Nick’s previously held Software & Data roles at Facebook, Google, & SafeGraph (a geospatial analytics startup).
Currently, he’s the best-selling author of Ace the Data Science Interview, and Founder & CEO of DataLemur.
Nick’s also active on LinkedIn, where he shares career tips with his 160,000+ followers.
SQL is used throughout Samsara to get real-time data on vehicles and fleets for analysis and to set up data pipelines that can handle large amounts of industrial IoT data. That’s why Samsara almost always checks SQL during jobs for Data Science, Analytics, and
So, to help you get ready for the Samsara SQL interview, we’ve put together 8 questions. Are you ready to answer them all?
So you’re aiming to join the ranks of the brilliant minds at Samsara, the tech giant revolutionizing the world of connected operations and data-driven decision-making? Well, buckle up, because cracking the Samsara interview requires more than just technical prowess. It’s about demonstrating your ability to think strategically, communicate effectively, and navigate the complexities of a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
Fear not, aspiring Samsaran! This comprehensive guide, meticulously crafted by yours truly, will equip you with the knowledge and insights you need to ace your interview and secure your dream job. We’ll delve deep into the 25 most frequently asked Samsara interview questions, providing you with insightful answers and practical tips to showcase your skills and impress your interviewers.
Navigating the Hiring Process
Let’s take a quick look at how Samsara hires people before we get to the questions. Usually, a recruiter will get in touch with you first, and then you’ll have a phone or video interview to talk about your experience and why you want the job. You might have a live coding session, system design exercises, and behavioral interviews, depending on the job. Be prepared for a process that can take up to 1. 5 months and involve multiple rounds of interviews with various team members.
Deciphering the Top 25 Samsara Interview Questions
Now, let’s dive into the heart of the matter – the 25 most common Samsara interview questions you might encounter Each question is accompanied by a detailed answer, providing valuable insights and practical tips to help you craft compelling responses that highlight your strengths and suitability for the role.
1. Pipeline Prowess: Demonstrating Your Sales Acumen
This question delves into your ability to manage sales pipelines effectively. Highlight your systematic approach, including how you segment and prioritize prospects, nurture relationships, monitor progress, and adjust strategies. Share a specific example where your methodology led to significant sales growth or customer acquisition.
2, Simplifying the Complex Selling Samsara’s Solutions
This question tests your ability to explain complex technological concepts in a way that resonates with non-technical audiences. Start by understanding the client’s needs and concerns, then explain how Samsara’s solutions address their pain points. Use relatable analogies and emphasize the value proposition rather than technical jargon. Share success stories of similar businesses benefiting from Samsara’s offerings.
3. Cloud Savvy: Mastering Cloud-Based Platforms and APIs
This question assesses your experience with cloud-based platforms and APIs. Highlight your expertise with specific platforms you’ve used, providing concrete examples of projects where these tools were instrumental in achieving success. If you’re new to the field discuss how you would approach learning and utilizing these technologies.
4. Negotiation Ninja: Striking Deals and Building Relationships
This question probes your negotiation skills and ability to maintain strong client relationships. Share a specific instance where you successfully negotiated a contract or deal, emphasizing the strategies you employed to ensure both parties were satisfied. Highlight your ability to maintain strong relationships through respectful communication, transparency, and understanding client needs.
5 Communication Maestro Fostering Collaboration Across Teams
This question examines your ability to facilitate clear communication among cross-functional teams. Discuss your strategies for regular check-ins, project management tools, and fostering an open dialogue environment. Share examples where these tactics resolved misunderstandings or improved project outcomes. If you’re new, explain how you would apply these techniques to ensure effective collaboration.
6. Revenue Rocket: Driving Growth in Competitive Markets
This question delves into your sales strategy and ability to drive revenue growth in competitive markets. Detail specific strategies you’ve used to meet quotas, such as leveraging data analytics, implementing innovative sales techniques, and adapting to changing market conditions. Share examples where your initiatives resulted in tangible successes.
7. Troubleshooting Triumph: Resolving Complex Technical Issues
This question assesses your problem-solving abilities and customer service skills. Discuss a situation where you resolved a complex technical issue for a customer. Highlight your analytical thinking, communication skills, and patience. If you haven’t been through this before, describe how you would use these skills to handle one.
8. Knowledge Navigator: Staying Current with Industry Trends
This question explores your commitment to continuous learning and professional development. Discuss various ways you stay updated, such as attending webinars, reading industry-related publications, following thought leaders, and participating in professional groups. Share how these strategies have helped you adapt and evolve professionally.
