One of the more negative experiences I’ve had in over 20 interviews. People interviewing me were old fashioned in their thought process and interviewing skills. Right off the bat, I started to feel like this was not going to be a natural interview as the questions were very cliche. The interviewers were cold and in my opinion, might have felt intimidated because I came from an extremely technical background. They hounded me with machine learning questions and neither of them had a technical background. The technology they used was a hard coded program that did the modelling for you, and I wanted to gauge how my skills in Python and C+ could help. Nonetheless, they were condescending and remarked that programmers and data scientists are at the bottom of the heap, and would hardly amount to anything. I tried to know the company a bit more but the interviewers gave short and unexpressive answers.

The interview began with a brief self-introduction, where I discussed my academic background, technical skills, and previous experience in marketing analytics and data analysis. A significant portion of the conversation focused on Analytic Partners' culture, values, and working environment. Although I had already researched the company beforehand, the interviewers spent considerable time discussing these aspects and assessing my understanding of the organisation. Unlike many traditional interviews that focus heavily on technical or behavioural questions, this interview was highly conversational. The interviewers dedicated substantial time to answering my questions about the company, the role, career development opportunities, and day-to-day responsibilities. As a result, candidates should prepare thoughtful and insightful questions rather than expecting a purely question-and-answer format. My key takeaway is that success in this interview is not solely about demonstrating technical capability. It is equally important to actively express genuine interest in Analytic Partners, show enthusiasm for the Marketing Science Analyst role, and clearly communicate how your background, experiences, and career goals align with the company's mission and culture. The interview felt less like a technical assessment and more like a mutual evaluation of fit, motivation, and long-term interest in the organisation.