Alteryx Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Alteryx is a leading data analytics software company renowned for its innovative approach to simplifying and democratizing data. Alteryx’s platform empowers organizations to blend, prepare, and analyze data, enabling data science and analytic teams to deliver deeper insights efficiently.

This guide from Interview Query aims to streamline your preparation and offers a detailed walkthrough of the interview stages, tips for success, and common Alteryx software engineer interview questions. Let’s get started!

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority. However, you can expect the following on an Alteryx software engineer interview:

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV is shortlisted, a recruiter from the Alteryx Talent Acquisition Team will contact you to verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be part of the screening process.

Sometimes, the Alteryx hiring manager will be present to answer your queries about the role and the company itself during this round. They may also ask surface-level technical and behavioral questions.

The recruiter call usually takes about 30 minutes.

Technical Phone Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will lead to an invitation for a technical screening round, typically conducted through a phone interview by a team lead. Questions in this 20-30 minute interview stage may involve general technical questions and discussions about past projects and interest in technology. Textbook technical questions and your proficiency in fundamental programming concepts such as data structures, algorithms, and core subjects like OS, DBMS, CN, and OOPs will likely be assessed.

Take-Home Project

If you pass the initial technical phone interview, Alteryx may assign you a take-home project. This project generally involves tasks such as building an application, iterating sequences efficiently, or solving specific coding problems. You may be asked to provide pseudocode and explain your approach at various difficulty levels.

Onsite Interview Rounds

A successful take-home project submission will lead you to the onsite interview rounds. These may be blocked for about 3 hours and include multiple segments:

1. White-board Coding Exercises: Interact with the development team and demonstrate your problem-solving and coding skills.
2. Management and Team Leads: Meet management and team leads for 45 minutes each. Questions range from leadership experiences, feedback handling, and programming questions to discussions about your resume and past projects.
3. Office Tour: Obtain a sense of Alteryx’s work environment and culture.

Final Interview and Offer

The final interview assesses your cultural fit through standard culture fit and personality questions outlined by another group. The on-site visit may conclude with a tour of the office. Following the final interviews, expect a decision typically by the following Tuesday.

Typically, interviews at Alteryx vary by role and team, but commonly Software Engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

1. Would you suspect anything unusual about the A/B test results with 20 variants?

Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Would you consider this result suspicious?

2. How would you set up an A/B test to optimize button color and position for higher click-through rates?

A team wants to A/B test changes in a sign-up funnel, such as changing a button from red to blue and/or moving it from the top to the bottom of the page. How would you design this test?

3. What steps would you take if friend requests on Facebook are down 10%?

A product manager at Facebook reports a 10% decrease in friend requests. What actions would you take to investigate and address this issue?

4. Why might the number of job applicants be decreasing despite stable job postings?

You observe that job postings per day have remained constant, but the number of applicants has been decreasing. What could be causing this trend?

5. What are the drawbacks of the given student test score datasets, and how would you reformat them for better analysis?

You have data on student test scores in two different layouts. What are the drawbacks of these formats, and what changes would you make to improve their usability for analysis? Additionally, describe common issues in “messy” datasets.

6. How would you evaluate whether using a decision tree algorithm is the correct model for predicting loan repayment?

You are tasked with building a decision tree model to predict if a borrower will pay back a personal loan. How would you evaluate if a decision tree is the right choice for this problem?

7. How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression?

Explain how a random forest algorithm generates its forest of trees. Additionally, why might you choose random forest over logistic regression for certain problems?

8. When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm?

Compare two machine learning algorithms. In which scenarios would you prefer a bagging algorithm over a boosting algorithm? Provide examples of the tradeoffs between the two.

9. How would you justify using a neural network model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders?

If your manager asks you to build a neural network model to solve a business problem, how would you justify the complexity of the model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders?

10. What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of a spam classifier for emails?

Assume you have built a V1 of a spam classifier for emails. What metrics would you use to monitor the model’s accuracy and validity?

11. Is this a fair coin?

You flip a coin 10 times, and it comes up tails 8 times and heads twice. Determine if the coin is fair based on this outcome.

12. Write a function to calculate sample variance.

Given a list of integers, write a function that outputs the sample variance rounded to 2 decimal places. Example Input: test_list = [6, 7, 3, 9, 10, 15] Example Output: get_variance(test_list) -> 13.89

13. How to find the median in a list with a majority repeating integer in O(1) time and space?

Given a sorted list of integers where more than 50% of the list is the same repeating integer, write a function to return the median value in O(1) computational time and space. Example Input: li = [1,2,2] Example Output: median(li) -> 2

14. Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department.

Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department. If more than one person shares the highest salary, the query should select the next highest salary.

15. Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list.

Given two sorted lists, write a function to merge them into one sorted list. Bonus: Determine the time complexity.

16. Create a function missing_number to find the missing number in an array.

You have an array of integers, nums of length n spanning 0 to n with one missing. Write a function missing_number that returns the missing number in the array. Complexity of (O(n)) required.

17. Develop a function precision_recall to calculate precision and recall metrics.

Given a 2-D matrix P of predicted values and actual values, write a function precision_recall to calculate precision and recall metrics. Return the ordered pair (precision, recall).

18. Write a function to search for a target value in a rotated sorted array.

Suppose an array sorted in ascending order is rotated at some pivot unknown to you beforehand. You are given a target value to search. If the value is in the array, return its index; otherwise, return -1. Bonus: Your algorithm’s runtime complexity should be in the order of (O(\log n)).

You should plan to brush up on any technical skills and try as many practice interview questions and mock interviews as possible. A few tips for acing your Alteryx software engineer interview include:

• Brush Up on Core Subjects: Alteryx asks questions about core subjects such as Operating Systems, Databases, Computer Networks, and Object-Oriented Programming. Be well-prepared in these areas.
• Prepare for White-Board Coding: Practice white-board coding exercises and ensure you’re comfortable with solving problems in a written format.
• Time Management for Take-Home Projects: Take-home projects are a crucial part of the evaluation. Manage your time wisely and explain your solution in detail, covering both the brute-force and optimized methods.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Alteryx?

How long does it take to hear back from Alteryx after an interview?

The timeline for hearing back can vary. Some candidates hear back within a few days, while others experience delays and may need to follow up multiple times. Communication from the recruitment team can sometimes be inconsistent, leading to varied experiences.

Embarking on the journey toward a Software Engineer position at Alteryx offers a mixture of experiences that can range from highly organized and welcoming to disheartening due to lack of follow-up. The process typically involves multiple stages, including technical assessments, behavioral questions, and in-depth discussions about your past projects and experiences. Meeting with various members of the team and a tour of the office can add a personal touch to the experience, leaving room for engaging conversations and a clear understanding of the company culture.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Alteryx Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. There are also interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Alteryx’s interview process for different positions.

Good luck with your interview!