TiVo, a pioneer in digital video recording technology, is at the forefront of the media and entertainment industry. The company continues to innovate, providing cutting-edge solutions for content discovery, monetization, and personal media experiences. As a Data Engineer at TiVo, you'll play a critical role in harnessing the power of data to drive insights and improvements across their products and services.

In this guide hosted by Interview Query, we'll walk you through the interview process for the TiVo Data Engineer position, including commonly asked questions and valuable preparation tips. Let’s get started on your pathway to joining TiVo!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Tivo as a Data Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Tivo 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 happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Tivo 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 Tivo Data Engineer hiring manager stays 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 whole recruiter call should take 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 Tivo Data Engineer role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Tivo’s data systems, ETL pipelines, and SQL queries.

In the case of data engineering roles, take-home assignments regarding data processing tasks, data integration, and data warehousing are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency against cloud platforms, big data tools, and algorithm optimization 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

Followed by 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 the Tivo office. Your technical prowess, including programming and data architecture 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 Tivo.

Quick Tips For Tivo 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 Tivo interview include:

• Understand Tivo’s Products: Tivo questions may heavily rely on situational scenarios with their data products. Study Tivo's systems and understand how you would effectively improve or utilize them.
• Be Data Driven: Tivo’s data engineering interviews assess how well you can provide efficient and scalable data solutions. Brush up on your knowledge of ETL processes, data pipelines, and data integration techniques.
• Showcase Problem-Solving Skills: Tivo values innovative problem-solving skills. Practice responding to technical questions with answers that demonstrate how you approach complex data problems and develop practical solutions.

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

• Write a query to get the average order value by gender. Given three tables representing customer transactions and customer attributes, write a query to get the average order value by gender. Round the answer to two decimal places.

• Write 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.

• Find the index where the sum of the left half equals the right half in a list. Given a list of integers, find the index at which the sum of the left half of the list is equal to the right half. If there is no such index, return -1.

• Write a function sorting to sort a list of strings in ascending alphabetical order. Given a list of strings, write a function sorting from scratch to sort the list in ascending alphabetical order. Do not use the built-in sorted function. Return the new sorted list.

• Write a query to extract the earliest date each user played their third unique song. Given a table of song_plays and a table of users, write a query to extract the earliest date each user played their third unique song. If a user has listened to less than three unique songs, display their name with a NULL date and song name.

• How would you build a model to predict which merchants DoorDash should acquire in a new market? As a data scientist at DoorDash, describe the steps and features you would use to build a predictive model for identifying potential merchants for acquisition when entering a new market.

• How would you determine customer service quality through the chat box for small businesses on Facebook Marketplace? Your team at Facebook focuses on helping small businesses increase sales through the Marketplace app. Explain how you would assess the quality of customer service interactions via the chat box for these businesses.

• What business health metrics would you track on a dashboard for an e-commerce D2C sock business? As the person in charge of an e-commerce D2C business selling socks, list and explain the key business health metrics you would monitor on a company dashboard.

• Write a query to determine if user interactions (likes, comments) lead to higher purchasing volumes. Given three tables (users, transactions, and events), write a SQL query to analyze whether users who interact on the website (through likes and comments) have a higher purchasing volume compared to those who do not interact.

• How does random forest generate the forest and why use it over logistic regression? Explain how random forest generates multiple decision trees and why it might be preferred over logistic regression for certain tasks.

• How do we deal with missing square footage data to construct a housing price model? You have 100K sold listings in Seattle over three years, with 20% missing square footage data. Describe methods to handle this missing data to build an accurate housing price prediction model.

• How would you build a model to predict which merchants DoorDash should acquire in a new market? As a data scientist at DoorDash, outline the steps to create a model that predicts which merchants to target for acquisition when entering a new market.

• How do you detect and handle correlation between variables in linear regression? Describe methods to detect and manage correlation between variables in a linear regression model, and explain the consequences of ignoring such correlations.

• How would you design a model to detect potential bombs at a border crossing? Outline the design of a model to detect potential bombs at a border crossing, including the selection of inputs and outputs, accuracy measurement, and testing procedures.

• How many more samples are needed to decrease the margin of error from 3 to 0.3? Given a sample size (n) with a margin of error of 3, calculate the additional samples required to reduce the margin of error to 0.3.

• What is the mean and variance of the distribution of (2X - Y)? Given (X) and (Y) are independent random variables with normal distributions (X \sim \mathcal{N}(3, 4)) and (Y \sim \mathcal{N}(1, 4)), determine the mean and variance of (2X - Y).

• How do you calculate the sample size and power for an AB test? For an AB test with a test group and a control group:

• How do you calculate the necessary sample size for accurate measurement?
• If the sample size is sufficient, should the power increase or decrease to measure very small differences between the groups?

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

Q: What is the interview process at Tivo for a Data Engineer position like? The interview process at Tivo typically involves multiple stages, including an initial recruiter call, a technical assessment or coding test, technical interviews with team members, and an onsite interview. The focus is on evaluating both your technical skills and your fit with the company's culture.

Q: What are some common interview questions at Tivo for Data Engineers? Common interview questions at Tivo may include algorithm and data structure problems, SQL queries, data modeling, and questions about your previous experience with data engineering tools and technologies. You might also encounter situational and behavioral questions to assess your problem-solving skills and teamwork capabilities.

Q: What skills are required to succeed as a Data Engineer at Tivo? To succeed as a Data Engineer at Tivo, you should have strong skills in SQL, data modeling, ETL processes, and proficiency with programming languages such as Python or Java. Experience with cloud platforms like AWS or Google Cloud, and familiarity with big data technologies like Hadoop or Spark, would also be beneficial.

Q: What is the company culture like at Tivo? Tivo's company culture is innovative and collaborative, with a strong emphasis on creativity and continuous improvement. The company values diverse perspectives and encourages employees to take initiative and contribute new ideas.

Q: How can I best prepare for an interview at Tivo? To prepare for an interview at Tivo, research the company and its products, practice commonly asked interview questions, and brush up on your technical skills. Interview Query is an excellent resource for honing your problem-solving abilities and getting familiar with the types of questions that may be asked.

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

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every TiVo Data Engineer interview question and challenge.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!