Mediavine is a rapidly expanding advertising management company representing close to 10,000 websites across various niches, including food, lifestyle, DIY, and entertainment. Founded for content creators by content creators, it is a Top 20 Comscore property, reaching over 125 million unique visitors monthly. Mediavine is dedicated to helping content creators build sustainable businesses and is committed to inclusivity and diversity in its workforce.

As a Data Engineer at Mediavine, you'll work with a dynamic team to build and maintain data infrastructure, focusing on scalable data pipelines, data quality, and security. Key responsibilities include coding in Python and SQL, developing on AWS, and leveraging tools such as Rundeck and Metabase. Join Mediavine to contribute to cutting-edge projects and a diverse, inclusive environment.

Explore this guide by Interview Query to navigate your path to joining Mediavine as a Data Engineer.

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Mediavine as a Data Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Mediavine recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

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

In some cases, the Mediavine Data Engineer hiring manager may be present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The entire recruiter call typically takes about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Data Engineer role at Mediavine usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Mediavine’s data systems, ETL pipelines, and SQL queries.

In the case of Data Engineer roles, take-home assignments regarding data infrastructure, coding (Python), and data modeling concepts are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency with AWS, third-party tools like Rundeck, Metabase, and data warehouses (e.g., Snowflake) may also be assessed during the round.

Depending on the seniority of the position, case studies and similar real-scenario problems may also be assigned.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Following a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at Mediavine. Your technical prowess, including programming in Python, SQL skills, and data pipeline building capabilities, will be evaluated against the finalized candidates throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also await you during the onsite interview for the Data Engineer role at Mediavine.

Quick Tips For Mediavine Data Engineer Interviews

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 Mediavine interview include:

• Understand Mediavine's Technology Stack: Study the company’s technology and tools, such as AWS infrastructure, Python data pipelines, and Snowflake. Demonstrating familiarity with these will set you apart.
• Be Data Driven: Mediavine’s interviews assess how well you can provide data-driven insights and build scalable data solutions. Brush up on your knowledge of data modeling and pipeline development.
• Embody the Culture: Mediavine values inclusivity and a commitment to enhancing their creators' businesses. Practice responding to behavioral questions with answers that touch on these core values.

Interview Query Signup

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

• 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 multiple 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?

• Would you suspect anything unusual if an A/B test with 20 variants shows one significant result? Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Would you find anything suspicious about these results?

• Why might the average number of comments per user decrease despite user growth in a new city? A social media company launched in a new city and saw a slow decrease in the average number of comments per user from January to March, despite consistent user growth. What could be the reasons for this decrease, and what metrics would you investigate?

• What metrics would you use to evaluate the value of different marketing channels for a B2B company? Given all the different marketing channels and their respective costs for a company selling B2B analytics dashboards, what metrics would you use to determine the value of each marketing channel?

• How would you locate a mouse in a 4x4 grid using the fewest scans? You have a 4x4 grid with a mouse trapped in one of the cells. You can "scan" subsets of cells to know if the mouse is within that subset. How would you determine the mouse's location using the fewest number of scans?

• Write a function called find_bigrams to return a list of all bigrams in a sentence or paragraph. Write a function called find_bigrams that takes a sentence or paragraph of strings and returns a list of all its bigrams in order. A bigram is a pair of consecutive words.

• Write a query to get the last transaction for each day from a table of bank transactions. Given a table of bank transactions with columns id, transaction_value, and created_at, write a query to get the last transaction for each day. The output should include the id, datetime, and transaction amount, ordered by datetime.

• Write a function find_change to find the minimum number of coins for a given amount of change. Write a function find_change to find the minimum number of coins that make up the given amount of change cents. Assume we only have coins of value 1, 5, 10, and 25 cents.

• Write a function to simulate drawing balls from a jar based on their counts. Write a function to simulate drawing balls from a jar. The colors of the balls are stored in a list named jar, with corresponding counts of the balls stored in the same index in a list called n_balls.

• Write a function calculate_rmse to calculate the root mean squared error of a regression model. Write a function calculate_rmse to calculate the root mean squared error of a regression model. The function should take in two lists, one that represents the predictions y_pred and another with the target values y_true.

• What is the expected number of good ads rated by different types of raters?
• Suppose we have 100 raters each rating one ad independently. What's the expected number of good ads?
• Now suppose we have 1 rater rating 100 ads. What's the expected number of good ads?

