Data and analytics roles
Questions for data analysts and business analysts.
1. How do you clean messy data?
How to answer: Describe checking for missing values, duplicates and wrong formats, deciding what to do with each and documenting your choices.
2. Explain the difference between mean and median, and when each is better.
How to answer: The median resists extreme values, so it describes skewed data like income better; the mean uses every value. Give a quick example.
3. How would you present a finding to a non-technical manager?
How to answer: Lead with the answer and the decision it supports, show one clear chart and be ready to explain the assumptions in plain words.
4. What does a good dashboard look like?
How to answer: It answers specific questions for a specific person, uses few well-chosen measures and makes the important change easy to see.
5. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING in SQL?
How to answer: WHERE filters rows before grouping; HAVING filters groups after aggregation. A one-line example makes this clear.
6. Tell me about an analysis that changed a decision.
How to answer: Describe the question, the data you used, what you found and what was done. If you have no work example, use a project or case study.
Use these as a guide and answer from your own real experience. Never invent examples. See our disclaimer.