9. Adaptable Salesperson: Tailoring Your Approach to Diverse Audiences
This question tests your ability to adapt your sales pitch to appeal to a range of decision-makers. Reflect on past experiences where you tailored your approach for different audiences. Discuss how you consider the unique needs, motivations, and pain points of each decision-maker. Share a specific example where your flexibility led to a successful sale.
10. Prioritization Powerhouse: Managing Workload in a Fast-Paced Environment
This question assesses your organizational and time management skills. Highlight your ability to stay organized and multitask effectively. Share specific strategies or tools you’ve used, such as task management software or time-blocking techniques. Discuss an example where you successfully juggled multiple high-priority tasks without compromising quality.
11. Talent Scout: Recruiting Top Talent for Specialized Roles
This question explores your ability to identify, attract, and secure high-quality candidates for specialized roles. Highlight your strategy for identifying top talent, such as leveraging professional networks or using specialized job boards. Describe your approach to engaging potential candidates, perhaps through personalized outreach or compelling job descriptions. Illustrate with a specific example where you successfully recruited a candidate for a specialized role.
12. Account Management Maestro: Tailoring Your Approach to Different Client Sizes
This question assesses your versatility and adaptability in account management. Discuss how you would customize your approach based on the account’s size and needs. Use examples from past experiences to illustrate your ability to effectively manage diverse accounts. Remember to convey that regardless of the account’s size, maintaining strong relationships is your priority.
13. Customer-Centric Innovation: Improving Products Based on Feedback
This question assesses your analytical skills and ability to use customer feedback or market research to drive product improvement. Highlight your experience in using customer feedback or market research to improve a product. Speak about specific instances where you identified key issues, made recommendations, and the positive outcomes that resulted from these improvements. If you’re new to this, discuss how you would approach such a task by actively listening to customers, conducting thorough market research, and working collaboratively with cross-functional teams to implement changes.
14. Translating Tech Talk: Presenting Technical Concepts to Non-Technical Audiences
This question evaluates your ability to bridge the gap between complex tech jargon and everyday language. Discuss instances where you’ve successfully communicated complex technical information in a simple, digestible manner. Talk about your ability to gauge audience understanding and adjust your delivery accordingly. If possible, mention any positive feedback or results that came from these experiences.
15. Objection Overcomer: Handling Sales Objections with Finesse
This question probes your ability to handle objections and navigate through them to close a deal. Reflect on specific experiences where you successfully handled objections, and articulate the strategies used. These might include active listening to understand client concerns, demonstrating empathy, providing clear and concise responses that address their issues, or showcasing how your product can solve their problem. Remember to highlight that overcoming objections is a chance to educate the client, not just push a sale.
16. Coding Conquering: Solving Challenging Coding Problems
This question assesses your problem-solving skills in coding. Discuss a challenging coding problem you’ve solved, your thought process in devising a solution, and the actions you took to resolve it. Include any innovative or creative solutions that were instrumental in overcoming the problem. Highlight how your ability to solve complex problems could be beneficial to the role you are applying for.
17. Partnering for Success: Building Relationships with Channel Partners
This question explores your ability to build and maintain fruitful relationships with channel partners or resellers. Share your past success stories of managing partner relationships. Highlight instances where you’ve collaborated closely to understand their needs and created win-win situations. Demonstrate how you maintained regular communication, provided them with the necessary resources, helped in problem-solving, and incentivized them for better performance. If you’re new to this, discuss strategies like understanding partners’ goals, maintaining transparency, providing training, and recognizing their efforts.
Additional Resources
To further enhance your interview preparation, consider exploring these valuable resources:
- Glassdoor: Access a comprehensive collection of Samsara interview questions and reviews from past candidates.
- InterviewBit: Gain insights into common Samsara interview questions and tips for answering them effectively.
- LeetCode: Practice your coding skills with challenging problems and solutions relevant to Samsara’s technical interviews.
By thoroughly analyzing the 25 most common Samsara interview questions, practicing your responses, and leveraging the additional resources provided, you’ll be well-equipped to impress your interviewers and secure your dream job at Samsara. Remember, confidence, clarity, and a genuine passion for Samsara’s mission will set you apart from the competition. So, go forth and conquer your Samsara interview!
8 Samsara SQL Interview Questions
Samsara is an Internet of Things (IoT) company that helps businesses and factories connect their hardware with sensors, software, and cloud services. There are times when the goal is to find “power users,” or people who use these services a lot and often.
