How to Answer: Describe a project where you had a surprisingly difficult time dealing with unstructured data. How did you overcome the obstacles and what tools did you use?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Data Scientist job interview.
4. Describe a project where you had a surprisingly difficult time dealing with unstructured data. How did you overcome the obstacles and what tools did you use?
How to Answer
By asking this question, the interviewer is revealing that their organization deals with unstructured data and needs to hire someone who has experience with this and can organize this type of data to make it usable. Your answer needs to include a specific example of how you accomplished this in a previous role to prove your ability to do it again.
Written by William Swansen on October 13th, 2021
1st Answer Example
"Unstructured data is difficult, but not impossible to work with while performing an analysis. The key is to utilize tools and techniques designed to effectively analyze this type of data. On a recent project, I was tasked with helping the sales team improve its customer relationship management process. I utilized a combination of a NoSQL database and Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) to collect and analyze the data, which produced the results the sales team needed."
Written by William Swansen on October 13th, 2021
2nd Answer Example
"Unstructured data, also known as Big Data, is the fastest-growing type of data in the industry. This has presented Data Scientists with a challenge when attempting to use this type of data to analyze trends, processes and customer behavior. I have learned that special techniques and tools are required to incorporate unstructured data into the analysis I'm performing. These include looking for patterns, keywords, and sentiment in textual data, and using natural language processing technology. I recently worked on a project involving employee communications and attempting to improve individual productivity. Using the tools and techniques I previously mentioned, I was able to determine the specific behaviors the most productive employees exhibited. This enabled the management team to train and coach the other employees, thereby improving their productivity."
Written by William Swansen on October 13th, 2021