• Suppose we have 1 ad, rated as bad. What's the probability the rater was lazy?

• Write a function to simulate coin tosses with a given probability of heads. Create a function that takes the number of tosses and the probability of heads as input and returns a list of randomly generated results ('H' for heads, 'T' for tails).

Example 1: python tosses = 5 probability_of_heads = 0.6 Output: python coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['H', 'T', 'H', 'H', 'T']

Example 2: python tosses = 3 probability_of_heads = 0.2 Output: python coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['T', 'T', 'T']

• Write a function to calculate the sample variance of a list of integers. Create a function that takes a list of integers and returns the sample variance, rounded to 2 decimal places.

Example: python test_list = [6, 7, 3, 9, 10, 15] Output: python get_variance(test_list) -> 13.89

• What is the probability of rolling at least one 3 with dice?
• What's the probability of rolling at least one 3 with 2 dice?

• What's the probability of rolling at least one 3 given (N) dice?

• What is the probability of finding an item on Amazon's website given its availability in warehouses? Given that the probability of item X being available at warehouse A is 0.6 and at warehouse B is 0.8, what is the probability that item X would be found on Amazon's website?

• What kind of model did the co-worker develop for loan approval? Your co-worker developed a model that takes customer inputs and returns if a loan should be given or not. Identify the type of model used.

• How would you measure the difference between two credit risk models? Given that personal loans are monthly installments, how would you compare the performance of two credit risk models within a specific timeframe?

• What metrics would you track to measure the success of a new credit risk model? Identify the key metrics to track in order to measure the success of a new credit risk model for personal loans.

• What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of a spam classifier model? Assume you have built a V1 of a spam classifier for emails. Specify the metrics you would use to evaluate its accuracy and validity.

• What are the key differences between classification models and regression models? Explain the main differences between classification models and regression models.

• When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? Compare two machine learning algorithms and provide an example of the tradeoffs between using a bagging algorithm and a boosting algorithm.

• What would happen when you run logistic regression on perfectly linearly separable data? Describe the outcome of running logistic regression on a dataset that is perfectly linearly separable.

What is the average salary for a Data Engineer at Mediavine?

Q: What is Mediavine's mission and company culture like?

A: At Mediavine, our mission is to help content creators build sustainable businesses. We offer educational tools, cutting-edge plugins, and ad technology to maximize earnings without compromising site performance. Our culture emphasizes inclusivity and diversity, and we're committed to creating a welcoming environment. We encourage individuals from underrepresented groups in technology to apply.

Q: What does a Data Engineer at Mediavine do?

A: As a Data Engineer at Mediavine, you'll be responsible for building and maintaining data infrastructure, creating scalable data pipelines, managing data transformations, and ensuring data quality. You'll work with tools like Python, SQL, AWS, Rundeck, Metabase, and Snowflake, collaborating with various teams to support analytic and application use cases.

Q: What are the essential skills required for the Data Engineer position at Mediavine?

A: Applicants should have over a year of experience in a data role, proficiency in Python and SQL, and an understanding of data modeling concepts. Experience with source control, DevOps, relational databases, cloud data warehouses, and scheduling tools is also essential. Additional skills like experience with dbt, REST APIs, and BI tools are nice to have.

Q: What benefits does Mediavine offer to its employees?

A: Mediavine offers a range of benefits including a remote work environment, travel opportunities, comprehensive health benefits, a learning allowance, generous vacation policies, home-office upgrades, tuition reimbursement, paid gym memberships, wellness retreats, events, and charitable donation matching.

Q: How can I prepare for an interview as a Data Engineer at Mediavine?

A: To prepare for the interview, familiarize yourself with Mediavine’s products and culture. Brush up on Python, SQL, and data modeling concepts. Practice common interview questions and coding challenges on Interview Query. Understanding AWS, dbt, and data transformation processes will also be beneficial.

If you're eager to join a company where innovation meets inclusivity, Mediavine is the perfect match. Our Data Engineer role offers an exciting opportunity to work with a close-knit team on cutting-edge projects that support nearly 10,000 websites. With a commitment to diversity and empowering content creators, Mediavine provides an enriching working environment with robust benefits, including remote work and comprehensive health coverage.

Ready to ace your Mediavine interview? Check out our main Mediavine Interview Guide, where we cover essential interview questions and strategies tailored for this role. At Interview Query, we provide the insights and tools you need to excel. Explore all our company interview guides for a comprehensive preparation toolkit, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Good luck with your interview!