Real, anonymous reports from people who interviewed for Data Scientist at Walmart, newest first and distilled into what to expect across the loop.
After a recruiter call, I ended up with a technical screen and then a coding-style round. The whole thing didn’t feel overly drawn out, and the experience was generally okay. The recruiter call set the stage, and then the next step quickly moved into practical work.
This process dragged on for a long stretch—about three months—and it ended with a rejection after a final interview that felt mismanaged. The final conversation stood out because the interviewer didn’t seem to have the resume information, and they asked something different than what the recruiter had suggested I needed to prepare for.
The interview process can be lengthy, often taking around three months, with various stages including recruiter calls, technical screens, and coding rounds. Candidates reported a lack of clarity on timelines and expectations, leading to frustration.
Candidates experienced technical coding rounds that included HackerRank assessments and live coding sessions, often focusing on Python and pandas rather than SQL or traditional coding challenges. The difficulty level was generally perceived as average, but the mismatch between expected and actual content was common.
Interviews included behavioral questions, typically towards the end of technical rounds, but candidates noted that the behavioral focus sometimes felt overshadowed by the technical content. This aspect was less emphasized compared to technical evaluations.
The technical interviews covered a broad range of topics, including machine learning concepts and statistical methods, but candidates felt the depth was lacking due to the wide scope of questions. This made it challenging to demonstrate expertise in specific areas.
Several candidates reported discrepancies between what was communicated by recruiters and the actual interview content, leading to confusion and misalignment in preparation. This lack of synchronization was a common source of frustration.
Most candidates did not receive offers and reflected on the experience as challenging due to the unclear expectations and technical focus. Many wished they had better aligned their preparation with the actual interview content.