Have you experienced the Water Bottle Paradox? DS Interview Prep Resources

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2 min read

You might be familiar with the Diamond-Water Paradox, also known as the Paradox of Value. It's the contradiction that water is very valuable to survival but can't be exchanged for products. Whereas, diamonds provide no value to one's survival and are worth a large number of goods.

What's the Water Bottle Paradox?

It's whenever you reach for your water bottle, and you find it empty. Even though you filled it up before sitting down at your desk, after a couple of hours of work you grab the water bottle with a parched throat only to pick up a hollow shell.

So you search for bigger water bottles online that can hold more water. At least with the 3L bottle, you won't have to fill it up as often. However, it still happening.

This Water Bottle Paradox is an apt metaphor for how we can keep learning and practicing our technical skills, only to feel unprepared at the time of an interview. During the last six months that I have been job hunting, I confidently present myself for the initial HR round. When it's time for the technical round though, I get sick to my stomach. Regardless of the number of mock interviews and LC-style practice rounds, the fear of coding under the close supervision of potential supervisors and colleagues is understandable.

Resources

Here's a list of resources that I can personally vouch for that have helped in interviewing for data science roles:

  • Data Lemur -> for data science questions

  • Neetcode -> for a roadmap to preparing for technical rounds

  • Pramp -> for mock interviews (both technical and behavioral)

  • Maven Analytics -> for real-world data challenges

What resources do you recommend?