I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at TikTok (San Francisco, CA) in Aug 2022
Interview
Interview was pretty straightforward, but questions were really open ended. Even with SQL coding you were given a ton of judgement on how to proceed. Most of the case studies involved picking an app you like, talking through features you don't like, what you would change, how you would test it.
The really negative experience came when dealing with the HR team. They were really aggressive about asking what my current comp is, even going so far as to insist I sent them my current compensation letter (illegal in my state, and most states). They also wouldn't give me a compensation range for the level / role (legally required to do so in California). They were also really secretive about role levels, and couldn't share anything about what levels meant, or what it takes to get to the next level.
I had never had a conversation where I felt so uncomfortable talking to a recruiter. It felt extremely antagonistic. Ultimately I decided if these conversations were at all reflective of what it would be like to work at TikTok, there is no way I would be interested.
A former colleague referred me to the Data Scientist position at TikTok, which kicked off the interview process. The technical screen included a question about designing an A/B test for a ranking model, followed by an SQL challenge related to user sessions. The funny part was that the SQL problem was a twist on one I had been grinding through on PracHub just a few days prior. After some behavioral interviews, I received an offer, but ultimately decided to decline as it didn't align with my goals.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Walk me through how you'd design an A/B test for a new ranking model on the For You feed, and how you'd pick guardrail metrics.
Given a sessions table (user_id, session_start, session_end, country), write SQL to find the users whose average session length grew the most week-over-week.
I applied online. I interviewed at TikTok (London, England)
Interview
one medium level sql test and an open question
Since i'm not familiar with business context(though i actually spent time preparing AB test and causal inference), i didn't get what i should answer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
if tiktok shop is going to launch in Netherland, how to evaluate it before AB test
Data Science applicants have rated the interview process at TikTok with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 29% positive. To compare, the company-average is 37.3% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Data Science roles take an average of 20 days to get hired, when considering 117 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at TikTok overall takes an average of 30 days.
Common stages of the interview process at TikTok as a Data Science according to 117 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 34%
Skills test: 26%
Phone interview: 19%
Background check: 7%
Presentation: 5%
Other: 3%
Personality test: 2%
Group panel interview: 1%
IQ intelligence test: 1%
Drug test: 1%
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