    Tests: sql, judgment
  4. How do you make sure a number you report is actually meaningful to the business decision behind it, not just technically correct?
    Tests: business context, communication

Situational

  1. Two dashboards report different numbers for what should be the same metric, and a stakeholder notices before you do. How do you handle it?
    Tests: data quality, communication
  2. A stakeholder asks for the numbers on customer churn with no further detail. How do you turn that into an analysis?
    Tests: business context, communication
  3. The same type of ad hoc request keeps landing in your queue every week. What do you do about it?
    Tests: business context, judgment
  4. You're given a day to answer a question that would normally take a week of careful analysis. What do you do?
    Tests: judgment, communication

Behavioral

  1. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker and how you handled it.
    Tests: conflict resolution, communication
  2. Describe a project or task that did not go well and what you did about it.
    Tests: ownership, reflection
  3. Give an example of persuading someone to adopt an idea they initially resisted.
    Tests: influence, communication
  4. Walk me through how you decided what to work on when you had more requests than time.
    Tests: prioritisation, judgment
  5. Tell me about a time you had to learn something new quickly to get a job done.
    Tests: learning agility, ownership
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Data Analyst interview questions — Gurus Consulting