For this question, let’s say that a “power user” is someone who interacts with Samsara’s sensor data more often than most people. In this case, interaction would mean either sending data from the sensors or processing data that the sensors send, such as dashboard access and data generation events.
| activity_id | user_id | activity_time | activity_type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | 123 | 06/08/2022 00:00:00 | Data Generation |
| 102 | 265 | 06/10/2022 00:00:00 | Data Generation |
| 103 | 123 | 06/18/2022 00:00:00 | Dashboard Access |
| 104 | 192 | 07/26/2022 00:00:00 | Data Generation |
| 105 | 981 | 07/05/2022 00:00:00 | Dashboard Access |
| 106 | 192 | 07/26/2022 00:00:00 | Dashboard Access |
| 107 | 981 | 07/05/2022 00:00:00 | Data Generation |
| 108 | 192 | 07/26/2022 00:00:00 | Data Generation |
Design a SQL query that identifies these power users. Assume each activity_id represents a unique interaction. The output should display the user_ids of every power user and the total number of interactions theyve had.
This query first groups the user_activity table by user_id and counts the number of their interactions. Then, it gets rid of the users who don’t interact with it as often as the average by using a subquery to find and compare that number to the average number of interactions per user. Finally, those who have above-average interactions are listed in order of most interactions to least.
Test your skills with a similar customer analytics SQL question here. You can code in your browser, and the question will check your SQL code automatically.
SQL Question 6: Calculate Device Average Uptime
The Samsara company needs to understand how reliable their devices have been over the past year. Each device sends a signal to the server every time it is turned on or off. If the table records these signals, it would have the, (a string can be ON or OFF), and the of each status change.
The company wants to know the average uptime (in minutes) of each device over the last year. The uptime of a device is the time it is ON, and the average uptime is the sum of the uptimes over the total OFF times. Assume that all devices were turned OFF at the start of the year (01-01-2022 00:00:00).
| log_id | device_id | status | timestamp |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A1 | ON | 01-01-2022 01:20:00 |
| 2 | A1 | OFF | 01-01-2022 03:30:00 |
| 3 | A2 | ON | 01-01-2022 02:15:00 |
| 4 | A2 | OFF | 01-01-2022 05:15:00 |
| 5 | A1 | ON | 01-01-2022 08:00:00 |
| 6 | A1 | OFF | 01-01-2022 12:00:00 |
| 7 | A2 | ON | 01-01-2022 10:00:00 |
| 8 | A2 | OFF | 01-01-2022 14:00:00 |
| device_id | average_uptime(minutes) |
|---|---|
| A1 | 210.00 |
| A2 | 195.00 |
We use the window function in this query to get the most recent timestamp of each OFF status, which shows the start of an uptime. The difference between the current timestamp and the lag timestamp gives us the uptime. Then we compute the average uptime for each device_id with arithmetic operation and aggregate function AVG. We also used to turn the uptime interval into seconds and then divide that number by 60 to get mins. Finally, we use to make the result more readable.
The two most similar questions to the given SQL problem would be:
- Amazon’s “Server Utilization Time” involves figuring out how long servers have been online, which is similar to the given problem’s task of figuring out how long devices have been online.
- “Odd and Even Measurements” from Google: This question also has to do with working with data from IoT devices and may need the same kind of time stamps and statuses management.
Heres the generated markdown:
Try this interactive Amazon Server Utilization Time Question or this Google Odd and Even Measurements Question to get practice with a very similar question. Both will help you learn how to figure out uptime and work with device data and timestamps.
Samsara’s Culture & People
FAQ
Is it hard to get hired at Samsara?
What questions are asked at Sam’s Club merchandise and stocking associate interview?
What questions are asked at the Constellation interview?
What is the interview process like at samsara?
I interviewed at Samsara The interview process consisted of an HR screen, a manager screen, a take home assignment, a follow up call on the take home, a four part panel interview, and a culture call. Everyone I interviewed with was great. In particular, the HR point of contact, Jess, was incredible and went above and beyond.
What is the Samsara hiring process?
The Samsara hiring process typically begins with a recruiter reaching out to the candidate, followed by a phone or video interview discussing the role and the candidate’s experience. The process may include a live coding session, system design, and behavioral interviews.
What questions should I ask during my interview at samsara?
If you’re interviewing for a position at Samsara, you can expect questions that assess your technical skills as well as your ability to use data to drive business decisions. In this article, we’ll provide some sample questions and answers that will help you prepare for your interview at Samsara.
How long does it take to get a job at samsara?
The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Samsara in Dec 2023 There was an initial recruiter call, a phone screen (coding), and then a three round virtual onsite (one coding round, one system design round, one behavioral round).
