First, there was a screening video call with the recruiter. Basically, you will be asked general questions about your current work, your goals, and why are you applying.

I was sent a take-home test and it was very badly written. The questions were vague and there was no accurate description of the required solution, as they only tell you that the solution must be "optimal".

I didn't expect the take-home test to be about writing an optimal SQL query and a Python script that emulates another SQL query since I don't work much with SQL at my current job and I only know the basics of SQL.

I expected the test to be more about ML and building models and using ML frameworks. Also, the job description doesn't tell you that you need to be an SQL master. This should be clear to any applicant before wasting their time solving the test.

Although I solved the test, and my solutions were quite good even though I don't have advanced SQL knowledge, the feedback was that your solutions could be optimized further. I know that I can sit days squeezing a query and an algorithm but a take-home test shouldn't be like that, especially in an ML role!

Q1: Given some data write an optimal SQL query that outputs the following table...

Q2. Given an SQL query write a Python script that gives the same output.