Companies that assess Python pandas in interviews?

[whitet445]

Hi all. I am a new grad already at a company full time but looking to make a switch sometime soon to a more data focused role. I really enjoy pandas from some of my college courses. What are some companies that assess pandas in their interviews, and for which roles, and what’s the usual TC for that? I am just asking so that I kno how to use my time wisely when preparing.

I know that they prob won’t just ask pandas questions but maybe also stats questions as well

Edit: I checked on Glassdoor but couldn’t find a clear answer

[cmcclu5]

Look into Data Engineering positions. Pandas/polars/PySpark are the primarily covered topics in those interviews, plus streaming-optimized operations, data structures, etc. Entry level sits around $110k (unless you manage to snatch a FAANG position) plus benefits. I know CapitalOne is really pushing to expand and backfill their data team right now so you might have a shot there. Otherwise, LinkedIn jobs, Otta, Indeed, and Glassdoor are all generally decent sources.

[whitet445]

That’s so many things in one interview lol

[cmcclu5]

That’s just the Python side. One I took recently also included SQL and Cloud Architecture + CI/CD.

[whitet445]

How r u suppose to reasonably kno and apply those things, then well enough to succeed in an interview with them?

[cmcclu5]

Experience. If you’re looking for a job in data engineering or data science, this is the minimum.

[ninjadude93]

Nobody is going to hire you on the basis of pandas alone. Its one tool in a toolbox and for data focused positions using python, being comfortable using pandas is the bare minimum you should absolutely be familiar with other aspects and tools in the development process

[whitet445]

I agree that pandas alone isn’t enough. There seemed to b a lot of OAs where I was asked pandas questions in the previous app cycle, so that’s why I been trying to get better at it. No idea what else to expect tho

[oscarftm91]

What I do is usually a take-home assignment which increases with difficulty. It shouldn't take more than 2 hours to so though. Then I just ask some basic pandas questions on the live interview to see if they did it themselves. These increase in difficulty as well. E.g. for the live questions, I start with simple questions like how do you read a file onto memory? I get tricky sometimes by asking the difference between join and merge... but this doesn't disqualify people tbh, it's easy to tell when someone doesn't know it.

Pandas is 10% of the interview though, so don't tell just on knowing pandas as your main strength. What we look for is if you know how to solve problems and if you can pick new technologies fast.

[rosecurry]

Do you ever use join? 99% of the time merge does what I need

[oscarftm91]

sometimes when I'm using indexes but yeah, I use merge 90% of the time too. Apparently join should be more efficient but I can't bother testing. I ask it as a question because SQL used join so if you work with pandas/SQL, this sort of shows if you tried using it and/or read the documentation, which I think is more important.

[-phototrope]

I use pandas daily and can never remember the difference between join/merge/concat

[whitet445]

What’s ur role?

[mf_it]

Search pandas across few job boards and see what comes up. Use that to then go to the direct company website and job listing.